Article

2006-06-13 Iraq

Bush Meets With Iraqi PM in Surprise Trip

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Posted by Mike 2006-06-13 09:37|| || Front Page|| [11130 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Drudge sez they loaded the press into a bus to go see Bush at Camp David and then when the bus left announced he was in Iraq. Hahaha

Posted by Laurence of the Rats">Laurence of the Rats 2006-06-13 09:46|| 2006-06-13 09:46|| Front Page Top

#2 And the DU worms are 'unhappy'

"Maybe he's there to fulfill his patriotic duty to the country; after all, he never completed his military service in the National Guard years ago. Dan Rather was right!! I hope Bush is on the losing end of an IED."

" Maybe this time he can serve plastic wienie's and hamburgers to the soldiers and have a happy picnic while little Iraqi children throw flowers and toys at the douche bag's feet. Rove not indicted, Shrub on a PR move. Makes me want to get real drunk at lunch today."

'precisely. he has to SNEAK IN like the rat that he is. Do you think that MSM will mention that? comparing Cheney's last throes bullshit?
Hell will freeze over first. This has all of the fingerprints of a rovian plan. It does explain why 70,000 troops have been mobilized. It takes that much work to safeguard a 5 hour visit."

"did you notice how they word it?
70,000 IRAQI TROOPS (and coalition forces)

Look at that asshole strut like he did something brave. And watch the Democrats run and hide from this issue. yellow bellied scared and inept. (the dem leadership in DC)"

"I wonder how many soldiers will be killed protecting the Chimpster for this newest photo-op. Maybe a few of them will turn their back for just a minute rather than sacrifice themselves for his glory. We can only hope. "

Posted by Steve 2006-06-13 09:49|| 2006-06-13 09:49|| Front Page Top

#3 About those DU worms -- It is simply beyond my comprehension how people can feel and express such hatred. What a sick life, to be the first to get to post -- I want my President dead! Sheezzzz.

Posted by Sherry 2006-06-13 09:54|| 2006-06-13 09:54|| Front Page Top

#4 And KoS kiddies are crying like babies:
Bush Flees for Iraq
I don't think I've ever seen such a look of misery and dejection on the face of my daughter as I just did a moment ago. She just couldn't understand why the President would be going to Iraq when so many things are wrong in this country. "Doesnt Mr. Bush care about us anymore?" she asked pitifully.

I sat down with her on the sofa and (as calmly as I could) tried to explain to her why the President seems to be abandoning his country. "Honey, I think his boss, Mr. Rove, sent Mr. Bush out of the country in order to keep himself out of the newspapers. You see, he wasnt sure if he was going to be arrested today or not, and so he planned Mr. Bushs trip ahead of time just in case...

I tried to keep my voice steady, but it became increasingly difficult - the rage and feelings of helplessness were just too much. I think my daughter could tell something was wrong. I found myself at such a loss for words - nothing made any sense; nothing makes sense anymore. I finally had to admit, "Honey, I just don't know - I don't know what's going on in this country anymore..."

When I finished her lower lip started to tremble and her eyes began to fill with tears, "Daddy" she said, "why are the Republicans doing this to the country?" Well, that was it for me: I finally fell apart. She just fell into my arms and we both began sobbing for several minutes.

For once she had to comfort me and get me back on my feet. Sometimes I just think it's too much, but seeing the strength in my young daughter's voice helped me to get through.

Posted by Steve 2006-06-13 09:55|| 2006-06-13 09:55|| Front Page Top

#5 More from Fox

President Bush 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, three-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.

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.

Landing at Baghdad airport, Bush transferred to a helicopter for a six-minute ride into the heavily fortified Green Zone. White House officials said the helicopter ride posed the greatest risk for the president.

Bush was greeted by another day of violence in Iraq dozens of people were killed or wounded Tuesday in explosions in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, and eight bodies were found in western Baghdad. Al-Maliki pledged "no mercy" in a crackdown against insurgents.

It was Bush's second trip to Baghdad in less than three years. He visited American troops at Thanksgiving, 2003, in a visit confined to the airport and limited to several hours. That trip also was kept secret.

Bush flew here secretly from talks at Camp David, Md., with senior national security advisers who gathered Monday to review how to bolster Iraq's fledgling government and its capacity to handle the country's defense.

In Baghdad, Bush was to meet with al-Maliki and senior members of his Cabinet. White House officials said the president wanted to meet face-to-face with the prime minister to size him up and assure him of U.S. support.

He said the message that he wants to send to the Iraqi government is "we stand with you. What you're doing is important."

Maliki has won U.S. admiration by promising to crack down on militias and sectarian violence, promote national reconciliation and accelerate reconstruction efforts and restore essential services such as electricity.

