President George W. Bush on Sunday made a farewell visit to Iraq, a place that defines his presidency, just 37 days before he hands the war off to a successor who has pledged to end it.
Air Force One, Bush's distinctive powder blue-and-white jetliner, landed at Baghdad International Airport in the afternoon local time, after a secretive Saturday night departure from Washington and an 11-hour flight. In a sign of modest security gains in this war zone, Bush was welcomed with a formal arrival ceremony — a flourish that was not part of his previous three trips to Iraq.
Bush planned a rapid-fire series of meetings with top Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He and Bush were marking the recent security agreement between the two nations.
Keep at it AP, "modest security gains" indeed.
President Bush has "ended" the war by winning it, it would seem. Which seems to anger war opponents to no end. His successor and his most fervent supporters expressed no particular concern for that latter detail in their haste to "end" the war.
A free Iraq has openly chosen an effective alliance with America, nations who under Saddam had become enemies through two wars and a decade of containment and sanctions.
Just defeating and removing Saddam took the Iraqi military and nation off the board as an enemy asset. With victory over our many enemies who fight us in Iraq accumulating, Iraq is becoming an asset in the Long War and will one day contribute to the total force rather than consuming help in the war against jihadis.
