The Daily Mail covers the withdrawal of British troops from Basra, which was completed while Bush was reviewing the troops in Anbar. It's a pretty good piece with lots of photos and oddly provides the ultimate quote from Bush. One that perfectly encapsulates this latest photo-op.
The president stopped at a small building where a Marine Cobra pilot briefed him about the positives and negatives of current troop rotations. He told the president that troops were not getting enough time at home and did not have enough time for training.
"Morale?" asked Bush. "How's morale?"
"Very high sir," the pilot, Captain Lee Hemming, said.
Who but our dear decider would listen to what I'm sure was at least a somewhat lengthy briefing about the problems on the ground and then ask that question? As if he thought he would get a different answer? It reminds me of nothing so much as the little games we used to play as teenagers to justify lying to our parents. Well -- if we stop and walk through the mall before we sneak off to Sally's underground party, then we can honestly say we went to the mall if they ask where we were...
Meanwhile, this quote pretty well sums up what's really wrong with continuing the occupation of Iraq.
People on the streets of Basra also celebrated the departure of the British.
"We reject any strangers and they are colonialists," said Rudha Muter. "We are pleased that the Iraqi army are now taking over the situation - we as an Iraqi people reject occupation, we reject colonialism - we want our freedom."
Go figure. These people define freedom as an absence of armed foreigners rolling down their street in tanks. Funny. I can remember a time when we defined it that way in America too.
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