Bush on Goal of Iraq

Bush made an excellent point in response to the question "when will we bring troops back."

He said:

Objective: SEe that Iraqi's take charge of their nation. 1st duty is train Iraqi's.

End Game:
1) Iraq will be a strong ally.
2) Iraq will help secure Israel
3) Iraq will add to the strength of reformers in Iran.

These were good statements. Some observations.

1) The President has actually helped himself by expanding the case that it was a good thing to go into Iraq and free the people there. He could have done more, but this was a great way to handle it.

2) It was a bit of a risk to mention Israel being more secure with a reformed Iraq. I wonder with the reaction in the Arab world will be to that statement. I sense Al Jazeera will be running that over and over again.

3) It was a great statement to speak of the way a free Iraq would help the situation in Iran. Yes, we sided with Saddam during the Iran/Iraq war and have paid the price for that. But now we will have an opportunity with a stablized southern Iraq (and it is stable) to influence Shi'ites in Iran and Iraq. Ths will be a benefit to us.