# Bush confidant prepares way for radical shift by US on Iraq **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 19, 2006, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073 "2006-10-19T11:24:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/1 "2006-10-19T11:24:31Z")
The Guardian > [@](#): > > · Talks with Iran and Syria seen as way to end chaos > · Report leaked before crucial November polls > > Julian Borger in Washington > Wednesday October 18, 2006 > > In recent interviews, Mr Baker said the group has taken no firm decisions but made it clear that the current US strategy was no longer an option. “There’ll probably be some things in our report that the administration might not like,” Mr Baker predicted in a TV interview. He said: “Our commission believes there are alternatives between the stated alternatives, the ones that are out there in the political debate of ‘stay the course’ and ‘cut and run’.” > > He made it clear he believed there should be approaches to Iraq’s neighbours, including those the White House has accused of fomenting the insurgency. “I believe in talking to your enemies,” he said. “Neither the Syrians nor the Iranians want a chaotic Iraq … so maybe there is some potential for getting something other than opposition from those countries.” > **[Bush confidant prepares way for radical shift by US on Iraq](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/oct/18/midterms2006.usa)** > > · Talks with Iran and Syria seen as way to end chaos· Report leaked before crucial November polls So do you think that Bush will leave Iraq soon and “turn it over” to Iran and Syria? and if yes, is this a good idea? … ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/2 "2006-10-19T14:28:46Z")
> [@](#): > > So do you think that Bush will leave Iraq soon and “turn it over” to Iran and Syria? Highly doubtful. Snowballs chance in hell kind of doubtful. Even if this leaked info is real, isn’t made up or a trial balloon to simply test the waters, there is nothing that says Bush et al have to follow the recommendations…nor do I think its likely that they would. Certainly I don’t see turning Iraq over to Iran and Syria…and reading the article I don’t see where you get that from either. THey were saying that we would talk to them and perhaps bring them into the process…not turn everything over to them and bolt. Its all highly speculative…I’ll await the actual report before drawing any firm conclusions. > [@](#): > > and if yes, is this a good idea? Well, as I said, I think you are drawing some wierd conclusions from this one news article…but going with it, no, I wouldn’t think it would be a good idea to bolt, turning things over to Iran and Syria. Sort of like turning over the chicken coop to the fox and the wolf and then leaving the farm behind. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/3 "2006-10-19T14:55:14Z")
The Guardian appears to have gotten much of its information from the articles under discussion here: [Olberman reports leak of draft Iraq Commission report.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=392171) The story made network news last night. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/4 "2006-10-19T16:18:55Z")
[QUOTE=Wildfire\*\*MM] So do you think that Bush will leave Iraq soon and “turn it over” to Iran and Syria? and if yes, is this a good idea? … [/QUOTE] No. How many times are folks around here going to postulate that Bush will “cut and run”. He thinks what he’s doing is right, and just isn’t going to quit. He’s really only got 2 more years left anyway, and as he said, it’ll be up to “future presidents” to get fully out of Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/5 "2006-10-19T16:44:10Z")
Meanwhile, oblivious to James Baker III’s attempts to play, Mr. Fixit, [Iraq continues its descent through the circles of hell](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR2006101801865.html). Maybe he could ‘fix’ the outcome of Florida in 2000, but some things are simply beyond his, or anyone’s, control: > [@](#): > > Nowadays, in some parts of Baghdad, it is not uncommon to hear residents blame small militias, criminal gangs, rogue death squads or assassins for their woes – instead of Iraq’s two major militias, the Mahdi Army and the Badr Brigades, an arm of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a powerful Shiite religious party. > > In the mostly Shiite neighborhood of al-Amil, the Haider Hamida gang rules. It has about 50 Shiite members, mostly young, jobless men from poor sections of the neighborhood, residents said. They orbit around shops, street corners and checkpoints. Many have ties to the Mahdi Army or are still members, residents said. > > The gang is named after the pseudonym of its chief executioner, a short, skinny man in his early 20s with black hair and a thin moustache. Some residents said he was a member of a police commando unit. Both U.S. and Iraqi officials have expressed concern over the infiltration of Iraqi police units by militias and death squads. Hamida is said to have killed at least 100 people in recent months. > > “We started hearing about his gang after Samarra. They became active after this incident,” said Majid Abu Sara, 43, a Sunni resident of al-Amil, who asked that his full name not be used because he feared for his safety. He was referring to the February bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, about 65 miles north of Baghdad, that