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SW: →Baker-Hamilton Commission Recommendations: expanded narrative
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==Baker-Hamilton Commission Recommendations==
The draft report on "strategies for Iraq" will be debated by the Iraq Study Group on Monday, December 4, 2006. The report "urges an aggressive regional diplomatic initiative that includes direct talks with Iran and Syria but sets no timetables for a military withdrawal, according to officials who have seen all or parts of the document." [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/27/world/middleeast/27policy.html]
"While the diplomatic strategy appears likely to be accepted, with some amendments, by the 10-member Iraq Study Group, members of the commission and outsiders involved in its work said they expected a potentially divisive debate about timetables for beginning an American withdrawal." [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/27/world/middleeast/27policy.html]
Baker, who served as President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s first chief of staff and then as secretary of state and campaign manager for President Bush's father, President [[George H.W. Bush]], "with a long-standing reputation of caution and service to Republican presidents, is joining a growing list of prominent Republicans lobbying for change in President George W. Bush's [[Bush doctrine|Iraq policy]]," the Associated Press [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/10/america/NA_GEN_US_James_Baker_Iraq.php reported] October 10, 2006.