Bush Makes "Surprise" Visit To Iraq. Again.
by georgia10

For all the bloated talk of "progress" in Iraq, President Bush's "surprise" visit to Iraq today reveals much about the stale security situation in Iraq.

After all, it's been over four years since the fall of Baghdad and "Mission Accomplished," and yet the President is still forced to make "surprise" visits to the war-torn country in order to protect himself and his fellow Americans.

Recall that Bush made another "surprise" visit to Iraq last year, in June of 2006. Then, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki had a five-minute heads-up on the six-hour visit. And back then, President Bush had this to say:

Seated beside Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, in a meeting that included American officials and 17 members of the Iraqi cabinet, Mr. Bush told the prime minister that he had come "to look you in the eye." He repeated the phrase later at the palace, when he told troops and other Americans he had come "to look at Prime Minister Maliki in the eyes and determine whether or not he is as dedicated to a free Iraq as you are."
Mr. Bush added, "And I believe he is."

Last year's visit came on the heels of the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the appointment of several key Iraqi government ministers. There was, we were told, "a rare mood of optimism in the White House about events in Iraq."

Fast forward a year or so and here we are, with the President making another "surprise" visit. Some may say that this visit is under different circumstances--Maliki's government has been shown to be incompetent, ineffective, and essentially non-existent. Unfathomable violence continues unabated. But the circumstances are now, as they have always been, the same, and no sense of false optimism or promises of progress from this President or his party will chance that.

We are here, a year later, with the President's "New Way Forward" demonstrating a predictably backwards approach to the problem --- the worse it gets, the more we dig our heels in the sand. We are here, again, with the President demanding almost $200 billion to fund the war. We are here, again, looking forward to another year of blood and billions, with the President and his party refusing to change course.

We are here, grounded in the reality that every year is likely to be just as bloody and fruitless as the last. And the President is over there, smiling for the cameras, touting a "remarkable turnaround" in the Anbar province (just don't look at the rest of Iraq, ok?), and otherwise using everything within his power--PR stunts included--to solidify Republican support for his war and his funding requests.

Surprise, surprise.

Bill Scher at LiberalOasis nails this one:

It is unbelievable that for four years, the White House has been able to spin secret visits to Iraq as happy happy fun fun "surprise" visits, when in fact, they have secret trips because Iraq is too dangerous for normal visits.
Smell the progress.