Bush In Bagdad: The Hits Just Keep On Coming

Bush Meets With Iraqi PM in Surprise Trip

By TERENCE HUNT
The Associated Press
Tuesday, June 13, 2006; 9:31 AM

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- President Bush, seeking to bolster support for Iraq's burgeoning goverment and U.S. war policy at home, made a surprise visit to Iraq on Tuesday to meet newly named Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and discuss the next steps in the troubled 3-year-old war.

It was a dramatic move by Bush, traveling to violence-rattled Baghdad less than a week after the death of terror chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a bombing attack. The president was expected to be in Baghdad a little more than five hours.

Bush met with al-Maliki in heavily fortified green zone at a palace once used by Saddam Hussein. It now serves temporarily as the U.S. Embassy.

"Good to see you," exclaimed al-Maliki, who didn't know Bush was in Baghdad until five minutes before they met.

"Thanks for having me," Bush responded. They smiled broadly and gave each other a two-handed handshake in the high-domed marble room.

The trip was known only to a handful of aides and a small number of reporters sworn to secrecy because of obvious security threats for Bush and members of his entourage.

The prime minister had been invited to the embassy on the pretense of taking part in a video conference with Bush, supposedly at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountins. The videoconference was to go on as scheduled, but with Bush appearing alongside al-Maliki.

Another major coup for President Bush. This has got to be eating the Democrat's up. Prime Minister al-Maliki looked like a kid in a candy shop when President Bush showed up and shook his hand.

The President is paying al-Maliki a huge compliment and the trip adds to the legitimacy of his government. President Bush is thoroughly committed to staying the course in Iraq, and this trip merely confirms that commitment. Compare this to the cut-and-run policy of the Democrat party. John Murtha's denigration of our troops and his and John Kerry-Heinz's call for an immediate withdrawal stand in stark contrast to the President's commitment.

Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for their cowardess and inability to understand how a war should be fought.

Bravo Mr. President!!!

Full Story: More Ulcers for the Democrats

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