triggered cycles of sect-based revenge killings. Most of the other splinter groups also emerged after the attack. > > The Haider Hamida gang arrived at Abu Sara’s parents’ doorstep three months ago, he recalled. They placed an improvised bomb at the front door, near their car. Within seconds, the house and the car were engulfed in flames. Abu Sara’s 90-year-old father, his 70-year-old mother and 10 other relatives fled out the back. Our people know of 23 distinct militias operating in Iraq. If there are militias with 50 or so members, the true number is in the hundreds or thousands. Is Baker going to negotiate with each of these? Or is he going to find an Iraqi strongman who can control them? (Maybe he could give Saddam a get-out-of-jail-free card.) As always, we’re way behind the curve. Iraq’s rapidly descending into Hobbes’ nightmare, the proverbial war of all against all. There’s nobody we can make a deal with, because there are too many armed groups that aren’t really under anyone’s control. It’s probably too late for a partition of Iraq to be a panacea - too many splinter groups on both the Sunni and Shia sides. Iraq. Is. Fucked. And there’s nothing we can do about it. Oh, maybe we could slow down the death spiral, if we had a million-man army we could bring over there right now, to guard every street corner. But we don’t - the catalog of things we’ve already done to stretch the army enough to maintain 140,000 troops in country is truly astounding as it is. To put even half that million into Iraq, we’d need a draft, and we’d need people to train the draftees. If Congress authorized a draft tomorrow, we’d be lucky to get a significant number of conscripts over there before 2008, by which point Iraq will be much worse than it already is, but we’d be ready to solve Iraq’s problems as they existed back in what would then be the Good Old Days of late 2006. We might as well get out, because there’s nothing we can do about the bloodbath we’ve caused. If there were, we’d have already done it. We can go back home now, and hang our heads in shame from a safe distance as Iraq’s downward spiral continues. Mission Accomplished. Yeah, baby. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/6 "2006-10-19T16:53:04Z")
I think the basic strategy being deployed by the Repubs is this: Step 1: Baker and other conservative Republicans suggests that we negotiate with Iraqi insurgents (and apparently with Syria and Iran as well). At this poit the idea of negoiating with insurgents and Iran and Syria is drifting around in the politcal ethers. Step 2: Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, the Faux News crowd and others tell their audience that this is proof that liberals want to negotiate with Iraqi insurgents and Iran and Syria, and that they must therefore vote Republican. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/7 "2006-10-19T16:54:19Z")
A word from [Riverbend](http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#116120448528625171): > [@](#): > > For American politicians and military personnel, playing dumb and talking about numbers of bodies in morgues and official statistics, etc, seems to be the latest tactic. But as any Iraqi knows, not every death is being reported. As for getting reliable numbers from the Ministry of Health or any other official Iraqi institution, that’s about as probable as getting a coherent, grammatically correct sentence from George Bush- especially after the ministry was banned from giving out correct mortality numbers. So far, the only Iraqis I know pretending this number is outrageous are either out-of-touch Iraqis abroad who supported the war, or Iraqis inside of the country who are directly benefiting from the occupation ($) and likely living in the Green Zone. > > The chaos and lack of proper facilities is resulting in people being buried without a trip to the morgue or the hospital. During American military attacks on cities like Samarra and Fallujah, victims were buried in their gardens or in mass graves in football fields. Or has that been forgotten already? > > We literally do not know a single Iraqi family that has not seen the violent death of a first or second-degree relative these last three years. Abductions, militias, sectarian violence, revenge killings, assassinations, car-bombs, suicide bombers, American military strikes, Iraqi military raids, death squads, extremists, armed robberies, executions, detentions, secret prisons, torture, mysterious weapons – with so many different ways to die, is the number so far fetched? > > There are Iraqi women who have not shed their black mourning robes since 2003 because each time the end of the proper mourning period comes around, some other relative dies and the countdown begins once again. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/8 "2006-10-19T16:55:17Z")
[QUOTE=ITR champion] I think the basic strategy being deployed by the Repubs is this: Step 1: Baker and other conservative Republicans suggests that we negotiate with Iraqi insurgents (and apparently with Syria and Iran as well). At this poit the idea of negoiating with insurgents and Iran and Syria is drifting around in the politcal ethers. Step 2: Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, the Faux News crowd and others tell their audience that this is proof that liberals want to negotiate with Iraqi insurgents and Iran and Syria, and that they must therefore vote Republican. [/QUOTE] And I think you just made that up out of whole cloth. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/9 "2006-10-19T17:04:05Z")
