James Baker
James Addison Baker III ( born April 28, 1930 in Houston, Texas ) is an American politician and diplomat. He was from 1989 to 1992 Secretary of State under President George Bush.
Study and work as a lawyer
Baker is the son of the lawyer James Addison Baker, Jr. and his wife Ethel Bonner Means († 1991). He studied at Princeton University. From 1952 to 1954 he served as a lieutenant in the Marine Corps, after which he studied law at the University of Texas at Austin, where he in 1957 as Dr. jur. doctorate. Until 1975 he worked in a law firm.
He also began a political career. He was first a member of the Democrats, but then switched to the Republicans. In 1970, he led an unsuccessful campaign of George Bush when he himself ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate and the Democrat Lloyd Bentsen defeated.
Political rise
From 1975 he worked in the Ministry of Trade in the government of President Gerald Ford, and in 1976 was head of its election campaign. In 1980, he initiated a re- election campaign for George Bush, namely in the primaries for the presidential election against Republican competitors Ronald Reagan. Reagan won both these primaries and the subsequent election against incumbent Jimmy Carter. George Bush was Vice President, and Baker was in 1981 appointed by Reagan chief of staff of the White House. A post he held until 1985, when he was finance minister in Reagan's second cabinet.
Secretary of State under George Bush
In the U.S. presidential election 1988 he was again the election campaign of George Bush, against Michael Dukakis was successful this time. Baker was appointed by Bush to the Foreign Minister. He took in 1990 to the " Two-plus- Four negotiations ", where he appeared as a strong advocate of German unity. The support of the U.S. is considered an important cause of their success.
During the Second Gulf War in 1991, he forged the Alliance for the Liberation of Kuwait under the mandate of the United Nations. For his services he was in the same year was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Activity since 1992
On August 23, 1992 Baker resigned as foreign minister and was again chief of staff at the White House. After the defeat Bush against Bill Clinton in the presidential election in 1992 Baker worked again as a lawyer. He was hired as a consultant for Enron in 1993.
In 1997, he was appointed UN Special Envoy for the Western Sahara conflict. In 2004 he retired from this post because it did not succeed in reaching an agreement between Morocco, which had annexed the land, and the POLISARIO, which " Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic " as the representative of looks to achieve. During this time, Baker designed two plans, which should allow a referendum in Western Sahara.
This plan is also called framework agreement, but both parties could not accept the proposal. The Frente Polisario, because she could not fail to see how their situation should be backed up.
This plan contains only small changes compared to the Baker I plan, but it is now made to the protection of a Sahrawi autonomy. This is a limited autonomy for disposition that should be available over a period of four to five years under their own management. In addition, the plan provided for the first time another way, the so- called third option, namely that of a permanent autonomy. The Frente Polisario have to agree with this plan, as it is both politically and militarily incapacitated. Morocco, however, agrees with the plan not to, because it looks into question its territorial claim.
Both plans are no longer named in the resolutions of the UN since 2005, and is feared that a political vacuum could arise because there is no new plan.
In the election campaign of George W. Bush in 2000, Baker was legal adviser to the Republican campaign and monitored for the Republicans the recount in Florida. Since December 2003, James Baker Iraq envoy of the U.S. government. He negotiates including other States on Iraq to issue debt.
The Baker Commission
On 6 December 2006 put a bipartisan Commission headed by Baker and former Democratic member of parliament Lee H. Hamilton the Iraq Study Group report, which could initiate a radical change in American policy in Iraq. She was of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans, searching for ways out of the violent crisis in Iraq. As a result of the discussions a part of U.S. withdrawal from Iraq by 2008 and direct negotiations with Syria and Iran in Iraq is proposed. Germany, Japan and South Korea are proposed as members of a support group. On the day of official publication has published the recommendations of the Expert Group in paperback, the publishing group Random House (Bertelsmann).