Bush’s Iraq swagger a distant memory

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/September/focusoniraq_September34.xml§ion=focusoniraq&col=

WASHINGTON - In the heady days when US Marines toppled a huge statue of Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad, President George W. Bush was riding high on his mission to remake Iraq as a beacon of democracy.

Now, the lights have dimmed on that adventure — and not just because of the power blackouts that still plague Iraq four and a half years after the deceptively easy US-led invasion.

Back then, Bush rode roughshod over widespread global opinion that the war would be a disaster. Six weeks after the March 2003 invasion, he appeared on an aircraft carrier under the banner ”Mission accomplished.”

Now, the president is battling a Democratic-led Congress that is agitating for a quick exit of US troops, who have suffered more than 3,700 fatalities in Iraq. Estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths range from 70,000 to 655,000.

[leftchick]

1. that 655,000 was from a year ago

I am sure it is well past a million now. :(

[Olney Blue]

2. He hasn't really changed, though. On with the surge!