In an overview of news from Iraq this morning Chris Allerton of IraqSlogger notes this story from the WaPo and tunes it up with a bit of editorial comment at the end:

Robin Wright reports that the House voted overwhelmingly (355-69) to call the Iraq Study Group back to session to issue a report around the same time as the Bush administration is to issue its progress report on Iraq. Wright credits public pressure on Congress to do something about the Iraq war for the vote, which was sponsored by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., in an amendment to a $34.2 billion State Department appropriation bill. If all goes well, the group will be able to issue a report alongside the assessments of Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus and have it initially ignored again by President Bush. [emph added]

The Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan panel that mapped out an alternative U.S. strategy for Iraq last December, may be reconstituted for a sequel.

In a sign of the growing public pressure on Congress, the House voted 355 to 69 yesterday to revive the 10-member panel chaired by former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former congressman Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.) to again review U.S. policy and offer new recommendations.

"I'm receptive to reconstituting the group, but I can only speak for myself as I don't know feelings of the group and Baker is traveling," Hamilton said in an interview. "If Congress thinks we can be constructive, then I think we should do it."

This would give Rudy Giuliani, who has no foreign policy or terrorism experience or credibility, a chance to get back into the game. If he doesn’t have a lot of big dollar speeches lined up.

WASHINGTON - Rudolph Giuliani's membership on an elite Iraq study panel came to an abrupt end last spring after he failed to show up for a single official meeting of the group, causing the panel's top Republican to give him a stark choice: either attend the meetings or quit, several sources said.

Giuliani left the Iraq Study Group last May after just two months, walking away from a chance to make up for his lack of foreign policy credentials on the top issue in the 2008 race, the Iraq war.

He cited "previous time commitments" in a letter explaining his decision to quit, and a look at his schedule suggests why - the sessions at times conflicted with Giuliani's lucrative speaking tour that garnered him $11.4 million in 14 months.

Giuliani failed to show up for a pair of two-day sessions that occurred during his tenure, the sources said - and both times, they conflicted with paid public appearances shown on his recent financial disclosure. Giuliani quit the group during his busiest stretch in 2006, when he gave 20 speeches in a single month that brought in $1.7 million.

To be fair, Mr Giuliani, who is known as a serial adulterer who even brought his comare to Gracie Mansion in New York City while his wife and children were still living there, does have some serious expenses, what with alimony and lawyer’s expenses associated with his two divorces, and lawyer’s expenses associated with his association with Bernard Kerik, his once-time “best friend.” Mr Kerik has a fascinating personal background and lots of legal entanglements that someone ostensibly connected to the law enforcement profession shouldn’t have.

One tidbit that caught my eye was his investiture by Queen Elizabeth II as a Commander of the British Empire in the wake of September 11th, 2001. There is at present no evidence that this was connected with the “cash-for-honors” scandal that has enveloped the Blair government for the last two years.

But, still, Ba-da-Bing.