After listening to General Petraeus, one cannot be sure of the effectiveness of diplomatic surge. We are still in process of stabilization. As it becomes safe for diplomacy, then diplomacy replaces the physical enforcment. Barbara Boxers statement is equally naive with regard to the boundary between diplomacy and security. I don't think Iraq is strong enough to tell Iran to go jump in the Persian Gulf. So Ahmadinejad will be greeted as the head of neighboring state. We didn't turn down his visa request to speak at the U.N. It can also be assumed that Al Qaeda isn't going after someone who constantly agitates the United States. Therefore an open ceremony would not be a threat. On the other hand, an open ceremony for President Bush would impose security risks for not just President Bush and Prime Minister Maliki but the huge amount of soldiers protecting them. Instead of being humorous, Joe Bidens statement made him sound like a redneck. I wonder if he says about the French greeting? Even worse, his last question toward General Petraeus was reminiscent of the reporter who asked about General Schwartzkopf's battle plan during Desert Storm. What would it take to get us out of Iraq before the November elections? The Democrats are now in a quagmire; they really don't want to be the ones to pull a Vietnam style abandonment of Iraq but they have pushed that agenda for almost five years.

It is interesting that people are still debating why Iraquies do not like Bush. Five years of destruction and killing for oil is enough reason to be angry at the ilegitemate president that lied, and keeps lying, about why took this country to war.

It is amazing the level of ignorance of people who are surprised at why the Iranian president is better welcomed than any member of the Bush regime.

Maybe a little article about the history of the CIA involvement in Iran will open a lot of people's eyes.

No more funding this criminal folly. One of many elephants in the room would be the fact that we would not be in the current mess if we actually had included the Iraqi people in the reconstruction of their own country instead of alienating them, shutting them out of reconstruction employment because we outsource the job to greedy no-bid American contractors who imported cheep help from all over Asia. The truth is that it can't possibly be this hard to give a country back to it's sovereign people so throw this on the heap of volumes of reasons why it's time to stop this war that never should have been started.