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By Ellen Ratner
The president's reaction to the Iraq Study Group's recommendations did not come as a surprise to me after covering his presidency for the last six years. Being fond of nicknames, George Bush fancies himself, ''The Decider.'' He takes a salad bar approach to decision making. He likes to look over, or be briefed on what's available and then he chooses his favorite items and leaves the rest. He's already taken a trip up to the bar by opting out of one of the Iraq Study Group's (ISG) key recommendations – initiating a dialogue with Iran and Syria.

Unfortunately, policy by ''salad bar'' won't work with the ISG's recommendations. Former Sec. of State James Baker (ironically, the man who negotiated the dicey post election 2000 landscape for Team Bush), warns the Group's recommendations are to be digested in their totality in order to have a chance at working.

These recommendations are the product of nine months of comprehensive study and reflect an understanding of the history, complexity and interdependence of the region. They don't represent a reactive, knee jerk, or ''policy by political wind check decision'' matrix. More than enough ink has been spilled and spit has been spewed over the ISG's report. None of this analysis, including the recommendations themselves, will amount to a ''warm bucket of spit'' if ''The Decider'' decides to file the recommendations away in his personal spittoon.

I've been to Iraq twice, once on my own and once as a guest of the U.S. military. I've also been to Syria and Iran. They are beautiful countries that I would gladly visit again if given the opportunity. I feel at home in Iraq, despite the fact that its beauty is often camouflaged in an odd shroud of insecurity. I want Iraq to succeed. I want it to become a nation that can govern itself, secure itself and be an ally to our nation and a springboard of hope for a broken region.

At the moment however, Iraq appears to be an irreparably broken nation. I can't even call it a failed state because there is no state. Everyone is a free agent. The police are not trusted, the government is not trusted, and the military is not trusted. There may still be some trust of the educators and medical professionals, but those institutions have too many customers and too little supply.

The question is, ''What now, Mr. President?'' The mid-term elections are behind us. The president muted his ''stay the course'' sound bite for Campaign 2006. The Iraq Study Group gave him some cover while they were under cover. And the very existence of the group made him seem that yes, ''The Inflexible'' could be flexible for those swing voters in the middle. Yet his team still lost miserably, so why should he care about implementing the ISG's recommendations? The answer is simple — it's the only start we have. The Iraq Study Group recommendations are not a plan for ''victory.'' They are a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, or stop the nose dive, or allow time to reorganize (as in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection) versus liquidate, break up and sell off to the creditors (Iran and Syria included in that lot).

Yet, even as I write this, I feel certain the president will ultimately ''stay the course,'' his course. I think the president believes the only way to deal with the threat of terrorism and violence, either in Iraq or elsewhere, is to remain hard-nosed, rigid and on the offensive — whether it works or not. He seems to believe that talking to our enemies (the ones in Southwest Asia not Southeast Asia) would send a signal (to use another turn of phrase the president fancies) that we are weak or that they are right.

Unfortunately, as our military commanders have told the president, the U.S.military is not going to win this war, nor stabilize Iraq. Iraq's spiraling decline must be arrested with verifiable agreements and deeds that engender trust and promote mutual interests. There is no winner takes all in Iraq or anywhere else. The Iraq Study Group knows this. Their wisdom is perhaps a function of age and experience — their youngest member is 65-years-old. I hope the president will take the lifeline that is being thrown to him by his elders. The American people favor their recommendations 2-1. Either way, the wisest thing I've heard on this topic was said by a convenience store owner on the border of Iraq back in June of 2003: ''George Bush, he not know what he get into.''