Many Iraqis Dismiss Bush Visit As Stunt

Many Sunnis and even some Shiite political parties dismissed President Bush's visit to Baghdad on Tuesday as merely an attempt to associate himself with positive developments in Iraq - formation of the new government and last week's killing of the country's most feared terrorist. Bush's trip comes at a pivotal time for new Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as he tries to convince Iraqis the country can stand on its own and end violence if they unite behind him. But instead of bolstering that effort, the visit could push away the very Sunni Arabs whom al-Maliki is trying to court.

(snip)
Some Sunnis think the success of the Bush visit can be gauged only on al-Maliki's ability to persuade the U.S. president to start pulling some of the 130,000 American troops from the country. ``We hope that al-Maliki persuades Bush to announce a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces, otherwise the visit is of no relevance to Iraqis,'' said Zafer al-Ani, spokesman for the Iraqi Accordance Front, the main Sunni Arab partner in al-Maliki's government. The anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr planned a demonstration for Wednesday to protest Bush's presence in the country.

(snip)
Baghdad University political science professor Nabil Mohammed Selim said the president's trip was a bid to show the world that he has achieved something in this country, including the killing last week of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. Bush's political standing in the United States portends a difficult election for fellow Republicans in November's congressional elections. ``In fact, nothing has been achieved in Iraq, hundreds of innocent Iraqis are being killed daily because of the chaos,'' Selim said. On June 28, Iraq celebrates two years since the restoration of its sovereignty. In that time it has seen some success: three governments, two elections and a referendum on a constitution. It has also seen a catastrophic failure to restore security and, more importantly, move the country away from sectarian killing and forced relocations that threaten to divide Iraq.

(snip)
In Baghdad, dozens of people are blown up, shot or beheaded by sectarian gangs every day. Islamic extremists attack liquor stores, order women not to drive and shoot men for wearing shorts. The city of 6 million has become so dangerous that al-Maliki plans to restore security by flooding its streets with 75,000 Iraqi and American troops. Bush and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad have made much of the fact that al-Maliki and his national unity government are the result of three years of democratic progress. But it is an experiment in Middle Eastern civics that has cost thousands of American and Iraqi lives and arguably has been outpaced by the Sunni insurgency.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5884678,00.html

think alike!

Good Luck on persuading cheney to let go of the oil in Iraq.

:toast:

please repost with the required 5 or 6 paragraphs.
Please do not combine paragraphs in order to
fit more paragraphs in your post.