Iraqis Don't Like Phony Photo Ops Either

Bush still thinks the war can be won with photo ops. Average Iraqis, caught in the middle of a civil war, are not impressed with Bush or even with their own leaders. Here's Kirk Semple of The New York Times with continuing coverage of the worst foreign policy fiasco in American history:

Even if Sana al-Nabhani had cared about the summit meeting in Jordan on Thursday between Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and President Bush, she would not have been able to watch the news. As usual, Iraqis went without electricity from the national grid for most of the day and she could not find any gasoline to run her personal generator.

Told by a reporter later in the day about the meeting’s outcome, Ms. Nabhani, a 34-year-old homemaker, scoffed: “Is that all? Was that even worth the fuel consumed by their airplanes?”

(snip)

At a news conference after the meeting, Mr. Bush said he had agreed to speed up the transfer of authority over the security forces to the Iraqi government, as Mr. Maliki has wanted, though the two leaders did not spell out a timetable. Mr. Maliki reassured Mr. Bush that his government was committed to cracking down on outlaws and stabilizing the country.

These assurances amounted to nothing more than hollow promises in the opinion of Ahmed Khalaf, a 34-year-old Shiite who works as a taxi driver in Baghdad.

“It’s useless!” he roared as he inched through the traffic-clogged streets of central Baghdad after dusk. “It’s wasting time!”

It has become apparent to everyone in the world that George W. Bush is wasting everyone's time by refusing to deal with his mess; it's time for him to listen to outside advice (but please, anyone besides Kissinger and John McCain). Anthony Cordesman has a few thoughts and hopefully the James Baker report, depending on which version is the one we'll hear next week, will offer more concrete advice. It's time for Bush and Cheney to give up their delusions of grandeur and it's time for a bipartisan effort to rebuild our military and our foreign policy. It's also time to rediscover real diplomacy rather than 'staying the course' with the usual empty gestures for the TV cameras.