Panetta, one of the Democrats on the commission and President Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff, says Hadley began by listing those recommendations Bush had chosen to incorporate into his plan. Most were minor, according to Panetta. “I interrupted him and said that while we made 79 recommendations, three were the heart and soul of the report,” Panetta told NEWSWEEK, citing the drawdown of U.S. troops by next year, the need to penalize the Iraqi government if benchmarks were not met and the call for diplomacy with Iran and Syria. Hadley’s response–the three were not part of the Bush plan–left Panetta feeling hoodwinked. “Mainly I’m offended by the way they created the impression they gave it consideration but really didn’t.” (A National Security Council official confirmed the exchange.)
A month ago, members of the graybeard Iraq Study Group were rock stars in Washington. Their report appeared to herald a return to pragmatism in Iraq, and the published version whizzed to the top of The New York Times best-seller list (fifth, as of last week, in the nonfiction paperback category). Now Hamilton, Baker and the rest are back running academic institutes or consulting firms, gone and maybe forgotten.
Or are they? Baker and Hamilton are returning to Congress this month to testify before key committees and argue for a wider diplomatic push in the Middle East. “I think you may be seeing our coming out more publicly,” says Edward Djerejian, Baker’s top adviser. (His boss is known to think that while the troop surge can be squared with the panel’s recommendations, Bush’s refusal to engage Iran and especially Syria diplomatically is the real mistake.) With opponents on both sides of the aisle predicting that Bush’s surge will fail, some Capitol Hill insiders are talking about the ISG report as a kind of Plan B, to be revisited a few months down the road. “Even if it’s not the star people thought it would become, the north star, it’s still there, and a lot of what’s in it will probably happen anyway,” says a senior Democratic staffer in the Senate who did not have his boss’s permission to speak on record.
If other panelists are disappointed, they’re not letting on. Democrat Vernon Jordan says he knew from the start Bush would pick and choose: “I’m not walking around wounded.” Ditto Alan Simpson, the Republican former senator from Wyoming: “We’re all grown-up boys and girls. We didn’t stick our thumbs in our mouths and pout.” Edwin Meese, the Republican who served as Ronald Reagan’s attorney general, thought Bush actually incorporated most of the panel’s recommendations. And Hamilton says the panel “changed the debate” on Iraq, affecting the language Bush used in his speech.
If that sounds like cold comfort, there’s always the report’s financial success to savor. Publisher Vintage Books says 280,000 copies have already been shipped to stores, not bad for a policy manual. No, Baker et al. don’t get a windfall. After commission expenses are paid, a portion of the money goes to the National Military Family Association, which supports the spouses and children of soldiers in service. With more troops heading to Iraq, it’s money well spent.
