And he had a point and then some.
The biggest howler in the Associated Press writer's article had to be this:
He and Bush talked frequently, but they failed to secure terms to allow a continued US military presence in Iraq beyond 2011.
What?
We loathe Bully Boy Bush and blame him for much.
We're not so sick, however, to invent things to pin on him.
The Iraq invasion was illegal and did not even have a United Nations fig leaf covering.
The occupation did.
Every year, the United Nations mandate covering the occupation would be renewed.
In 2006, Nouri al-Maliki angered many by renewing it without consulting Parliament.
He promised he would next time.
He did not.
But he did renew it in late 2007 -- and did so as a louder outcry rose.
The UN mandate was not being renewed beyond 2008.
All countries remaining in Iraq after December 31, 2008 would need to reach their own agreements with the government of Iraq.
As then-Senator Joe Biden pointed out, if no agreement was reached by January 1, 2009, US troops would be confined to bases in Iraq.
The contract the US government pursued was the Status Of Forces Agreement.
To take heat off Nouri, it was a three year agreement, not a one year.
And it could be renewed after three years. And Barack certainly tried.
But the SOFA was negotiated in 2008, Bully Boy Bush's last year in office, and passed the Iraqi Parliament after the November 2008 US presidential election.
So in what world does this make sense:
He and Bush talked frequently, but they failed to secure terms to allow a continued US military presence in Iraq beyond 2011.
Bush got the SOFA pushed through.
In fact, remember this?
It's Bully Boy Bush in Iraq with Nouri al-Maliki, December 15, 2008.
It was Bush's final trip to Iraq and you might remember the incident better if we told you this is when a shoe was thrown at BBB.
And with that, BBB was done with Iraq and out of the White House the next month.
He was in Iraq on the day pictured above so that he and Nouri could sign the SOFA together.
Bully Boy Bush got a three year deal.
How do you claim that the failure to renew the SOFA at the end of three years was Bully Boy Bush's fault?
