Giuliani: Joining Iraq Group a Mistake
By MIKE GLOVER | Wednesday, June 20, 2007
DES MOINES, Iowa - Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday it was a mistake for him to join the Iraq Study Group, on which he lasted just two months and failed to show for any official meetings. The former New York mayor has tried to tamp down criticism in recent days after Newsday reported that Giuliani was a no-show for two of the group's meetings and instead attended paid public appearances.
"I thought it would work, but then after a month or two I realized the idea that I was possibly going to run for president would be inconsistent with that," Giuliani said during a campaign stop in Iowa.
Giuliani said the main reason he quit was that it "didn't seem that I would really be able to keep the thing focused on a bipartisan, nonpolitical resolution."
The group was headed by James A. Baker III, secretary of state under the first President Bush and former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana. Among its members were former Reagan Attorney General Edwin Meese III, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and one-time Clinton chief of staff Leon Panetta.
The group issued an unanimous report calling for a gradual troop pullback in Iraq without setting firm timetables and more regional diplomacy. Its bipartisan work was hailed by members of both parties.
Giuliani, who often speaks of his leadership skills, said he decided the group was the wrong place for him.