Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
November 15, 2006
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — The bipartisan commission examining strategic options for Iraq reached out on Tuesday to top Democrats from the Clinton White House — beginning with former President Bill Clinton himself.
The Iraq Study Group interviewed at least four other members of the Clinton administration: both of Mr. Clinton’s secretaries of state, Madeleine K. Albright and Warren Christopher; the former ambassador to the United Nations, Richard C. Holbrooke; and the former national security adviser, Samuel R. Berger.
The group also spoke Tuesday by video link with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain.
The Iraq Study Group is led by James A. Baker III, former secretary of state under the first President Bush, and Lee H. Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman. The panel is expected to issue recommendations by the end of the year.
According to a British official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with civil service rules, Mr. Blair used his session to reiterate many points he made in a major foreign policy address on Monday night, when he said Western strategy in the Middle East must “evolve,” possibly to include a “partnership” with Iran.
On Tuesday, the official said, the prime minister told the panel that the key to the region’s problems was a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, and that Western countries should press Iran and Syria to make a “strategic choice” between cooperating in regional diplomacy or isolation.
“You don’t wait,” the official said, recounting what he said were Mr. Blair’s remarks to the panel. “You move forward, and you put it up to Iran and Syria: are they going to be part of the positive drive forward, or are they not?”
President Bush is under growing pressure to shift course in Iraq. Mr. Blair’s speech on Monday has been widely interpreted as a call for more aggressive engagement with Iran and Syria of the sort Mr. Bush has been unwilling to pursue. At home, Democrats, who swept into the majority in Congress during last week’s midterm elections, are pressing for troop reductions in Iraq.
As a result of the calls for change, the work of the Iraq Study Group is being closely watched in Washington. The group met Monday with President Bush and members of his foreign policy team.
On Tuesday, the group spent about 90 minutes with Mr. Christopher, Mr. Holbrooke and Mr. Berger; Ms. Albright, who was in Minneapolis for a speaking engagement, participated briefly by telephone. Details were scant; Mr. Christopher later described it as “an excellent meeting,” adding, “The commission is obviously steeped in the subject and very well prepared.”
Mr. Clinton, whose session with the group lasted about 90 minutes, was not on the public list of those meeting with the panel. His spokesman, Jay Carson, said the former president “was happy to meet” with the group, adding, “He gave his thoughts on how best we can achieve the goals that almost everyone wants — a secure and stable Iraq with our troops home safely as soon as possible.”
Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London.
November 15, 2006
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — The bipartisan commission examining strategic options for Iraq reached out on Tuesday to top Democrats from the Clinton White House — beginning with former President Bill Clinton himself.
The Iraq Study Group interviewed at least four other members of the Clinton administration: both of Mr. Clinton’s secretaries of state, Madeleine K. Albright and Warren Christopher; the former ambassador to the United Nations, Richard C. Holbrooke; and the former national security adviser, Samuel R. Berger.
The group also spoke Tuesday by video link with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain.
The Iraq Study Group is led by James A. Baker III, former secretary of state under the first President Bush, and Lee H. Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman. The panel is expected to issue recommendations by the end of the year.
According to a British official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with civil service rules, Mr. Blair used his session to reiterate many points he made in a major foreign policy address on Monday night, when he said Western strategy in the Middle East must “evolve,” possibly to include a “partnership” with Iran.
On Tuesday, the official said, the prime minister told the panel that the key to the region’s problems was a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, and that Western countries should press Iran and Syria to make a “strategic choice” between cooperating in regional diplomacy or isolation.
“You don’t wait,” the official said, recounting what he said were Mr. Blair’s remarks to the panel. “You move forward, and you put it up to Iran and Syria: are they going to be part of the positive drive forward, or are they not?”
President Bush is under growing pressure to shift course in Iraq. Mr. Blair’s speech on Monday has been widely interpreted as a call for more aggressive engagement with Iran and Syria of the sort Mr. Bush has been unwilling to pursue. At home, Democrats, who swept into the majority in Congress during last week’s midterm elections, are pressing for troop reductions in Iraq.
As a result of the calls for change, the work of the Iraq Study Group is being closely watched in Washington. The group met Monday with President Bush and members of his foreign policy team.
On Tuesday, the group spent about 90 minutes with Mr. Christopher, Mr. Holbrooke and Mr. Berger; Ms. Albright, who was in Minneapolis for a speaking engagement, participated briefly by telephone. Details were scant; Mr. Christopher later described it as “an excellent meeting,” adding, “The commission is obviously steeped in the subject and very well prepared.”
Mr. Clinton, whose session with the group lasted about 90 minutes, was not on the public list of those meeting with the panel. His spokesman, Jay Carson, said the former president “was happy to meet” with the group, adding, “He gave his thoughts on how best we can achieve the goals that almost everyone wants — a secure and stable Iraq with our troops home safely as soon as possible.”
Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London.