# Just who is the "Iraqi Person?" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 22, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-the-iraqi-person/241515 "2004-04-22T21:42:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yesterdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/d07c76/32.png) [@Yesterdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yesterdog)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-the-iraqi-person/241515/1 "2004-04-22T21:42:39Z")
I guess we are going to let the Bathist party back into the system of government in Iraq. Which got me wondering… Bush and Co. keep saying “We are going to give the Iraqi government over to the Iraqi people June 30.” Well, who in the sam hell is that and why don’t we know? Are we just going to pick someone at random from the streets? Are we going to have general elections? Sheesh, I hate to say it, but Iraq is turning into a quagmire. We are going to give control back to the same party that fucked shit up in the first place. The Bathists are the majority. (I betcha they don’t even take baths!) Here is the orig article from [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) [http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/22/iraq.baathist/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/22/iraq.baathist/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-the-iraqi-person/241515/2 "2004-04-22T23:14:20Z")
> [@Ryan K](#): > > Bush and Co. keep saying “We are going to give the Iraqi government over to the Iraqi people June 30.” > > Well, who in the sam hell is that and why don’t we know? We _know_, we’re just trying to figure out how to sugar coat a turd: > [@](#): > > **Perle at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations** > Perle’s entire testimony was a camouflaged piece of flakking for Ahmad Chalabi. He complained that the State Department and the CIA had not created a private army for Chalabi and had not cooperated with him. Perle did not mention Chalabi’s name, but it was clear that was who he was talking about (State and CIA famously dropped Chalabi in the mid-1990s when they asked him to account for the millions they had given him, and he could not). [here](http://www.juancole.com/2004_04_01_juancole_archive.html#108261646309101209) ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-the-iraqi-person/241515/3 "2004-04-22T23:30:49Z")
Whenever someone in the Administration says they’ll “find somebody” to hand over control of Iraq to, I get the picture of Paul Bremer running around the streets of Baghdad, trying to shove a gigantic “key to the nation of Iraq” prop into the hands of passers-by… …and everyone running far away from him. Is it just me? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-the-iraqi-person/241515/4 "2004-04-22T23:41:14Z")
> [@](#): > > _We are going to give control back to the same party that fucked shit up in the first place._ > [@](#): > > **The sweeping ban was put in place by civilian administrator Paul Bremer, but he now wants to change the policy as part of an effort to convince Sunnis, who dominate the party, that they are welcome members of the postwar political transition in Iraq.** What I thought when I read the headline: "They’re sending a message to the rest of the world that they’re not opposed to [air quotes] “The Iraqi People”, just “Saddam Hussein”. A good way of doing that is by making sure that _everyone_ is involved in the post-war political process, not just “the good guys”. Or is that naive? ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-the-iraqi-person/241515/5 "2004-04-23T01:00:41Z")
I was listening to Bush’s prime-time press conference the other day, and one of the reporters asked that question. The President answered with a short sentence to the effect of, “We’ll find that out soon”. (Can’t swear to the exact words, but he did say “We”). It bothered me. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-the-iraqi-person/241515/6 "2004-04-23T02:45:06Z")
He did then say it would be whoever that nice Mr. Brahimi the UN sent over tells him to. That’s actually a step in the right direction, forced though it is. But the troops aren’t going anywhere, and no actual control of anything worth mentioning can be given over to any organization that can’t use it, so you’re entitled to think this will be simple window-dressing. ---
**Author:** ![county](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@county](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/county)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-the-iraqi-person/241515/7 "2004-04-23T22:31:29Z")
You are quibbling over insignificant details. CBS reported today that even after the government is turned over to the Iraqi’s in June that the new government will not have any authority over the occupying army (ours) and will not have the authority to change any laws. I think that leaves delivering the mail and grinding out red tape. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-the-iraqi-person/241515/8 "2004-04-24T03:35:15Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > He did then say it would be whoever that nice Mr. Brahimi the UN sent over tells him to. Uh oh! Maybe that nice [Mr. Brahimi isn’t so nice after all:](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&e=4&u=/ap/20040424/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_israel_brahimi): > [@](#): > > “There’s a lot of hatred because the very violent and repressive security policy of the Israeli government as well as this determination to occupy more and more Palestinian territory,” said Brahimi, a U.N. undersecretary-general and Annan’s top envoy on Iraq. > … > “The problems are linked,” he said. “There is no doubt that the great poison in the region is this Israeli policy of domination and the suffering imposed on the Palestinians as well as the perception of all of the population in the region, and beyond, of the injustice of this policy and the equally unjust support … of the United States for this policy.” Brahimi was _supposed_ to pull a rabbit out of his hat for the administration. It’s not looking like a rabbit is in the offing.