Former Bush supporter bites the hand that fed him.
July 24th, 2008 | by Dusty |
He was known as “Bush’s Puppet”, but now former Iraq Prime Minister Dr. Ayad Allawi is marching to a different drummer: From Truth Out:
Dr. Ayad Allawi, the former interim Iraqi prime minister previously referred to even by US Congress members as a “Bush puppet,” voiced his strong support for a US withdrawal timeline during a Wednesday Congressional hearing.
During his term in office, from June 2004 to April 2005, Allawi endorsed the US’s controversial bombings of Fallujah and echoed Bush’s speeches almost word for word in many of his own statements; The Washington Post reported that Bush administration officials coached Allawi on the content of his public comments. Prior to his involvement in the US-backed, post-invasion Iraqi government, Allawi worked with the CIA.
Bush doesn’t support his puppets once he no longer needs them. When they tossed Allawi aside it showed there really isn’t any honor among thieves..Again from TO:
Yet, on Wednesday, Allawi blatantly called for “a time frame for reduction of US forces,” a statement that stands in stark contrast to the hazy, deadline-less “time horizon” recently advocated by President Bush. Allawi stressed that the Iraqi people’s wishes should take precedence in any agreement on the future of the American presence in Iraq.
“Most importantly, [the security agreement] should be transparent and get the approval of the Iraqi Parliament and people,” he testified.
Damn skippy the Iraqi people should ratify it! No more secrecy..more sunlight please!! Allawi speaks out about how the current Iraqi government and BushCo have built the Iraqi economy so that it favors American interests. Its a good read..please check it out. Of course some folks will call Allawi a disgruntled former employee of BushCo, but to me, his thoughts are spot-on, and he speaks truth to power through the entire TO article.
Crossposted at Sirens Chronicles.
8 Responses to “Former Bush supporter bites the hand that fed him.”
By Craig R. Harmon on Jul 24, 2008 | Reply
Sure. I guess that’s one way of putting it…
But a way that actually accords with the historical facts would be, “When Allawi’s weak political alliances actually lost seats in the first free, multi-party election…” (i. e., the first ballot with a name on it other than Saddam Hussein in some three decades or more) “and, because of that, has no power now”.
By Dusty on Jul 24, 2008 | Reply
During his term in office, from June 2004 to April 2005, Allawi endorsed the US’s controversial bombings of Fallujah and echoed Bush’s speeches almost word for word in many of his own statements;-Gee Craig, you don’t think it was any of the above things that pissed off the Iraqi voters do ya?
He was a puppet for BushCo and it cost him his job.
By Craig R. Harmon on Jul 24, 2008 | Reply
Dusty,
Sure it was. That wasn’t the point of my criticism. It was the “tossed…aside” formulation. The US didn’t toss him aside; Iraq held an election in which his faction didn’t do well enough to gain power. That is, the Iraqi people tossed him aside, not Bush.
By Dusty on Jul 24, 2008 | Reply
The election was also boycotted by specific sects..so how you can consider it a bonafide election is beyond me.
Maliki was hand-picked by BushCo too.
So if anything BushCo and the Iraqi’s that voted had no use for Allawi.
By Craig R. Harmon on Jul 24, 2008 | Reply
Unless when you said, “…they tossed Allawi aside”, you meant the Iraqi people. I took you to be saying when Bush tossed him aside. Sorry for the confusion. “They” being plural and “Bush” being singular should have alerted me to the fact that “they” referred to someone other than Bush. Sorry about that. My bad.
By Craig R. Harmon on Jul 24, 2008 | Reply
Dusty,
Often fewer than half of eligible voters here in America boycott elections. They’re still bona fide elections. Those who refuse to vote don’t actually get to complain that the election was invalid or unfair. Those who oppose Bush don’t get to point to those in Iraq who decided not to vote in order to call into question the validity of an election in Iraq.
Al Maliki’s party won the elections. Allawi’s didn’t. If the US had “hand-picked” Allawi, after Maliki’s party won the elections, THAT would have made the election invalid. They couldn’t hand-pick someone whose faction didn’t win the election. In my opinion, the US did not toss Allawi aside; they acceded to the electoral reality.
By Dusty on Jul 24, 2008 | Reply
Craig, if all you can find to comment on is one phrase in the entire post..go tell someone who cares ok?
Allawi was the interim PM. He wanted to run as the permanent PM in the election but rec’d no help/support from BushCo.
That is what I meant when I said BushCo tossed him aside.
Does that make it clearer for you?
By Craig R. Harmon on Jul 24, 2008 | Reply
Yep. that clarifies it for me, although I did sort of figure that out, belatedly.
As for the rest, well, he said what he said. He has more right to comment on what he thinks is best for Iraq than I do so I won’t dispute his opinion.
Oddly enough, I think that it may be entirely possible for us to pull out most of our troops by 2010 but only because things have gotten so much better in Iraq. I still wouldn’t want that to be a deadline certainty, to be slavishly followed regardless of conditions in Iraq but it does look like we may be able to declare victory and leave behind a stable Iraq by that time. So I don’t have a whole lot to criticize with what Allawi says.