No graceful exit

No graceful exit: "The Baker Commission will reportedly advocate the beginning of troop withdrawals but leave unclear what the pace of such a pullback should be and whether combat brigades would merely be redeployed to safer bases inside Iraq. According to the Times, the study group is fixated on Washington's favorite fig leaf, a diplomatic effort designed to obscure the weakness of the American position by reaching out to Iran and Syria.

It is easy to guess why the commission has apparently confused blandness with boldness: an irresistible temptation to tiptoe through the tulips in trying to sway the dead-enders in the White House. Baker and his Democratic co-chairman Lee Hamilton clearly believed that a 10-0 consensus -- even with blurry language -- was more potent than a sharply worded, but divided, committee report.

Still, many in Washington believe that the imprimatur of Baker and Company alone will work miracles. 'It's the preface to the final stage,' said a prominent Republican who has served in prior administrations. 'It sends the message that Republicans are pretty frustrated on the ground in Iraq and pretty frustrated on the ground at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It makes the White House know that 'stay the course' at any level is not a winning solution.'"

(Via Salon.)