So does this holy Iraq Study Group have power over the president?

[Philosoraptor]

It almost seems that way, the way they talk about the oh so important james baker led ISG will have the final say over the republican war in Iraq. If daddy's butler tells dubya that he can't play war anymore, will little dubya obey his daddy?

Funny, I don't remember any great world leaders that needed their dads to come in with a big study group to end a war, how embarrassing for the big failure w.

Will dubya obey America? What gives with this much ballyhooed ISG?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/30/iraq.study.group/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Following an intense assessment of U.S. policies in the war in Iraq, the Iraq Study Group will recommend that a "gradual but meaningful" reduction of U.S. troops begin "relatively early in the New Year," a source familiar with the group's deliberations told CNN.

The language in the report -- which was compiled at the urging of Congress -- is being fine-tuned before it is presented to President Bush next week, but according to the source the work on the findings is basically done.

[LizW]

1. Doesn't Bush have another group on the side?

There was an article about this last week and then one of the panelists on Tweety's show said something about it. Bush has another group on the side to make suggestions in case he doesn't like what the ISG says.

[Philosoraptor]

2. yeah, he has his OWN study group & is awaiting IT'S findings

so where will all this studying get us?

[Sherman A1]

5. Two points here

one is that the ISG is reported to be lacking anyone with military experience which might make the Pentagon group not such a bad idea. If there is to be a phased withdrawal or repositioning, it might be a good idea to have some plans in the works. Two is that * is probably just trying to look like he is doing something by appointing another group, so that it appears that "gee we put all these really smart guys together and got all these good ideas". Now we will take one from column A and one from Column B.........

[lapfog_1]

3. Well, the ISG was supposed to allow junior a face saving way out

but I suspect all the cartoons and stories about daddy coming to the rescue again probably pissed Lord Prissypants off, so he decided then that we would "stay the course" and "complete the mission" and ignore the ISG, just to spite Dad one more time.

Daddy threw him a rope, but his pride won't allow him to be rescued and his presidency will drown. Unfortunately for hundreds to thousands more US soldiers, he will not take the rope.

[Philosoraptor]

4. it's all about saving face for georgey at this point.

pride goeth before the fall

[peanutbrittle]

6. The Iraq Study Group: Official damage control and cover-up

Here is one train of thought on the subject. The article contains info on the structure of the group and the players that make up the group.

Combined with the latest Sibel Edmonds pieces and it looks like more of the same MIC maneuvering

Last sentence - "The Anglo-American Empire’s rampage across the Grand Chessboard has stumbled and derailed under the management of George W. Bush. The Iraq Study Group will restore it. That spells increasing danger for the world."




http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHI20061127&articleId=3987

The Iraq Study Group (ISG) is a "bipartisan task force" created by the US Congress in response to the failure of the Bush administration to better manage the occupation of Iraq. Mainstream media reporting and official statements from Washington have characterized the ISG as proof of a "shift towards diplomacy" in the Middle East. These same reports cite the sponsorship of the so-called US Institute for Peace as evidence that the ISG represents a "change of course". In fact, the ISG is another official damage control apparatus, spearheaded by notorious Western political and corporate elites, former military-intelligence officers, and "experts" from right wing and intelligence-connected Western think tanks---one of which is the US Institute for Peace itself.

snip

The membership of the working groups is thoroughly dominated by figures from neoconservative, military-intelligence related Western think tanks, and outright intelligence fronts, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the RAND Corporation, the Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institution, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Brookings Institution, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the James Baker Institute for Public Policy and National Defense University (NDU). There are also officers with Bechtel and Citigroup.

The working groups are as follows:

Military and Security

Hans Binnedijk, National Defense University

James Jay Carafaro, Heritage Foundation

Michael Flournoy, CSIS

Michael Eisenstadt, Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Bruce Hoffman, Security Studies Program, Georgetown University

Clifford May, Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Kalev Sepp, Naval Postgraduate School

