The Iraq Security Group led by former Secretary of State Jim Baker is about to release it’s report, and despite all the window dressing about finding a ‘new way forward’ it looks like the bottom line is simple: Let’s get out of Iraq. Of course the politicians and diplomats aren’t putting it quite that bluntly, but anyone who remembers the rhetorical fig leaves brandished at the end of the Vietnam War has a feeling of ‘déjà vu.’

The question the pundits are speculating on is whether President Bush will go along. Will he reverse course or stick to his guns? That’s naïve. It’s hard to believe Bush would have selected Secretary Baker (a long-time family loyalist) to lead the new commission unless he was confident Baker would do what he wanted.

We’re losing the war in Iraq, and the option of ‘staying the course’ was killed by the election. Doing more is not even a possibility because, as John McCain says, it means sending more troops to Iraq; politically, no one even dares propose that. So, getting out with all the fig leaves the best political brains can dream up, today, seems the best option. The problem is it leaves one question unanswered: Where will the terrorists strike next?

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