All Sunnis look alike, eh? Time to disaggregate, dude.

Give him a break. All the Shia look alike to him, too.

The Sunnis need to be talked into giving up violence and cooperating with the Shia majority. This is called diplomacy, OJ.

Bush has the thread clearly in focus.

Anbar is exactly where all the parties in Iraq should meet. Unless you prefer Teheran, of course.

Pfeh.

You don't usually miss as much as you're missing here. There are a lot of subtleties here that you would usually pick up on.

First, Bush is making the point, as clearly as he can, that Anbar has changed dramatically since the surge. Not only did he go to Anbar, but they let the news out while he was still in-country. It's going to be hard for the MSM not to mention progress in Anbar.

Second, he's meeting first with the elected leaders, almost all of whom are Shi'ite. That's not a slight to the Shi'a.

Third, he knows that the Dems have shifted their focus from "The surge can't work" to "It's irrelevant that the surge is working." Now they're making a big deal about political reconciliation. That's why, for example, Bush greeted President Talabani as "The President of the whole country." He was making a point.

Fourth, the Sunni sheiks who have turned on Al Qaeda need concrete progress to show their people just like Bush does. That's why he's meeting with him and why he's going to dole out some goodies. This is meant to impress other Sheiks, Sunni and Shi'a alike. Cooperate and you get goodies. Now, they just need to punish Mookie, to make the point that if you act like a punk, you get treated like a punk.

Your point four is the point. Pro-Baath. Anti-Shi'ite.

Yes, he should be going to Tehran, not to meet with the Sunni.

Being diplomatic to Sunnis doesn't make him pro-Baath, and snubbing Mookie doesn't make him anti-Shia. Besides, Mookie represents Iraqi Shiites in roughly the same way that Al Sharpton represents American blacks and Eleanor Smeal represents women.

Being diplomatic to Sunni extremists who wish to re-establish their domination over the Shi'a is indeed pro-Baath.

Quite right. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson did represent urban blacks, just as Mookie represents the urban Shi'a of Baghdad. The Right just had enough sense not to call for the murder of the former.

IBid is right - this was a positive move by Bush and should help the Petreaus report next week. The Dems/anti-Bush crowd looked pathetic on CNN/MSNBC claiming that Iraq was a mess.

But of course this was a disaster to OJ who still seems to believe that Mookie is the George Washington of Iraq instead of the Tehran-led thug that he is.

Mookie isn't Washington. He's Sam Adams, Francis Marion, Andrew Jackson.

Mookie is Mumia, or Stanley whoever that CA put to death a few months ago. He is a goon with some heritage and a chip on his shoulder, nothing more.

OJ thinks he is Bolivar. Perhaps he can't tell the difference between Bolivar and Noriega, either.

Sam Adams didn't even have heritage. He was just a religious goon. And a key Founder.

Hopefully he isn't Bolivar who left no lasting republic behind him.

Looks like there is an Iraq after all.

looks like there is an Iraq after all.