Maybe there is a limit as to how far the White House will–or can–go to spin the situation on the ground in Iraq as positive.
On his way to the APEC conference in Australia this week, President Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq. Actually, the visit was limited to the confines of a U.S. base there. Iraq is too dangerous for the President to visit anywhere where Iraqis actually live. The very fact that the visit has to be a “surprise” for security reasons evidences the violence and instability within the country. But that wasn’t going to stop a gung-ho White House speechwriter from touting the President’s visit itself as proof that things are getting better in Iraq.
Here is a portion of the speech President Bush was to give today at the APEC conference. This is from the “as prepared for delivery” version of the speech which is released in advance to media organizations that cover the White House (emphasis mine):
On my way to this weekâs summit, I stopped in Iraqâs Anbar Province. Last year, Anbar was an al Qaida stronghold and one of the most dangerous places in Iraq. Al Qaida terrorized the province, using torture and murder to keep the local population in line. Then, Sunnis who had fought with al Qaida against Coalition troops turned on the terrorists, and began fighting with Coalition troops against al Qaida. Together, Americans and Iraqis drove al Qaida from strongholds in the region. And today, because of their sacrifice, Anbar is one of the safest places in Iraq â so safe that the President of the United States can drop in to thank the troops for their courage in the fight to protect us all.
Someone must have spotted the sheer inanity of that line and rewrote it because in the speech the President actually delivered that section is gone, replaced with a more benign account of the President’s visit:
You may have heard, on my way down here I stopped in Iraq–stopped in Anbar Province. Anbar was an al Qaeda stronghold. Their leaders of al Qaeda had announced that they were going to establish a safe haven from which to launch further attacks on my nation–for starters. It was a part of Iraq that was dangerous and, the truth of the matter is, the a lot of the experts in my country had said was lost to al Qaeda.
I went there because al Qaeda has lost Anbar. The opposite happened. Anbar is a Sunni province that once had people joining al Qaeda — they’re now turning against al Qaeda. . . . And I was proud to go there.
Citing the President’s brief stop in a heavily guarded U.S. encampment as proof of peace and stability in the country at large was too over the top, even for the White House.
