The Wolf Has The Car Keys

This is big. Here are the Wolf's (Bush family lawyer James A. Baker III) recommendations out of the Iraq Study Group's papers, the one commissioned by Virginian US Congressman Frank Wolf. These won't be going officially public until after the November 7th elections, but there's a mole in the group willing to talk. Here's the headline:

Baker's Panel Rules Out Iraq Victory

There are two option papers the ISG will be presenting:

1) Redeploy and Contain
2) Stability First

Selected quotes:

"Stabilizing Iraq will be impossible without greater cooperation from Iran and Syria."

"The United States should aim for stability particularly in Baghdad and political accommodation in Iraq rather than victory."

What it means: what it says. Redeploy and Contain means a troop draw-down and political accomodation with both Iran and Syria, and with the Sunnis, Kurds, and Turks. Stability First means political accomodation with the Turks, Kurds, Sunnis, and with both Iran and Syria, followed by a troop draw-down. If Dubya doesn't change his tune right after the elections, Daddy will be hiring people to give him a permanent spanking, only I'm not sure yet if we're going to be watching a version of Macbeth or King Lear.

My favorite part of Pulp Fiction is where Harvey Keitel speeds in to save the collective ass of Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, and Quentin Tarantino, and I'm a no-longer secret admirer of Jim Baker. That's why I call him The Wolf. The man can negotiate a deal between a killer whale and a seal. In my work, I sometimes have to sit down and make the best of a situation which got bad without my help; the tensions can run pretty high, but even my best days were a lot less glamorous than what Winston Wolfe and James Baker the Third get to do.