James A Iii Baker

His hair was a touch thinner, the skin on his face less taut. At one point Wednesday, James A. Baker III joked that he was presiding over a "bunch of has-beens" as he unveiled the findings of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel of former government officials charged with charting a new course for the United States in Iraq.

In a report to be presented today to President Bush and congressional leaders, former President Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III are recommending a widespread overhaul of election practices to make it easier for Americans to vote and to guarantee that their votes are counted.

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III resigned as the top U.N. envoy to Western Sahara after years of frustrated attempts to resolve the conflict between Morocco and independence-seeking rebels, a U.N. spokesman said. Baker had grown increasingly frustrated in his job as Secretary-General Kofi Annan's personal envoy. He was initially unable to arrange a referendum on the territory's future and later failed to get Morocco to accept his peace plan.

President Bush on Friday called in his family's trusted troubleshooter, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, to take on the thorny job of persuading other countries to forgive or restructure Iraq's immense debt. Baker's appointment places one of the closest friends of Bush's father at the front line of one of the current president's touchiest problems: how Iraq affects relations between the U.S. and the international community.

The Republican Party was awash in Gulf War nostalgia last week--further proof that, when it comes to foreign policy, the party stalwarts find it much easier to dwell in the past than the present. The stars of the George Bush Administration's foreign policy team--National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney--gathered before a Republican audience for a symposium on "The Lessons of the Gulf War."