John Sigher, NDU

W. Andrew Terrill, Strategic Studies Institute

Jeffrey White, Washington Institute

Political Development

Reuel Marc Gerecht, AEI, neoconservative, and former CIA operative

Larry Diamond, Hoover Institution

Raymond Close, freelance analyst

Andrew Erdmann, National Security Council

David Mack, Middle East Institute

Augustus Norton, Boston University

Marina Ottaway, Carnegie Endowment

Judy Van Rest, International Republican Institute

Judith Yaphe, NDU

Economy and Reconstruction

Frederick Barton, CSIS

Jay Collins, Citigroup

Jack Covey, Bechtel

Keith Crane, RAND Corporation

Amy Jaffe, James Baker Institute for Public Policy

David Lipton, Citigroup

Michael O’Hanlon, Brookings Institution

James Placke, Cambridge Energy Research Associates

James Schear, NDU

Strategic Environment

Jon Altermann, CSIS

Steven Cook, Council on Foreign Relations

James Dobbins, RAND Corporation

Hillel Fradkin, Hudson Institute

Chas Freeman, Middle East Council

Geoffrey Kemp, Nixon Center

Dan Kurtzen, Princeton U.

Ellen Laipson, Henry Stimson Center

William Quandt, Brookings Institution

Shibley Yelhani, Brookings

Wayne White, Middle East Institute

The ISG’s military senior advisor panel consists of:

Admiral James Ellis, US Navy-retired

General John Keane, US Army-retired

General Edward Meyer, US Army-retired

General Joseph Ralston, US Air Force-retired

Lt. General Roger Schultz, SR., US Army-retired

snip

There is no guarantee that the Bush-Cheney hardliners will abide by the recommendations of this cover-up commission.

In any case, the world must brace for what could be a future that is more insidious, worse than what has already transpired. The world must oppose the legitimacy of the Iraq Study Group as fervently as it opposes the Bush administration’s continuing criminal war.

The Anglo-American Empire’s rampage across the Grand Chessboard has stumbled and derailed under the management of George W. Bush. The Iraq Study Group will restore it. That spells increasing danger for the world.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHI20061127&articleId=3987

[Philosoraptor]

7. Who the fuck ARE these people?

Are these the people who should all be arrested?

[peanutbrittle]

8. LOL.....yep....they look like

most of the same players that have their grip on the conflict of interest known as the Military Industrial Complex

Sibel:

Part 1 -

http://www.nswbc.org/Op%20Ed/Op-ed-Part1-Nov15-06.htm

Part 2 -

http://www.nswbc.org/Op%20Ed/Part2-FNL-Nov29-06.htm

[luckyleftyme2]

9. IT WILL BE

IT WILL BE A SAVE FACE CONTINUE THE STAY IN A SWEET ROLL PACKAGE,BUT STILL THE SAME OLE CHIT!

[maine_raptor]

10. Cliff May?????????????

You're kidding me, right?

That gasbag is someone that gives horse's ass a bad name.

[peanutbrittle]

13. The "Valerie Plame was not working undercover" Cliff May n/t

[maine_raptor]

14. Yea that jerk n/t

[annabanana]

11. Not if they contradict uncle dickie. . . .

I believe that he will spurn the best attempts of his Dad to salvage the family name and go with crazy uncle dick over the cliff....

[ClintonTyree]

12. Apparently not........

just yesterday Junior said that the U.S. isn't leaving Iraq until "the job is complete", which sounds an awful lot like "stay the course" to me.
Of course it could be just another lie in his avalanche of lies. Poppy's pals aren't going to let Junior break the Iraq toy they gave him anymore. They're going to try to get Junior to pick up his mess but the spoiled brat is sure to throw a tantrum. Will he go running home to Mommy? Again?
We shall see shortly. I believe they're supposed to come out with their new and improved guidelines for Junior today, aren't they?

[peanutbrittle]

15. I don't think it is until next week if I'm not mistaken, but it is apparently

in draft form now

[Jacobin]

16. It can give congress cover to reduce funding for war

and slowly bring the troops home.

Its better than nothing

[Philosoraptor]

17. -----------

[Beelzebud]

18. Nothing like outsourcing foreign policy and military decisions.

[MadHound]

19. The ISG isn't about ending this war

It is all about prolonging it as long as possible in order that the BFEE can continue to make their profits. No, the ISG's job is to make this prolongation as palatable as possible to US citizens so that they won't be forced to withdraw due to overwhelming public sentiment. My guess is that the ISG will say that we can't leave now for (insert reason du jour here), that there is an(indefinite) timetable for withdrawl, and please be patient until we do so.

The ISG is to give the public the impression that Bush is no longer running the war, that the adults are in charge of it, and that they know what they're doing. Having Bushboy front the war was becoming a disaster, so they sent Baker in to clean up the mess, and insure that the unholy profits from this war continue to flow into BFEE coffers.

[madokie]

20. normally no but in this case yes