After a day of meetings at Camp David, Bush had dinner with his aides and Cabinet members and then returned to his cabin. After darkness, he boarded his helicopter and slipped away, flying to Andrews Air Force Base outside of Washington for the 11-hour flight to Baghdad.

Bush's aides had expected the president to be with them on Tuesday for a video conference between Baghdad and Camp David of al-Maliki and his cabinet members and Bush and his team.

Instead, Bush was in Iraq for the video conference.

Tuesday's trip came as Bush struggled for solid footing for his presidency, rocked by the Iraq war and other problems. About 2,500 members of the military have died since the war began in March, 2003.

Anxiety about the war has been the driving force behind Bush's plunge in the polls and a cause of Republican anxiety about holding control of Congress in the November elections. Approval of Bush's handling of Iraq has dipped to 33 percent, a new low, and his overall job approval at 35 percent in a new AP-Ipsos poll.

The poll, taken last week before the announcement of the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, found that 59 percent of adults said the United States made a mistake in going to war in Iraq the highest level yet in AP-Ipsos polling. It also found that more than half 54 percent said it's unlikely that a stable, democratic government will be established in Iraq, also a new high.

Posted by Sherry 2006-06-13 09:56|| 2006-06-13 09:56|| Front Page Top

#6 Steve,

I thought you were funning me, so I went to the link. You left out the best part:

Bottle-feeding newborns is like forcing them to smoke cigarettes.

by CheChe

That reads like nothing so much as Penthouse Forum for Lefties.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-06-13 10:00|| 2006-06-13 10:00|| Front Page Top

#7 I've said it before and I love to say it again

He's the best president the US has had in living memory.

He is amazing. He will go down in History as having given freedom and democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as safeguarding America.

Posted by Anon1 2006-06-13 10:00|| 2006-06-13 10:00|| Front Page Top

#8 Re #4 Any truth to the rumor that the author of that post was David Gregory?

Posted by doc 2006-06-13 10:03|| 2006-06-13 10:03|| Front Page Top

#9 " Drudge sez they loaded the press into a bus to go see Bush at Camp David and then when the bus left announced he was in Iraq. Hahaha"

BRILLIANT!

Posted by doc 2006-06-13 10:05|| 2006-06-13 10:05|| Front Page Top

#10 Did they take them to Camp David any way? Nice ride this time of year.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-06-13 10:05|| 2006-06-13 10:05|| Front Page Top

#11 wow Steve - that brought tears to my eyes. Laughing. What a pathetic loser and his loser daughter (if she exists). Please sterilize this asshat

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2006-06-13 10:12|| 2006-06-13 10:12|| Front Page Top

#12 So when can we expect the CEO/President of NBC, CBS, ABC, NYT, WaPo, LAT, etc to make a surprise visit to Iraq/Baghdad? Heh.

traveling to violence-rattled Baghdad.. Wonder what how the affiliates are doing in violence-rattled Detriot, Miami, etc. I suspect that Zman's death is the last time MSM has to switch sides in this war gracefully before the consequence are unrecoverable.

Posted by Spomose Angick9582 2006-06-13 10:12|| 2006-06-13 10:12|| Front Page Top

#13 In a detached sort of way, I feel pity for the DU and Kos losers. They view the entire world "through a glass darkly" and their "at the end of time" realization will either be avoided only if they are institutionalized -- or come crashing in when offered a blindfold.

Regardless, they are clearly insane -- and a tumor on the body politic. How's the surgery schedule?

Posted by flyover 2006-06-13 10:16|| 2006-06-13 10:16|| Front Page Top

#14 Anon1, we couldn't have done this without Australia's strong support. Thanks are also due to John Howard and the people Down Under.

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2006-06-13 10:16|| 2006-06-13 10:16|| Front Page Top

#15 I hope they filmed it in the bus when they announced to the press, "You've been Punk'd!"

The reason he is going isn't because Zarq in fly meat, but because they formed the new government finally.

Of course, everyone knows that.

Posted by Penguin 2006-06-13 10:25|| 2006-06-13 10:25|| Front Page Top

#16 It's all so clear now. The sealed indictment is for Bush. He flees the country in the dead of night to Baghdad. No extradition treaty. Cheney takes over the White House. Bush lives in exile in a palace in the Green Zone.

Posted by Chuck Simmins">Chuck Simmins 2006-06-13 10:40|| http://northshorejournal.org]">[http://northshorejournal.org] 2006-06-13 10:40|| Front Page Top

#17 "Daddy" she said, "why are the Republicans doing this to the country?"

So will the next generation of moonbats be even more delusional, or do you think they'll grow out of it?

Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford 2006-06-13 10:59|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2006-06-13 10:59|| Front Page Top

#18 Do you think the media will get the hint that that they weren't told until they were on the bus because they could not be trusted not to blab to the terrorists?

