Will Bush Choose His New Friends Over His Old? by Juan Cole - Salon

[applegrove]

Will Bush choose his new friends over his old?
The president's Shiite allies in Iraq really don't like some of James Baker's Sunni-friendly suggestions.
By Juan Cole

Dec. 8, 2006 | "At a press conference on Thursday, George Bush was asked whether he was "in denial" about Iraq. "It's bad in Iraq," he shot back, to laughter. "That help?" He also noted that the report of the James Baker-led Iraq Study Group, which was released Wednesday, was important enough that he had read it.

But the immediate speculation in Washington was that even if the president has really accepted that things are "bad," it doesn't mean he's ready to follow the ISG's advice on how to make things better. Some wondered which prescriptions he would ignore, while others suggested he might be trying to sabotage the ISG's suggested remedies altogether.

The reality is that the president, via briefings, has probably long been aware of what the ISG report would say. In fact, when Bush met Iraq's two leading Shiite politicians in the week just prior to the report's release, he was almost certainly acquainting Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq party chief Abdul Aziz al-Hakim with the ISG's key proposals.

It is also true, however, that there are parts of the report that run counter to Bush's own strategy in Iraq, and not just in terms of how long to stay. In a real sense, Bush has developed Iraqi constituencies and political allies. Bush has already picked his horses in Iraq, and they are Shiite. And that puts him at odds with the panelists of the ISG, most notably James Baker, the very Bush family loyalist whose efforts on his behalf in Florida six years ago helped land him in the White House.

............SNIP"

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/12/08/bush_isg_shiites/

[MessiahRp]

1. Nope

The Bush I people were chosed to create the appearance of listening to different opinions and to draw back conservatives and moderates who had feared Bush was going to far too the right. But he already has no intention of changing course so the charade was for naught. Now we'll see if the sheep in the Elephant party get the hint.

Rp

[applegrove]

2. I think we "heard" at least one bleeting GOPer today in the House.

[Demeter]

3. Bush Doesn't HAVE Any "Friends"

And his acquaintances are disavowing any knowledge of him, too.

[Porcupine]

4. He's just swapping remoras with the rest of the BFEE nt.

.

[Joe Bacon]

5. What friends?

Please, President Peter Pan is so dumb, he thinks "Friends" only involves 6 millionaires who frequent a coffeehouse.

[orpupilofnature57]

6. Their(ShrubCo) as ambiguous in their allegiance as they are in their address

Grandpa move to and fro as did Poppy ,if he dropped Rummie like a tall turd ,just think what's in store for more expendable carcasses.