Bush says he had little contact with Chalabi [View All]

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N01373876.htm

WASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday distanced himself from Iraqi exile leader Ahmad Chalabi, the one-time top U.S. ally who was passed over for a job in the country's new interim government.

In the Rose Garden to praise newly announced Iraqi leaders, Bush said he had had little personal contact with Chalabi and that decisions on whether to include him or not in the new interim government were made by the U.N. envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi.

"Mr. Brahimi made the decision on Chalabi, not the United States. Mr. Brahimi was the person that put together the group. And I haven't spoken to him or anybody on the ground as to why Chalabi wasn't taken," Bush said. snip

Bush said, "My meetings with him were very brief. I think I met with him at the State of the Union and just, kind of, working through the rope line, and he might have come with a group of leaders."

"But I haven't had any extensive conversations with him," the Republican president said.

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That's Chalabi directly behind Laura Bush.