Credit where it’s due
This took brass:
President Bush greeted his war commanders with salutes Monday during a surprise visit to a U.S. air base in Iraq’s Anbar province.
Air Force One touched down under a blazing sun at 3:42 p.m. (7:42 a.m. EDT) at Al Asad Air Base, for a six-hour presidential visit to tout a “remarkable turnaround” in the mostly Sunni area west of Baghdad.
After exiting the aircraft, a line of military officials, including top war commander Gen. David Petraeus, welcomed Bush with smiles, salutes and hand shakes in the desert heat.
Bush plans to eat dinner with U.S. troops and to meet with top military commanders, the U.S. ambassador, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and provincial tribal leaders.
Neat symbolism in that, setting down in Anbar and asking al-Maliki to join him in the heart of Sunni Iraq. I had almost given up on grand gestures.
Pretty much brought everyone with him, too:
Bush is accompanied on the Iraq visit by Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the newly appointed White House official responsible for coordinating Iraq issues.
Also joining Bush on the Iraq visit are U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser Stephen Hadley, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace.
All in.
Jules Crittenden has the roundup, as well as a pre-emptive strike against rubber turkey propagandists in case anyone so inclined gets acid reflux disease over the news.
I just love it! Katie Couric, eat your heart out!
And Katie Couric was nowhere to be seen, covering the event from Baghdad. Mr. Crittendon is correct. Somehow, someway, the elitist press will twist this into a negative “Mission Accomplished” moment to last a lifetime.
I remember so vividly the surprise Thanksgiving visit to the troops in Iraq that President Bush made in 2003, and the roar of amazement and welcome that the soldiers gave him when he walked around the curtain. I don’t agree with everything he does, but I like this president a lot.
To do this one week before the good General makes his much-anticipated report took BIG brass indeed…and I love it. He did it because he can, and why not?! I’m sure the troops loved it – not so sure Congress will be all that thrilled. But who cares about them – the President visited HIS troops. The symbolism alone is worth the effort on his part I’m sure.
I wonder if Bush will be getting his photo taken in a mess hall, posing with an ornamental turkey not intended to be served to the troops.
The Surge and Where Do We Go From Here…
This doesn’t mean that everything is peachy – the Yazidi massacre of 500 Iraqis by al Qaeda shows that the terrorists can still inflict serious pain on the Iraqi people, but they can’t keep that kind of tempo going – not in the face of an ongoing mil…
tc -
Are you convinced that it really matters if the turkey was ornamental, plastic, papier mache, or cleverly crafted dog crap? Are you that farking shallow? Really? Tell me, do you grow your own Xmas tree from a tiny little seed, nuture it with your own urine for 5 years, and cut it down for display with a nail file, or do you use an ‘ornamental’ tree as an approporiate delegate?
Could it be that the actual point is that he went and that act of selfless leadership just sticks in your craw, and that you are projecting your own pettiness onto your most hated president ever? The fighter jet flying Vietnam volunteer that has just ruined a perfectly peaceful world with his bumbling cowboy ways, in your narrow adolescent view?
Because that would be my guess.
Total stones. I love it. The odd part was that in all my reading yesterday, I didn’t once hear a moonbat ’s familiar cry of “mission accomplished” or any of that. What’s good for democracy in Iraq–and success on the ground–is definitely bad for the ‘bats.
Tough times demand tough leadership. My unofficial count places this as W’s third trip to Iraq in wartime…suck it, moonbats!