Bush Mentions Amiriya! Dude, We're Famous!!!

Bush: Iraqis Are `taking Back' Iraq
By JENNIFER LOVEN – 3 hours ago

FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) — A reopened historic market. A butcher selling more sheep. A parade in Anbar province. Electricity production above the level under Saddam Hussein. President Bush cited such indicators of normal life in Iraq along with evidence of decreased violence to argue Friday that the war is paying dividends.

"They're taking their country back," Bush said of Iraqis. "Slowly but surely the people of Iraq are reclaiming a normal society."

The president addressed a ceremony for 1,300 soldiers graduating from basic training here, many of whom will end up in Iraq. It was his first major speech on the topic since he announced in September that progress from this year's military buildup justifies keeping a large U.S. troop presence in Iraq at least until next summer.

He argued then that continued American sacrifice would create the space Iraqi leaders need to make gains on tamping down the sectarian fighting that leaves Iraq persistently fractured.
On Friday, he argued for continued patience, because even though national leaders have made little more progress since, he said Iraq offers scattered signs of hope.

On the military side, Bush said U.S. deaths in Iraq have fallen to their lowest level since the beginning of 2006 and attacks from deadly improvised explosive devices have fallen by half.
He spent more time detailing progress in other areas. Bush said the Iraqi economy is growing, inflation has been cut in half and electricity production reached its highest level of the war in September. Shiite and Sunni Muslims are cooperating in some local areas, even while their leaders can't agree at the national level, Bush said.

"Our new strategy recognizes that once Iraqis feel safe in their homes and neighborhoods, they can begin to create jobs and opportunities, and that is starting to happen," the president said. "And these changes were made possible by the bravery and determination of our Iraqi partners and the incredible bravery of the men and women of the United States military."

Administration officials acknowledge it is hard to tell whether the progress represents a temporary aberration or the beginning of a sustainable trend. Bush's current plan for the U.S. presence in Iraq calls for troop levels to drop gradually to around 130,000 next summer, with 5,700 U.S. forces coming home by Christmas.

In his remarks, Bush cited instances of normalcy in a country wracked by violence.
"In Baqubah, the historic market has been reopened in a city that had been in a virtual lockdown a few months ago," he said. "In Fallujah, workers have turned an artillery factory into a civilian machine shop employing 600 people.

"In the Baghdad neighborhood of Amiriya, an al-Qaida stronghold until a few months ago, locals have returned and they're reopening their shops," the president said.

Despite differences that have impeded progress in Baghdad, Bush said reconciliation is taking place at the local level. "Many Iraqis are seeing growing cooperation between Shia and Sunnis," he said. "These folks are tired of Al Qaida and they're tired of Iranian-backed extremists, they are weary of fighting and they are determined to give their families a better life."

Still, Bush said parts of Iraq remain plagued by violence and corruption and economic improvements are not shared uniformly across the country.

"Reconciliation at the national level hadn't been what we had hoped it had been by now," the president said.

"While the central government has passed a budget and it's reached out to its neighbors and have begun to share oil revenues with the provinces, the Iraqi parliament still lags in passing key legislation," he said. "Political factions are still failing to make necessary compromises. And that's disappointing and I, of course, made my disappointments clear to the Iraqi leadership."

Before he spoke, he took a tour of the school's "fit-to-win course," which requires recruits to negotiate up to 20 obstacles. He addressed about 180 soldiers at the site deep in the piney woods, telling them he was proud of their efforts and that they would help secure a peaceful future for America. The fort trains 50 percent of all soldiers and 70 percent of the women entering the Army each year.

Also while at the Army facility, he met with the families of 12 soldiers killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.