[QUOTE=ITR champion] I think the basic strategy being deployed by the Repubs is this: Step 1: Baker and other conservative Republicans suggests that we negotiate with Iraqi insurgents (and apparently with Syria and Iran as well). At this poit the idea of negoiating with insurgents and Iran and Syria is drifting around in the politcal ethers. Step 2: Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, the Faux News crowd and others tell their audience that this is proof that liberals want to negotiate with Iraqi insurgents and Iran and Syria, and that they must therefore vote Republican. [/QUOTE] Exactly - for them, it’s all about domestic politics. Quick - how do we turn Iraq into something to beat the libruls over the head with, like we used to do back in the Olden Days? [Jonah Goldberg had a column this morning](http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-goldberg19oct19,0,5993806.column?coll=la-opinion-center) that was pretty much all about that. The quick summary: we were wrong (in hindsight only) to invade Iraq, but that of course doesn’t mean The Libruls were right. Oh yeah - and we can still Finish The Job, which would be good, because then the war wouldn’t be remembered as a mistake. I won’t remember it as a ‘mistake,’ Jonah, you fat turd, I’ll remember it as the Bush Administration lying to America in order to turn a nation into a living hell, and we still don’t even know why. Good thing we ‘appeasement idiots,’ as one poster here called us, didn’t have our way. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/10 "2006-10-19T17:20:42Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] And I think you just made that up out of whole cloth. [/QUOTE] If I made it up, I certainly borrowed the cloth from previous Republican propaganda campaigns. Last November, virtually every right-wing chattering head accused the Democrats of wanting to “cut and run”, and in fact Karl Rove labeled the Democrats as the “party of cut and run”. The few who bothered cite any proof at all of this assertion cited House Resolution 572 as proof that the Democrats wanted to withdraw from Iraq. House Resolution 572 was proposed by … the Republicans! So in this thread, all I’m saying is that Republicans will do the same thing this year as they did last year. So on what grounds to you accuse me of “making this up out of whole cloth”? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/11 "2006-10-19T17:27:02Z")
Well, to be fair, that resolution wasn’t proposed by Republicans because they supported it, they just wanted to trap Democrats into either voting for or against it. Either way can be spun as a win for the R’s. “Well, you say you’re against the war, but you voted to continue it! Flip-flopper! Flip-flopper!” or “You voted against the troops! Cut and runner! Cut and runner!”. Next nitpick, James Baker is/was a George HW Bush confidant, but he is not and never was a George W Bush confidant. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/12 "2006-10-19T18:15:33Z")
[QUOTE=ITR champion] If I made it up, I certainly borrowed the cloth from previous Republican propaganda campaigns. Last November, virtually every right-wing chattering head accused the Democrats of wanting to “cut and run”, and in fact Karl Rove labeled the Democrats as the “party of cut and run”. The few who bothered cite any proof at all of this assertion cited House Resolution 572 as proof that the Democrats wanted to withdraw from Iraq. House Resolution 572 was proposed by … the Republicans! So in this thread, all I’m saying is that Republicans will do the same thing this year as they did last year. So on what grounds to you accuse me of “making this up out of whole cloth”? [/QUOTE] If they’re going to do it, they need to be doing it now. Let’s see a cite then. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/13 "2006-10-19T18:44:11Z")
Could be they will drop the management of Iraq into whatever government exists and move right over to Iran. I am not sure they believe they can take out Iran with Israeli help. Biyt they might try it anyway. Bush only has 2 years left.He has said he doesnt want to leave Iran for the next admin. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/14 "2006-10-19T20:42:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Oh, maybe we could slow down the death spiral, if we had a million-man army we could bring over there right now, to guard every street corner. But we don’t - the catalog of things we’ve already done to stretch the army enough to maintain 140,000 troops in country is truly astounding as it is. To put even half that million into Iraq, we’d need a draft, and we’d need people to train the draftees. I’ve always wondered over this point. The US armed forces have a total of like 1-1.5 million members in active duty (albeit many in the air force, marines, navy… but those can do a lot too). Why are only 10% in Iraq? Why do we have all these troops all across the world (especially in places like Europe)? Or rather, why is it SO important to have them there when it’s SO important to have them in Iraq? ---