My bet is on no - the MSM is too full of itself to take a hint....

Posted by CrazyFool 2006-06-13 11:01|| 2006-06-13 11:01|| Front Page Top

#19 ok, forget the Kossacks and lets get serious.

Plusses - its a bold move that focuses everyone on the gains in Iraq, and gives another boost to the Maliki govt.

Minuses - it gives Bush a chance to size up Maliki directly based on personal contact, rather than relying on whats hes told by Rice, Khalilzad, Casey, etc. Whether this is a minus depends on your faith in the Presidents ability to size people up in direct contact. We may not all agree on that - i can only say "Putin".

Posted by liberalhawk 2006-06-13 11:06|| 2006-06-13 11:06|| Front Page Top

#20 Chuck: quick! Go cross-post that comment to TruthOut.org, Kos, and DU, then sit back and watch the fun!

Posted by Mike 2006-06-13 11:09|| 2006-06-13 11:09|| Front Page Top

#21 Will be interesting to see just who were the press folks that got selected to go on the trip! Who could be trusted to keep it quiet.

Posted by Sherry 2006-06-13 11:10|| 2006-06-13 11:10|| Front Page Top

#22 A lot of the Dem libs are young. Many of them are juvenile in their outlook and postings--Not worth paying much attention to. Hopefully they will outgrow this. I am truly amazed by the young people serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They will come back a generation of leaders hopefully replacing the legions of the whining and carping LLLs.

Posted by JohnQ 2006-06-13 12:12|| 2006-06-13 12:12|| Front Page Top

#23 doc #9: glad to see that graphic. I've wanted to use it at least a dozen times but could never find it.

Posted by Xbalanke 2006-06-13 12:12|| 2006-06-13 12:12|| Front Page Top

#24 "It's just dynamite," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who returned from Iraq on Monday night and said he would have stayed there to catch a ride back on Air Force One if he'd known the president was going to be there.

Inhofe, who's been to Iraq 11 times since 2003, said he met with Iraqi officials, who demonstrated some of the training received by the 264,000 Iraqi troops. He said he was told that when 11 divisions -- or 325,000 troops are trained -- the Iraqis will want to take over security for themselves, though that does not mean U.S. troops will leave completely.

"It's a huge success story over there. I just don't understand why the media don't get it," he said, adding that al-Maliki's security adviser told him that the Iraqis are "getting very close to the time" when they will be in a position to take control of their security.

This is great, even the politicians are starting to wake up to the MSM b-s. We should do this type of PR more. I would bet that the MSM would start telling the truth more if they realized that they wouldn't have a snowballs chance in hell of ever getting a breaking story if they don't stop the sensationalism and started reporting the good our boys are doing. I agree Bush is turning out to be one of the best, they terrorist are on thier heels and back peddling, and "punking" the MSM is the highlight of the year.

Posted by DESNC 2006-06-13 12:32|| 2006-06-13 12:32|| Front Page Top

#25 I just watched most of Dubya's talk to the troops. I have always been struck by how much our boys LOVE their CiC and how much he loves them. It is truly touching to see and thank G-D for FoxNews as we otherwise would not see it.

Posted by Brett 2006-06-13 13:46|| 2006-06-13 13:46|| Front Page Top

#26 How long before they hold the Super Bowl in Baghdad?

Posted by doc 2006-06-13 13:59|| 2006-06-13 13:59|| Front Page Top

#27 Fox has a clip of them meeting for the first time. The Iraq PM is obviously "touched" when he first meets him! You can almost feel his excitement, that Bush is actually there to support him and Iraq. Worth the watch for the emotions.

Posted by Sherry 2006-06-13 14:08|| 2006-06-13 14:08|| Front Page Top

#28 Re #19 Liberalhawk -- yeah, Bush missed on Putin, didn't he. But I think he sizes up people fairly well -- at least as well as other presidents, CEOs, etc., and maybe a little better.

All the same, it's a useful move -- by standing publicly next to al-Maliki we show our support, and it drives home, in a way the MSM has to concede, that the Iraqis have a full, complete government now. I think that's the clincher.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2006-06-13 14:24|| 2006-06-13 14:24|| Front Page Top

#29 Every hire LH has ever made was top drawer.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-06-13 14:34|| 2006-06-13 14:34|| Front Page Top

#30 "so many things are wrong in this country."

WTF!?

Lets see, no terrorist attacks since 9/11, unemployment well below 5%, interest rates still moderating, inflation in check, soldi job growth (and in well payign jobs, not the McJobs people whien about), and a 35th consecutive month of economic expansion, crime rates historically low, freedom abounds in many real ways (like beign able to own a gun or carry a concelaed on fro self defense), real income growing...

