Bush's negotiating position with the United Nations

[gulliver]

Bush couldn't get the deal he wanted from the United Nations pre-war. He walked the United States out in an arrogant huff, hurling insults. What is the U.S. negotiating position (thanks to Bush) now that we are going back?

And maybe it's even worse, because Bush's personal negotiating position looks much worse than that of the United States. Who can doubt that the United States would be in a stronger position were it not being led by Bush? Given Bush's record with our treasury and with U.S. jobs, forgive me if I'm paranoid about just how much he might sell us out to save his job.

[Maple]

1. He hasn't GOT

a negotiating position.

[baby_bear]

2. I think he does

There are spoils that can be divvied up, in the favor of the Bush administration and its cronies of course, but nevertheless, divvied up. A number of countries may be more anxious to get a few crumbs of the wealth than they are concerned to see Bush crawl, fail, or both. Some may think that someone's got to get the wealth, so why shouldn't we be in on it?

In other words, practicality will lead to at least some countries being "supportive" of the coalition, just as there were before and during the war (even though most were small and inconsequential except to Colin Powell, who was able to add each to his list of coalition countries).

Yeah, he has leveraging room, and he won't even have to beg. The bully just has to give up a little bit of turf; but he doesn't have to stop being the bully. And he won't gain any respect (let alone sympathy) in the process.

s_m

[htuttle]

3. Sure he does.

Here's his position:

[David Zephyr]

4. He Really Doesn't.

The Military has now made public that they can not keep up the current status in troop strength and in financial support no longer than March of next year -- 6-7 months from now.

That really puts Bush in a box.

I am highly suspicious about the Putin/Saudi deal though, even though Don, who I greatly respect here, thinks otherwise. The whole Bush/Saudi relationship is so rotten and fecal in nature that whenever the Saudis make such moves, my tin foil hat starts sparking away. I feel that we will be seeing Putin willing to put Russian boys into Iraq soon, breaking away from the French, Germans and Chinese. If this happens, then perhaps my old tin foil has served me well once again.

[cliss]

5. I agree with David.

He doesn't have much room to negotiate. The one thing he doesn't have, is time. Time is running out for him. He's running out of money, he's running out of troops, and people are running out of patience with him. And the UN knows it. Suffice it to say, they're enjoying this. Immensely. The corners of their mouth turns up, ever so slightly...they force it down......

However, that doesn't stop him from being a hard-ass. (never let them see you sweat).

Expect things to change like you weren't expecting. Don't be surprised if the US emerges a "super good buddy" with Iran, the very country that was next on the "hit list". The CIA website (stratfor.com) says that this is in the works.

Hard to believe. Stay tuned.