Many Iraqis Dismiss Bush Visit As Stunt

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -

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.

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.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2006/jun/13/061307275.html

The White House, that is...

I just see this as another admin attempt to use our soldiers as a backdrop for the photo-op pretzeldent!

It was really only a propaganda PHOTO OP! Bush was actually on the ground in Iraq for only 5 hours!

The only people in Bush's cabinet who knew in advance that Bush would make this silly day outing were Chenny, Rummy and Condi. No-one in the Iraqi government knew in time to prepare for constructive discussions.

;-)

Seeing as the military and Iraqi security forces are set to raze another town ("insurgent stronghold") in order to save it tomorrow.

Take your choice. We already knew what he was up to. Did he pull out the fake turkey from hiding today?

earlier, and that it was a dangerous game for the new Iraqi PM inasmuch as the Iraqis would view him as a Bush puppet. Especially since Bush just popped in on him like he owns the place.

just popping unannounced and that it makes the Iraqi PM look like no more than a puppet.

I had no idea Tweety could/would say such a thing! I figured Tweety was going to flashback to May 2003 Cmdr Codpiece-type of reflection.