SENATOR CLINTON: Thank you very much again, gentlemen, for your service to our country once again. I think you can tell from the tenor and content of the questions that we're searching for the best way to implement a series of policies and actions that might possibly move us forward. As I listen to you and as I reviewed the report, I am basically hearing two overriding suggestions one that we have to engender the will and assist the capacity of the Iraqi government to take the political and economic actions necessary to stabilize itself and our biggest stick in order to do that is to make it clear we are not there unconditionally, we are not going to be babysitting a civil war, we are not going to take sides in sectarian violence. Is that a correct statement number one?

CONGRESSMAN HAMILTON: I think it is a correct statement but I do not think it is the only leverage we have-- the troop level. I think the conditionality of aid is another leverage. I also think if you play it right the regional diplomacy which Jim has been talking about can be used very effectively as a leverage on the Iraqi government. But you are right. We think you have to encourage the Iraqi government to act and the military troop level is a very, very important part of that

SENATOR CLINTON: But let me follow up and ask about our own government because you have a series of recommendations that are quite­­-- both comprehensive and challenging. The idea of a Goldwater/Nichols process that would get us where we need to be. That took decades. We know it was contentious . It made significant changes, we don’t have time for that. You’ve got other recommendations that talk about engaging the entire US government using all the tool at our disposal. We’ve now heard from the Iraq study Group but we need the White House to become the Iraq Results Group. That is very frustrating for some of us. We don’t understand the misjudgments and missteps that have been taken in the last years. What advice can you give us as to the role the Congress can play to try to help create the conditions that our own government will muster both the will and capacity to act along the lines that you’ve recommended and that I think we in general agree need to be pursued?

SECRETARY BAKER: Senator Clinton I think that if the Congress were to-- In addition to praising this report, which many members of Congress have, and for which we are grateful, if the Congress could say “this is a good basis for going forward and unifying the country behind a single approach to this difficult problem of Iraq,” that would help, I think, the executive branch in its deliberations. They just got the report yesterday, just like you just got it yesterday. We’ve heard differing views hear with respect to many of the recommendations. If the Congress could get together behind supporting, let’s say utopianly, all of the recommendations of this report, that would do a lot toward moving things downtown, in my opinion.

CONGRESSMAN HAMILTON: The Congress is a co-equal branch of government. I frankly am not that impressed with what the Congress has been able to do. I think the Congress has been extraordinarily timid in its exercise of its Constitutional responsibilities on the question of war-making and conducting war. Now the answers here are not easy, but in a word, I think, very robust oversight is necessary. I think it has been lacking. I think it has not been a strong performance by the Congress. And what can you do to most ensure success of the policy? I would say very vigorous robust oversight. Many of the problems that you mentioned that have occurred that we did not examine because we thought it was out of our mandate I think could have been corrected with vigorous oversight.

SENATOR CLINTON: Thank you.

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