Abbreviated Table of Contents
I. ASSESSMENT
A. Assessment of the Current Situation in Iraq
B. Consequences of Continued Decline in Iraq
C. Some Alterrnative Courses in Iraq
D. Achieving Our Goals
II. THE WAY FORWARD—A NEW APPROACH
A. The External Approach: Building an International Consensus
B. The Internal Approach: Helping Iraqis Help Themselves
James A. Baker, III - Co-Chair
James A. Baker, III has served in senior government positions under
three United States presidents. He served as the nation's 61st
Secretary of State from January 1989 through August 1992 under
President George H. W. Bush. During his tenure at the State
Department, Mr. Baker traveled to 90 foreign countries as the
United States confronted the unprecedented challenges and
opportunities of the post-Cold War era. Mr. Baker's reflections on
those years of revolution, war, and peace-The Politics of
Diplomacy-was published in 1995.
Mr. Baker served as the 67th Secretary of the Treasury from 1985 to
1988 under President Ronald Reagan. As Treasury Secretary, he was
also Chairman of the President's Economic Policy Council. From 1981
to 1985, he served as White House Chief of Staff to President
Reagan. Mr. Baker's record of public service began in 1975 as Under
Secretary of Commerce to President Gerald Ford. It concluded with
his service as White House Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor to
President Bush from August 1992 to January 1993.
Long active in American presidential politics, Mr. Baker led
presidential campaigns for Presidents Ford, Reagan, and Bush over
the course of five consecutive presidential elections from 1976 to
1992.
A native Houstonian, Mr. Baker graduated from Princeton University
in 1952. After two years of active duty as a lieutenant in the
United States Marine Corps, he entered the University of Texas
School of Law at Austin. He received his J.D. with honors in 1957
and practiced law with the Houston firm of Andrews and Kurth from
1957 to 1975.
Mr. Baker's memoir-Work Hard, Study . . . and Keep Out of Politics!
Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life-was published
in October 2006.
Mr. Baker received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991 and
has been the recipient of many other awards for distinguished
public service, including Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson
Award, the American Institute for Public Service's Jefferson Award,
Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government Award,
the Hans J. Morgenthau Award, the George F. Kennan Award, the
Department of the Treasury's Alexander Hamilton Award, the
Department of State's Distinguished Service Award, and numerous
honorary academic degrees.
Mr. Baker is presently a senior partner in the law firm of Baker
Botts. He is Honorary Chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute
for Public Policy at Rice University and serves on the board of the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute. From 1997 to 2004, Mr. Baker
served as the Personal Envoy of United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan to seek a political solution to the conflict over
Western Sahara. In 2003, Mr. Baker was appointed Special
Presidential Envoy for President George W. Bush on the issue of
Iraqi debt. In 2005, he was co-chair, with former President Jimmy
Carter, of the Commission on Federal Election Reform. Since March
2006, Mr. Baker and former U.S. Congressman Lee H. Hamilton have
served as the co-chairs of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan
blue-ribbon panel on Iraq.
Mr. Baker was born in Houston, Texas, in 1930. He and his wife, the
former Susan Garrett, currently reside in Houston, and have eight
children and seventeen grandchildren.
Lee H. Hamilton - Co-Chair
Lee H. Hamilton became Director of the Woodrow Wilson International
Center for Scholars in January 1999. Previously, Mr. Hamilton
served for thirty-four years as a United States Congressman from
Indiana. During his tenure, he served as Chairman and Ranking
Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (now the Committee
on International Relations) and chaired the Subcommittee on Europe
and the Middle East from the early 1970s until 1993. He was
Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intellige
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