Have you wondered who are the members of the
Iraq Study Group? How will their recommendations be shaped by their partisan affiliations and previous government backgrounds?
Here's the membership of ISG, according to the sponsor of the group. "The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, nonpartisan, national institution established and funded by Congress."
"The Iraq Study Group is a bipartisan group of prominent Americans supported by four premier institutions. It is led by co-chairs James A. Baker, III, the nation's 61st Secretary of State and Honorary Chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, and Lee H. Hamilton, former Congressman and Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars."
The other members of the study group include: Lawrence S. Eagleburger, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Edwin Meese III , Sandra Day O'Connor, Leon E. Panetta, William J. Perry, Charles S. Robb, and Alan K. Simpson.
More on the membership division in extended body below.
Democratic Leaning:
- Lee Hamilton (Co Chair)
- Vernon Jordan, Jr.
- Leon Panetta
- William J. Perry
- Charles S. Robb
Republican Leaning:
- James A. Baker (Co Chair)
- Lawrence Eagleburger
- Edwin Meese
- Sandra Day O'Connor
- Alan Simpson
Jim Baker is the dominant personality in this group - as well as a complete Bush family toady - and Lee Hamilton will not be much more than a moderating factor, if that. Baker is the guy Bush II called in to head up the theft of the 2000 election in Florida. He is super smooth and super partisan.
Larry Eagleburger, Ed Meese, and Alan Simpson are strong Republican voices. Sandra Day O'Connor is an unknown, and will likely try to be a swing vote just as she was in the final years on SCOTUS.
All of the Dems are strong personalities, but much more likely to try to be non-partisan than the Repubs. Vernon Jordon really has no military/national security/foreign affairs experience, and represents more of a corporate view than a Democratic view.
Since Baker has said publicly that the ISG is meeting with Bush II to find out what would be acceptable to Bush, we can't count on any strong recommendations for withdrawal to be forthcoming. So Dems, hold your fire, but keep the verbal weapons handy, because we may need to fight to prevent the Congressional Dems all lineing up to endorse more of the stay-the-course (or increase troops) under some other label.
This isn't going to be a group that recommends a firm timetable for withdrawal, and any short-term (<1 year) reduction of troops.