Iraq War: The Fixer Goes to Work

Sometimes there's just not much to add to what someone else has said. And when they say it well enough, why even waste the energy trying to improve on it?

Josh Marshall is all over the James Baker appointment:

<< Settling this debt issue isn't just a bigger version of refinancing your house. It will involve Baker in critical negotiations with the front-line states in the region as well as Iraq's debtors abroad. Those negotiations in turn will have a lot of influence over how helpful or unhelpful these other states choose to be next year -- with potential troops and a lot of other things. (It is also, as a friend of mine notes, a tacit admission that the Madrid donors' conference was a bit of a flop.) Finally, the terms of the deals -- how they're backed up, especially -- will get right into the matter of how the Iraqi economy itself gets structured: who owns what, how it's structured, what other countries get claims on what assets. ...

<< The situation in Iraq has become much more militarized in the last six weeks or so. In practice, that's diminished Bremer's role already. Baker's appointment may diminish his role in another part of running the country -- again, the all important nexus between the economic organization of the country itself and its relations with other states and international financial institutions.

<< Let's remember what Baker's specialty is. Yes, he was White House Chief of Staff, Treasury Secretary, Secretary of State and various other things. But his real specialty is coming in to save the day when men named George Bush look like they're about to lose their presidencies. He's the family fixer. He did that in 1992 when he gave up State to run Bush's campaign. And he did it eight years later in 2000 when he went to Florida to run the recount battle. The phone just rang again ... >>

But let's not confuse this with "the grownups are taking over" or some such thing. James Baker may be more pragmatic than some of "neoconservative" crowd. But his priority here is to get Sheriff Bush through the next election. We shouldn't be the least unclear on that point, whatever his particular actions turn out to be.

Tags: iraq war