The Place of Dead Roads

From KNIGHT RIDDER via the Omaha World-Herald: Some Iraqis see 'joke' in Bush rebuke of Syrians

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Some Iraqis have found bitter irony in President Bush's insistence that Syria must withdraw its troops from Lebanon before Lebanese elections. Iraqis, they say, have lived with American tanks in their streets for two years and voted barely a month ago.

"He must have forgotten that his army is occupying Iraq," said Sa'ad Abdul Aziz, 21, an engineering student at Baghdad University. "What about the Republican Palace that they are using as a U.S. Embassy?"

"For us it is a joke said by the U.S. president," said Ahmed Mushref, 25, an English literature student at Baghdad's Al-Mustansyria University. "I am not defending Syria, but this is the truth."

"What Bush said is an insult and a joke at the same time," said Wissam Hashim, an engineering professor at Al-Anbar University. "He is condemning himself."

"America should get out of Iraq immediately and without conditions, just like it is asking neighboring Syria to withdraw from the Lebanese Republic," said Sheikh Nasir Al-Saidi, imam of a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, writing Saturday in the newspaper Azzaman.

"Everyone in Iraq would like to see foreign troops leave," said Walid al-Hilli, part of the Shiite coalition that finished first in the Jan. 30 elections.

Back here in the States, we have gotten used to the irony that is Bush's take on governance. The Iraqis, they need a bit more time. But soon enough, they too will learn to stop looking for consistancy behind Bush's words. They will understand it is all about how things play back in Peoria. Let's agree to not be troubled by pesky facts on the ground and instead let the "spirit of democracy" soar! Not actual democracy mind you, that might get in the way of Hallibutan's war profitering, just the spirit part.