The Bush administration said yesterday that former secretary of state James A. Baker III will not join the Iraq reconstruction effort, as some administration officials had hoped.
Baker was among several prominent figures some administration officials hoped to entice into taking charge of specific tasks related to the rebuilding process, such as seeking money from other countries or restructuring Iraq's debt.
State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher said at his daily briefing that neither Baker nor Secretary of State Colin L. Powell "had ever heard about it -- it's a dead parrot."
Well, well... Wonder why not? Maybe Baker wants to keep spending time with his family? And who are the other "prominent figures" who just don't want to get involved?