# Dubya says Iraq pullout is up to "future presidents". **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 22, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453 "2006-03-22T17:32:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453/121 "2006-03-29T23:23:08Z")
President Bush [doesn’t want, doesn’t support, doesn’t accept](http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3755215.html) Jaafari as Iraqi PM any more, according to Ambassador Khalilzad. I guess the [honeymoon’s over](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050624.html): > [@George W. Bush in July 2005](#): > > Mr. Prime Minister, I am honored to welcome you to the White House. As the leader of Iraq’s first democratically elected government in more than 50 years, you are helping to lift your country from decades of fear and oppression. > > The Prime Minister is a great Iraqi patriot, he’s a friend of liberty, he’s a strong partner for peace and freedom. […] > > You had elections; 8.5 million people voted, and this good man is now in charge of the government. I don’t want to be passing the buck, as we say, but we’re more than willing to help reconstruction efforts, but this is a sovereign government […] with an elected Prime Minister by the people of Iraq. And so we want to look forward to working with the government. Our role is to help. His role is to govern and lead. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453/122 "2006-03-29T23:25:06Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Hmmm? Cite? [Here](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/28/international/middleeast/28cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1143608400&en=3952503f28f3910a&ei=5094&partner=homepage) > [@](#): > > Ambassador Khalilzad said that President Bush “doesn’t want, doesn’t support, doesn’t accept” Mr. Jaafari to be the next prime minister, Today we learn that all of Mr. Bush’s fuck ups in Iraq are Saddam’s fault: [Bush Blames Saddam for Iraq Instability](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060329/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_iraq_5) Take a look at the [complete text of the speech](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060329-6.html). **The conquest would have been a cakewalk, if only Saddam hadn’t been such a bastard.** ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453/123 "2006-03-29T23:27:50Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > President Bush [doesn’t want, doesn’t support, doesn’t accept](http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3755215.html) Jaafari as Iraqi PM any more, according to Ambassador Khalilzad. > > I guess the [honeymoon’s over](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050624.html): Thank you for posting the link cite for me. So much for a free and indenpendent Iraq. A vassal state is probably more like it. ---
**Author:** ![bannerrefugee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bannerrefugee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bannerrefugee)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453/124 "2006-03-30T04:21:14Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Thank you for posting the link cite for me. So much for a free and indenpendent Iraq. A vassal state is probably more like it. Whats oil at now? 65? Iraq is a vessel as well as a vassal. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453/125 "2006-03-30T04:28:42Z")
> [@bannerrefugee](#): > > Whats oil at now? 65? Iraq is a vessel as well as a vassal. And the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true? ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453/126 "2006-03-30T06:36:12Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > And the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true? No, the _potion with the poison_ is in the vessel with the pestle; that _chalice from the palace_ has the brew that is true. (Sorry; I could have resisted, but I chose not to.) ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453/127 "2006-03-31T01:01:48Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > So much for a free and indenpendent Iraq. Maybe Bush just wants to export [Republican-style elections](http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0828-08.htm) to Iraq. Only problem is that the Diebold machines weren’t ready in time for the last election… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453/128 "2006-03-31T02:05:09Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Now the U.S. is “telling” Iraq to replace their Prime Minister - with someone more compliant I suppose. \ All their rights respected Until someone we like can be elected. \ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453/129 "2006-03-31T04:17:12Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > No, the _potion with the poison_ is in the vessel with the pestle; that _chalice from the palace_ has the brew that is true. But what about the flagon with the dragon? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453/130 "2006-03-31T16:04:44Z")
I think we should really be concerned about the ballots with the shallots. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453/131 "2006-04-01T23:40:10Z")
[After grilling Bush, Helen Thomas gets thousands of flowers](http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/033006/thomas.html) > [@](#): > > By the time the Federal Express delivery was complete, there were 108 dozen roses, nearly 1,300 in every color. They were the result of an e-mail campaign to show support for Hearst columnist Helen Thomas after she grilled President Bush about his Iraq policy at last week’s White House news conference. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453/132 "2006-04-04T00:07:39Z")
[QUOTE=scotandrsn] \*Not knocking him actually, it’s pretty much in the job description for a press secretary. I recall years ago in the 80s that John Chancellor did a TV special where the panel was every living former press secretary, from I believe Eisenhower’s or Truman’s guys up through at least Jody Powell from the Carter administration. Powell was the only one of the bunch who allowed himself to show even the slightest sign of having an objective, possibly critical opinion of the policies it had been their job to explain to the press. Everyone else was just as much of a toady as they had been while on the job. [/QUOTE] Just happened to come across [an old New York Times review of the broadcast](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFDE113BF93AA35757C0A966958260&sec=&pagewanted=print) , in case anyone’s interested. It was later than I remembered, and the reviewer’s impressions of the show are different that I recall me 23-year-old self’s being, but in any event it was fascinating, in case you ever have a chance to view a tape of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-says-iraq-pullout-is-up-to-future-presidents/349453.md?page=6)