What country is that writer living in?

To quote TV's favortie psychiatrist, Dr Frazier Crane: "What color is the sky in your world?" (Because it damn sure isnt the real world).

Posted by Oldspook 2006-06-13 14:45|| 2006-06-13 14:45|| Front Page Top

#31 HIPPOCRATES

According to legend ,the famous Greek Physician was bon in Kos around 460 B.C..The father of western medicine encouraged his followers to observe patient's symptoms ,rather than attributing all illness to the wrath of the gods. The Asklepion was built at Kos in his memory.

So if they hang out at Kos they must be hippocrits?

Posted by 3dc 2006-06-13 14:46|| 2006-06-13 14:46|| Front Page Top

#32 "What a pathetic loser and his loser daughter (if she exists). Please sterilize this asshat"

No need to - his duaghter will either turn out a lesbian, or else have multiple abortions. In either case her likelihood of producing follow-on demograhpic fodder is low. The lefties are breeding themselves out of existence.

Mean? Yeah. But true.

Posted by Oldspook 2006-06-13 14:47|| 2006-06-13 14:47|| Front Page Top

#33 nice, NS, but I aint running for president (though its true Joe Biden and i have never been photographed together :) )

SW - id say hes had a mixed record at home at best. I cant think of any particular cases of him sizing up a foreign leader where he made an assertion as strong as did about Putin - id be interested to hear any examples. (And certainly dont bring up Blair, who was already a known quantity in Washington before Bush was president)

Posted by liberalhawk 2006-06-13 15:07|| 2006-06-13 15:07|| Front Page Top

#34 Iraq's burgeoning goverment

Okay.... weird choice of words.

Posted by 6 2006-06-13 16:05|| 2006-06-13 16:05|| Front Page Top

#35 courage embiggens the smallest man.

Posted by liberalhawk 2006-06-13 16:39|| 2006-06-13 16:39|| Front Page Top

#36 Old Spook - the dummycritters aren't in charge, the miltary hasn't been disbanded, we aren't making the illegal aliens citizens fast enough, we haven't signed Kyoto, the government hasn't given everybody a pony, etc., etc., etc. The dummycritters that hang out on KOS and DU are truly delusional. If the government doesn't give them everything they want, it's "bad". Unfortunately they practically RULE the university setting in this nation, and much of the public school system. Yeah, they need to be hospitalized - for a frontal lobotomy or a post-partum abortion, whichever proves necessary. Luckily we have enough sane individuals that the country keeps growing in spite of them.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2006-06-13 16:43|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2006-06-13 16:43|| Front Page Top

#37 You go, Mr. President! :-D

As for the DU, et al., idiots - wotta pathetic buncha losers.

Particularly the one who wrote: "I hope Bush is on the losing end of an IED."

She's just stated her desire for Cheney to be President.

Think he should run just so she can vote for him? ;-p

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2006-06-13 17:06|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html] 2006-06-13 17:06|| Front Page Top

#38 Bush's speech to the troops was outstanding and emotional. Again, Fox has it

Posted by Sherry 2006-06-13 17:20|| 2006-06-13 17:20|| Front Page Top

#39 ok dammit where are the trolls, when repubs have good news trolls are suppose to show up, where is my show dammit. :)

Posted by djohn66 2006-06-13 17:27|| 2006-06-13 17:27|| Front Page Top

#40 Oh dear, Liberalhawk. "Embiggens"? Have you been doing vocabulary worlds with your children again? I just heard from mine, "If there are miscreants, does that mean there are creants, too? What about mistercreants?" ;-)

Posted by trailing wife 2006-06-13 17:44|| 2006-06-13 17:44|| Front Page Top

#41 To add to woes - the deficit could come in at about $270 billion this year.

Going down, down, down.....

Posted by anonymous2u 2006-06-13 18:21|| 2006-06-13 18:21|| Front Page Top

#42 #7 I've said it before and I love to say it again

He's the best president the US has had in living memory.

He is amazing. He will go down in History as having given freedom and democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as safeguarding America.

Well said and YES TRUE

Posted by Flinegum Floluger3401 2006-06-13 20:28|| 2006-06-13 20:28|| Front Page Top

23:55 WTF!
23:49 WTF!
23:45 WTF!
23:32 DMFD
23:31 WTF!
23:24 Shieldwolf
23:13 Tibor
23:04 Frank G
23:02 Eric Jablow
23:02 SteveS
22:54 Eric Jablow
22:52 muck4doo
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22:44 muck4doo
22:44 Frank G
22:43 Captain America
22:43 muck4doo
22:42 muck4doo
22:38 flyover
22:38 Frank G
22:35 Redneck Jim
22:35 Barbara Skolaut