Iraqis are worthless -- at least, compared to americans. When iraqis die in our stead, that's a good thing. We know this is true, because the president said so:
But I want to tell you this about the decision -- about my decision about troop levels. Those decisions will be based on a calm assessment by our military commanders on the conditions on the ground -- not a nervous reaction by Washington politicians to poll results in the media. (Hooah.) In other words, when we begin to draw down troops from Iraq, it will be from a position of strength and success, not from a position of fear and failure. To do otherwise would embolden our enemies and make it more likely that they would attack us at home. If we let our enemies back us out of Iraq, we will more likely face them in America. If we don't want to hear their footsteps back home, we have to keep them on their heels over here. And that's exactly what you're doing, and America is safer for it.
That was George W. Bush on his big surprise visit to Anbar. Don't you love how the White House transcriptionist was sure to include the troops yelling "Hooah!" in the transcript? If they'd actually yelled "You suck!" (not that they ever would), you know you wouldn't see in there.
Not surprisingly, this sort of talk doesn't go over as well in broader Iraq as it does here or in a well-fortified airbase in Anbar.
Leila Fadel, McClatchy's Baghdad Bureau:
In the pit of my stomach I feel nauseous. Many will hear that to mean that life is cheap in Iraq, by some estimates hundreds of thousands have died here in this fight but "if we don't want to hear their footsteps back home, we have to keep them on their heels over here."
Four times he referred to keeping the "terrorists" and the "enemies" that plague Iraq here and not bringing them home. Al Qaida became an element to be reckoned with in Iraq after the U.S.-led 2003 invasion. It is a symbolic fight for many extremists against the American troops now. Many Iraqis believe that the U.S. created an atmosphere to bring their enemies here and fight them on Iraqi soil. They say it to me every day.
"Why do you assume that America wants to make it better here," a friend once asked me in frustration...
