WILL JIM BAKER THROW ISRAEL UNDER THE BUS ... AGAIN?

JIM BAKER IS READY FOR ISRAEL TO MAKE SACRIFICES SO THAT THE U.S. CAN EXTRICATE ITSELF FROM IRAQ. BAKER WANTS TO BEG FOR THE HELP OF TERRORISTS AND AMERICA'S ENEMIES AND OFFER THEM ISRAELI CONCESSIONS IN EXCHANGE.

Iraq Panel to Recommend Pullback of Combat Troops - David E. Sanger and David S. Cloud
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group reached a consensus on Wednesday on a final report that will call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades now in Iraq but stop short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal. As described by the people involved in the deliberations, the bulk of the report focused on a recommendation that the U.S. devise a far more aggressive diplomatic initiative in the Middle East than Mr. Bush has been willing to try so far, including direct engagement with Iran and Syria. Initially, those contacts might be part of a regional conference on Iraq or broader Middle East peace issues, like the Israeli-Palestinian situation, but they would ultimately involve direct, high-level talks with Tehran and Damascus. (New York Times)

See also Baker Panel Aide Expects Israel Will Be Pressed - Eli Lake (New York Sun)
WASHINGTON — An expert adviser to the Baker-Hamilton commission expects the 10-person panel to recommend that the Bush administration pressure Israel to make concessions in a gambit to entice Syria and Iran to a regional conference on Iraq.

The assessment was shared in a confidential memorandum — obtained yesterday by The New York Sun — to expert advisers to the commission from a former CIA station chief for Saudi Arabia, Raymond Close. Mr. Close is a member of the expert group advising the commission and was a strong advocate throughout the panel’s deliberations for renewed American diplomacy with Iran and Syria. In the memo, Mr. Close shares his “personal predictions and expectations” for what the Iraq Study Group will recommend in its final report next month.

Mr. Close writes that he expects the study group to urge President Bush to convene a regional conference “to enlist the support of neighboring states in establishing stability in Iraq.” Among the participants in the regional conference should be “all principal states of the region,” including Iran, Syria, and Israel. The inclusion of Israel, according to Mr. Close, is crucial because it will provide the only leverage by which Iran and Syria can be enticed to help stabilize Iraq.

“To have any realistic chance of success, I believe that the process would have to start with the announcement of a major initiative, promoted and vigorously supported by the United States, to reach a comprehensive resolution to the Israel-Arab crisis through a process of reasonable compromise and accommodation between Israel and its Arab neighbors,” he writes.

While it is widely expected that the Baker-Hamilton commission will recommend renewed diplomacy with Iran and Syria in an effort to share the burden in stabilizing the country, the content of such negotiations has until now been a mystery. According to Mr. Close, the talks will center around a resolution of the conflict between the Jewish state and the Arab and Islamic world.

SEE ALSO: Will James Baker Stay True to Form? (American Thinker) and Baker's sellout plan By Dick Morris & Eileen Mc Gann

IRAN AND SYRIA ARE NOT AMERICA'S ALLIES. ISRAEL IS.

Talking to the Rogues - Editorial
One of the worst-kept secrets in Washington is the Iraq Study Group's expected recommendation that the U.S. negotiate over Iraq's future with rogue regimes in Iran and Syria - whose support for terrorist groups and militias helped turn post-Saddam Iraq into a powderkeg in the first place. The Bush administration - like many of its predecessors - has tried time and again to resolve differences with Tehran and Damascus at the most senior levels. With both governments, the result has been a nearly unbroken series of diplomatic failures dating back to Jimmy Carter's presidency. (Washington Times)

See also Iran and Syria Aren't Our Friends in Iraq - Max Boot
We would have to offer Syria and Iran some mighty enticing carrots to get them to cooperate in a U.S.-led rescue effort for Iraq. Tehran would most likely demand, at a minimum, a guarantee that we would do nothing to foster regime change in Iran or stop its nuclear program. Syrian President Bashar Assad, for his part, would most likely seek an end to the international tribunal investigating the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri because any trial would probably implicate Syrian officials. Are these wishes that Washington could or should accommodate? Do we want to betray the democratic revolution in Lebanon? Do we want to give Iran's loony president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, carte blanche to build nuclear weapons? And all in return for dubious promises that may not make any difference in Iraq? (Los Angeles Times)

SEE ALSO: Iranian Weapons Arm Iraqi Militia (ABC NEWS)