Tag Archives: Iraq

The Other Press Conference: Obama-Maliki

The big health care presser wasn’t the only press conference President Obama held Wednesday. Earlier in the day he held a joint press conference in the Rose Garden with Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki of Iraq. It was brief – just one question on each side – but each leader said something important. President Obama […]

Commander in Chief Visits Iraq

Who knew President Obama had one more rockstar welcome up his sleeve? AP reports the president was “cheered wildly” today when he spoke to and met with U.S. forces in Iraq. Much better than being fawned over by Europeans, right? About six weeks ago, the president delivered what I thought was a very impressive speech […]

Calgary, Take Me Away

Former president George W. Bush (still gets me choked up) gave his first post-White House speech yesterday, regaling invited guests in Alberta (the Texas of Canada) with stories about being president, about not being president, and about all the big topics you would expect in a GWB speech (Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo, oil). Protestors, of course, made an […]

ABC News: Iraqi Optimism Surges

ABC News is out today with some pretty striking results from its survey of Iraqis’ opinions about life in their country: While deep difficulties remain, the advances are remarkable. Eighty-four percent of Iraqis now rate security in their own area positively, nearly double its August 2007 level. Seventy-eight percent say their protection from crime is […]

The Commander in Chief Has Arrived

President Obama’s speech today announcing the future withdrawal of US forces from Iraq was outstanding. The president struck exactly the right tone – congratulating the assembled Marines on their success while recognizing that we haven’t quite put a ribbon on the whole project just yet. While Democrats (I’m looking at you, Harry Reid) have too often […]

Why So Quiet on Iraq?

Maybe I’m just used to hearing President Bush talk about Iraq all the time, but it seems like President Obama has been awfully quiet about Iraq’s provincial elections. To recap, on Saturday Iraq undertook what have to be considered spectacularly violence-free elections for provincial councils across the country. Prime Minister Maliki, once written off by […]