As George Bush is in Australia meeting with about the only friend he still has in the Coalition of the Willing, PM John Howard - see the NY Times report of the president's trip Down Under here - it seems that the goal posts or measuring stick [s] for determining how things are progressing in Iraq is about to be altered yet again by the White House.
The NY Times reports:
"With the Democratic-led Congress poised to measure progress in Iraq by focusing on the central government’s failure to perform, President Bush is proposing a new gauge, by focusing on new American alliances with the tribes and local groups that Washington once feared would tear the country apart.
That shift in emphasis was implicit in Mr. Bush’s decision to bypass Baghdad on his eight-hour trip to Iraq, stopping instead in Anbar Province, once the heart of an anti-American Sunni insurgency. By meeting with tribal leaders who just a year ago were considered the enemy, and who now are fighting Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a president who has unveiled four or five strategies for winning over Iraqis — depending on how one counts — may now be on the cusp of yet another.
It is not clear whether the Democrats who control Congress will be in any mood to accept the changing measures. On Tuesday, there were contentious hearings over a Government Accountability Office report that, like last month’s National Intelligence Estimate, painted a bleak picture of Iraq’s future.
It was the White House and the Iraqi government, not Congress, that first proposed the benchmarks for Iraq that are now producing failing grades, a provenance that raises questions about why the administration is declaring now that the government’s performance is not the best measure of change.
The White House insists that Mr. Bush’s fresh embrace of Sunni leaders simply augments his consistent support of Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki."
Meanwhile, the ol' President isn't all that popular with the general populace, even if its PM seems to glory in the presence of Pres. Shrub, as news.com.au reports:
"More than half of all Australians believe George W. Bush is the worst president in American history, a new poll shows.
The Galaxy poll, commissioned by the Medical Association for the Prevention of War (MAPW), found 52 per cent of Australians believed Mr Bush was the United States' worst-ever president.
Just 32 per cent said he was not, while the remainder were undecided.
MAPW spokesman Robert Marr said it was timely for gauging the Australian public's view of the US president, who will arrive in Sydney for the APEC summit today.
"We thought it was important to get an accurate opinion of Australians' views towards President Bush," Dr Marr told ABC radio today.
"And whether they agree with former president Jimmy Carter that George (W.) Bush was actually the worst president of US history.
"The result was there is a clear majority of Australians who believe George (W.) Bush is the worst ... and that is based primarily on his Iraq war policy."
Dr Marr also said similar polls in the United States showed it was not anti-American to be anti-Bush.
"George Bush is not representing American views these days, as over 60 per cent of Americans disagree with his policy in the Iraq war," he said.
"We don't have to go along with every hare-brained military action that he suggests, and unfortunately (Prime Minister John) Howard didn't have the courage to stand up against George Bush and not get involved in the Iraq war."
The NY Times reports:
"With the Democratic-led Congress poised to measure progress in Iraq by focusing on the central government’s failure to perform, President Bush is proposing a new gauge, by focusing on new American alliances with the tribes and local groups that Washington once feared would tear the country apart.
That shift in emphasis was implicit in Mr. Bush’s decision to bypass Baghdad on his eight-hour trip to Iraq, stopping instead in Anbar Province, once the heart of an anti-American Sunni insurgency. By meeting with tribal leaders who just a year ago were considered the enemy, and who now are fighting Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a president who has unveiled four or five strategies for winning over Iraqis — depending on how one counts — may now be on the cusp of yet another.
It is not clear whether the Democrats who control Congress will be in any mood to accept the changing measures. On Tuesday, there were contentious hearings over a Government Accountability Office report that, like last month’s National Intelligence Estimate, painted a bleak picture of Iraq’s future.
It was the White House and the Iraqi government, not Congress, that first proposed the benchmarks for Iraq that are now producing failing grades, a provenance that raises questions about why the administration is declaring now that the government’s performance is not the best measure of change.
The White House insists that Mr. Bush’s fresh embrace of Sunni leaders simply augments his consistent support of Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki."
Meanwhile, the ol' President isn't all that popular with the general populace, even if its PM seems to glory in the presence of Pres. Shrub, as news.com.au reports:
"More than half of all Australians believe George W. Bush is the worst president in American history, a new poll shows.
The Galaxy poll, commissioned by the Medical Association for the Prevention of War (MAPW), found 52 per cent of Australians believed Mr Bush was the United States' worst-ever president.
Just 32 per cent said he was not, while the remainder were undecided.
MAPW spokesman Robert Marr said it was timely for gauging the Australian public's view of the US president, who will arrive in Sydney for the APEC summit today.
"We thought it was important to get an accurate opinion of Australians' views towards President Bush," Dr Marr told ABC radio today.
"And whether they agree with former president Jimmy Carter that George (W.) Bush was actually the worst president of US history.
"The result was there is a clear majority of Australians who believe George (W.) Bush is the worst ... and that is based primarily on his Iraq war policy."
Dr Marr also said similar polls in the United States showed it was not anti-American to be anti-Bush.
"George Bush is not representing American views these days, as over 60 per cent of Americans disagree with his policy in the Iraq war," he said.
"We don't have to go along with every hare-brained military action that he suggests, and unfortunately (Prime Minister John) Howard didn't have the courage to stand up against George Bush and not get involved in the Iraq war."
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