Google News - For all the buzz that Republican heavyweight Jim Baker has generated with his public talk about an alternative to the “stay-the-course’’ or “cut-and-run’’ approaches to the war in Iraq, it will be some time before the bipartisan Iraq Study Group which Baker co-chairs will offer any glimpse at any alternative course of action.
And the White House, which insists that the president will not “outsource’’ his duties as commander-in-chief, is reserving the right to shelve whatever Baker and Co. come up with.

The 10-member Iraq Study Group, commissioned by Congress with five Republicans and five Democrats, will not produce a report until after Election Day. After interviewing hundreds of officials and experts, the commission is only now asking its staff to start drafting a report And it’s premature to presuppose what the commission might say, Baker’s fellow co-chairman says, because the commission hasn’t made up its own collective mind yet.
“It is correct to say that we, at this point, the study group, have not ruled anything in or anything out,’’ said Lee Hamilton, former longtime Democratic congressman from Indiana, who serves as co-chairman of the group and also served as vice-chairman of the 9/11 Commission, in an interview with the Tribune. “Any speculation about what the report contains is unfounded, because we have not had the discussion of the study group yet… The group itself has not met to discuss recommendations.’’
Hear this about the report, though, from co-chairman Hamilton. “We will write our own report. It’s not going to be written by the White House. It’s not going to be written by the Congress.’’
Yet its advice may not be followed by the White House, press secretary Tony Snow suggested at his Friday press briefing.
“We're not trying to outsource the president's job as commander-in-chief,’’ Snow said. “The president continues to receive information and opinions from a wide variety of sources…
“I think there's an assumption that this is an outfit that, when they're finished, will present something, the president will duly follow its course,'' Snow said. "Maybe he will, maybe he won't, but he'll do it on the basis of his judgment.’’
Now, the White House isn’t about to tear up the work of the Jim Baker who ran the campaigns of the president’s father and who helped rescue the president from the 2000 election debacle in Florida. But the White House also has made a point of noting that this report will not simply be: 'Memo to Bush, from Baker.' It’s the work of Republicans, and Democrats.
“The Iraq Study Group was created pursuant to an act of Congress, and certainly we'll want to hear what the Democrats and Republicans on the bipartisan panel have to say,’’ Snow said. “But the president also listens to a lot of other voices, and he's going to do what he thinks best pursues the aim that we have always said we want to achieve, which is a democratic Iraq, an ally in the war on terror, that is able to sustain, govern and defend itself.’’
If those don’t sound like the words of an administration eager to change course, there's nothing to say the commission will chart a distinctly new course. For his part, Hamilton is saying nothing of where they might be headed - and suggests that Baker hasn’t really revealed much either.
“I think what Jim said was that there are options other than cut and run and staying the course,’’ he said. “And if you look carefully at his statement it was simply a statement of fact. He was not advocating anything… He was saying there are other options, and that is correct. He and I can’t walk out the door without people giving us recommendations.’’
Without tipping his hand, however, Hamilton hopes for a report worth reading:
“Our approach is to try to be forward-looking and progressive… We will offer some recommendations to move forward,'' he said. "We will do our best to achieve a consensus among the group… So far, we have proceeded on a very bipartisan and collegial basis…. We are doing our level beset to try to figure out what’s good for the country.’’