James Addison Baker III

James Addison Baker III served as Secretary of State (and Chief of Staff) under George Herbert Walker Bush and was Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Treasury (1985-1988) under Ronald Reagan. He was Undersecretary of Commerce under Gerald R. Ford. Baker also served on the National Security Council.

Baker and Iraq

In March 2006, Congress appointed Baker as Co-Chair of the Iraq Study Group. In December 2003, President George W. Bush named Baker as Envoy on Iraq Debt.

Other Affiliations

• Chairman of the Baker Institute for Public Policy
• Co-Chair of the Eurasia Foundation
• Member, Honorary Council of Advisors, US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce
• Member, Board of Governors for the Partnership for Public Service
• Member, Board of Counselors for Layalina Productions
• Honorary Director, Atlantic Council of the United States
• Senior Counsel to the Carlyle Group
• Believed to be a member of the Council on Foreign Relations

Related SourceWatch Resources

• Bank of Credit and Commerce International
• George H.W. Bush administration
• Reagan administration
• Robert Zoellick

External Links

Profiles

• James Baker in the Wikipedia.

Articles & Commentary

2003

• Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball, "A Legal Counterattack. Saudis hire some of the toniest U.S. law firms to defend them against the landmark $1 trillion lawsuit on behalf of the victims of 9-11. So why is the plaintiff’s counsel ecstatic? Plus, new heat on radical imam," Newsweek (MSNBC), April 16, 2003.
• Bush Names Former Secretary of State Baker as Envoy on Iraq Debt. Huge debt burden endangers Iraq's long-term prospects, he says, U.S. Department of State, December 5, 2003: "Bush said the appointment came in response to a request by the Iraqi Governing Council for help in lowering the country's debt, which has been estimated at more than $125 billion."
• Jacqui S. Porth, CPA Advisor Senor Says Reducing Iraq's Debt Is a High Priority. Iraq's council welcomes announcement of Baker as U.S. envoy, U.S. Department of State, December 5, 2003.
• Iraq finance minister welcomes US appointment of debt envoy, Agence France Presse, December 5, 2003.
• Steve Holland, Bush Picks Friend Baker as Iraq Debt Envoy, Reuters, December 5, 2003.
• Elisabeth Bumiller, Baker Is Named to Restructure Iraq's Huge Debt, New York Times, December 6, 2003: "The appointment of Mr. Baker, a longtime Bush family confidant and troubleshooter, was, in effect, a public admission by the White House that the occupation and reconstruction of Iraq is a more urgent problem than officials acknowledge. Over Mr. Baker's decades of friendship with the Bush family, both father and son have turned to him when things have gone wrong, and Mr. Baker has for the most part delivered."
• Greg Palast, Baker Takes the Loaf. President's Business Partner Slices Up Iraq, TomPaine.com, December 8, 2003.
• James Ridgeway, Settling Some Debts. Like Fox to Henhouse, Baker Goes to Iraq, Village Voice, December 10, 2003: "The appointment of James Baker, a senior partner at Baker Botts, the big Houston law firm, ought to be a reassuring sign to Big Oil and other Bush-Cheney cronies trying to divvy up the spoils in Iraq."
• Paying Off Debts, MotherJones, December 11, 2003: "Cronyism has been elevated to a principle of government by the Bush administration, so the latest high-level appointment in Iraq comes as no surprise."
• U.S. Envoy Baker Leaves Monday for Iraq Debt Tour, Reuters, December 11, 2003.
• Cutting James Baker's Ties, New York Times, December 12, 2003.
• US gets Iraq debt relief support, BBC, December 16, 2003: "The US has won agreement from France and Germany on the need to reduce Iraq's debt to help the country rebuild its battered economy."
• Hussain Khan, "Baker's mission impossible," Asia Times, December 18, 2003. Any debt forgiveness or restructuring will come with strings attached.
• Naomi Klein, "It's greed, not ideology, that rules the White House. Why the US wants Iraq's debts cancelled - and Argentina's paid in full," Guardian Unlimited (UK), December 23, 2003: "In the days leading up to Baker's drop-the-debt tour, there was virtual consensus that the former US secretary of state had been sabotaged by deputy defence secretary Paul Dundes Wolfowitz, whose move to shut out 'non-coalition' partners from reconstruction contracts in Iraq of $18.6bn seemed designed to make Baker look a hypocrite. ... Only now it turns out that Wolfowitz may not have been undermining Baker, but rather acting as his enforcer. He showed up with a big stick to point out 'the threat of economic exclusion from Iraq's potential $500bn reconstruction' just as Baker was about to speak softly."

2006

• Robert Dreyfuss, "A Higher Power. James Baker puts Bush's Iraq policy into rehab," Washington Monthly, September 2006. Cross-posted at truthout.org.
• David E. Sanger, "Baker Sees Iraq Panel Departing From Bush Strategy," New York Times, October 8, 2006.
• Sean-Paul Kelley, "Baker Commission, Isn't It Obvious?" The Agonist, October 9, 2006.
• Steve Watson, "Figureheads On The Chopping Block. Big oil interests have had enough of being bashed over Iraq, Rumsfeld sacrificed, 'Democratic Revolution' a good cop/bad cop smokescreen , Two factions emerge, Is Cheney next?" Infowars.com, November 8, 2006.
• Walter Isaacson, "The Return of the Realists," TIME Magazine, November 12, 2006.
• Michael Kinsley, "Bake Me a Cake, Baker Man. Why the Baker commission won't fix Iraq," Slate, November 13, 2006.
• Trudy Rubin, "Bush's last resort: dad's deal makers," The Baltimore Sun, November 14, 2006.
• Austin Bay, "James Baker and the Desert Storm legacy," Townhall.com, November 15, 2006.
• Christopher Hitchens, "Look Who's Cutting and Running Now. James Baker is the last guy we should listen to about Iraq," Slate, November 20, 2006.
• Editorial: "James Baker's Record," Washington Times, December 1, 2006.
• Rick Casey, "Baker's half-dozen committees," Houston Chronicle December 5, 2006.
• Robert Bryce, "Omitting the Obvious with James Baker. From the S&L Crisis to the Iraq Study Group," CounterPunch, December 6, 2006.
• Ken Silverstein, "Bride of Aliyev: James Baker and the Protector of Baby House 1," Harper's Magazine, December 6, 2006.
• "James Baker's New Test In Diplomacy. Co-Chair Of Iraq Study Group Has Been A Political Operative And Statesman, Often To The 1st President Bush," CBS News, December 6, 2006.
• Sidney Blumenthal, "Beating off the rescue party. Just as he ignored accurate intelligence on Iraq, Bush will dismiss the Baker Commission's tough-minded proposals for salvaging his botched war," Salon, December 7, 2006. Subscription or preview required.
• Antonia Juhasz, "Oil for Sale: Iraq Study Group Recommends Privatization," AlterNet, December 7, 2006. re Oil and War in Iraq
• Max Henninger, "The Return of the Realists?" Spiegel Online (Germany), December 7, 2006.