The Decider has an open mind

The White House has dismissed an appeal by James Baker, the former US secretary of state, that the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group be largely adopted as a whole.

Baker had appealed to Congress on Thursday to accept most, if not all, of the report's 79 recommendations for Iraq and said George Bush, the US president, should do the same.

Baker said: "I hope we don't treat this as a fruit salad, and say, 'I like this but I don't like that.'"

But White House officials said on Friday that the president was instead considering various proposals for a change in course.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said that Bush, "as commander in chief, still has the obligation to take seriously every bit of analysis and advice he gets and to make his own decisions."

"Open mind"

Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman, said on Friday the ISG report would be considered along with internal reviews conducted by the Pentagon, the state department and the national security council.

... Democratic senator Richard Durbin said Bush did not reject the report outright but "when he talked about his approach to Iraq, there was no indication of a change in basic strategy. He talked about changing some tactics."

Perino said Bush is keeping an "open mind" about recommendations from the bipartisan panel on ways to change US stratedy in Iraq. Read more

db: See, there is a whole bunch of 'reports' 'reviews' and suchlike currently being looked at. And what the President has to do, as commander in chief, is sit down and make his own mind up; giving due consideration to all those who offer council, and yet, at the same time, recognising that being The Decider is everything.