Spokeswoman: Bush won't accept all proposals from Baker group

The Iraq Study Group

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Friday dismissed former Secretary of State James Baker's appeal that his Iraq recommendations be largely adopted as a whole and said President George W. Bush was considering various proposals for a change in course.

Democrats who will take control of the U.S. Congress in January piled pressure on Bush for a major shift in strategy after meeting him at the White House along with Republicans now in their waning days in power.

"Someone has to get the message to this man," said Nevada Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, soon to be the Senate majority leader, who has praised the work of the Iraq Study Group that issued its report on Wednesday.

In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Baker urged Congress to accept most if not all of the report's 79 recommendations as part of a comprehensive strategy and said Bush should do the same.

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

But White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the report by the group, led by Baker and former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton, would be considered along with internal reviews being conducted by the Pentagon, the State Department and the National Security Council.

Bush's goal is to outline a shift in course in a speech to be delivered before the Christmas holiday. He has given a cool response to two key recommendations -- talks with Iran and Syria and pulling back U.S. combat forces by early 2008.

"I understand that Secretary Baker's comment yesterday about the fruit salad is descriptive, I think, of how they feel about it; however, I don't think the president considers it as any type of food," Perino said.

Read the rest at the Washington Post