**Author:** ![Age\_Quod\_Agis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d07c76/32.png) [@Age\_Quod\_Agis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Age_Quod_Agis)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/15 "2006-10-19T21:20:58Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] And I think you just made that up out of whole cloth. [/QUOTE] Cloth? I don’t think that’s the word I’d use. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/16 "2006-10-19T22:56:46Z")
I wonder if John Mutha has called up James Baker to say “Hey, I suggested that first!”? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/17 "2006-10-20T01:19:45Z")
[QUOTE=Alex\_Dubinsky] I’ve always wondered over this point. The US armed forces have a total of like 1-1.5 million members in active duty (albeit many in the air force, marines, navy… but those can do a lot too). Why are only 10% in Iraq? Why do we have all these troops all across the world (especially in places like Europe)? Or rather, why is it SO important to have them there when it’s SO important to have them in Iraq? [/QUOTE] [Here’s](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0503.carter.html) the story: -If the Army mobilized every active and reserve soldier, they’d have 600,000 troops. -200,000 are need elsewhere in the world. That leaves 400,000 available for Iraq. -Of those, 100,000 are devoted to specialities that aren’t useful for the Iraq war. That leaves 300,000. -Units have to be rotated into Iraq for about 12 months, then back home to recuperate for about 12 months. Consequently, there’s no possible way to station more than 150,000 troops in Iraq continually. Maintaining the number that we have now is already stressing the Army to its limits. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/18 "2006-10-20T06:30:10Z")
What does it mean 200k units are needed elsewhere in the world? Are there five wars I do not know about? Afghanistan only has ~15k for the entire country. How many troops does the continent of Europe have? What the hell are they doing there, holding off Russia’s imminent invasion? What about those in South America? Encouraging Hugo Chavez to build up arms? In the modern world, if we have two-weeks’ warning that it even LOOKS someone is dumb enough to attack us, we can have the entire Armed Forces on the continent waiting for battle. Perhaps that’s not good enough for a couple of places. (Maybe Asia.) But don’t tell me all 200k are sitting in Asia? But also, what about the Marines, the Air Force, and the Navy? (In order of potential contribution.) Marines know well how to shoot, and the air force has plenty of choppers to rapidly shift troops to make them be as effective as if they were more numerous or to just aimlessly fly around giving the impression of the rule of order (which could actually be pretty useful). Why are all those hundreds of thousands not doing anything? If anything, why could we not have paid (even in ways that don’t directly cost the government money) other contries to send troops to this humanitarian cause? Would’ve been cheaper to pay China $200 billion to export its 1 million soldiers than to suffer through years upon years of war expense. Extreme example, sure, but gifts and favors to our allies would have made them far more receptive to lending a significant hand. P.S. What kind of Army specialties aren’t useful for the Iraqi war? What, are you telling me they don’t know how to use a gun? Put them in the more secure areas and free up the actual fighters for more important spots. There is no one who deserves to be in the Amy who is not able to at least substitute a cop. If you say that Iraq is too anarchic at this point for mere cops… well, that wasn’t true two years ago. You know what I think? I think that Bush doesnt WANT the Iraq war to end or go smoothly. At the least, because it is funneling hundreds of billions of dollars into defense contractors’ pockets (billions just into the Executive Branch’s own Halliberton). At the worst, because the higher oil prices that chaos has caused pour hundreds of billions of dollars into oil companies’ purses (billion just into the Executive Branch’s own oil companies). (It actually wasn’t Blood for Oil any more than OPEC is for oil, it was Blood Against Oil.) But anyway, i’m putting the cart before the horse. Let’s discuss those armed forces. (I’d hate to believe a conspiracy on false grounds! so I’m honestly very receptive to an effective explanation for why just ~10% of the Armed Forces have been stationed in Iraq.) ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/19 "2006-10-20T06:47:15Z")
btw, I do not believe firm martial law is the full solution. Maybe part of it. The main piece is spending reconstruction money on Roosevelt-style employment projects. If they didn’t feel that employment, wages, and the whole economy had gone to shit maybe they wouldn’t be in the streets trying to destroy the rest of their country. They wouldn’t be so pissed off, and they wouldn’t have the time! It’s like the only positive thing we can actually guarantee we can do for Iraqis. And yeah, I do think it’s the president’s intention for the reconstruction money not be spent. (And in fact, it wasn’t spent. So whose intention was it? And when it is spent, it’s spent on companies like Halliburton, not the Iraqi workforce/economy.) ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073/20 "2006-10-20T06:51:30Z")
Man, it’s pretty late and I should be more patient when revising my spelling and grammar. Talk about frothly spewing [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-confidant-prepares-way-for-radical-shift-by-us-on-iraq/377073.md?page=2)