September 16, 2007

Hey, Just A Casual Lift to Tikrit...

SEN. BILL NELSON: Do you see any indication, thus far, of political reconciliation?

GEN. PETRAEUS: Well, what I have seen again, as I mentioned earlier, Senator, is the prime minister himself and his office reaching out, again, to Sunnis in Anbar province. We haven't talked at all about what he did in Salahuddin province.

We actually flew him up to Tikrit the other day. He got off and went and met with a number of sheiks up there and had a similar initiative of to what has gone on in Anbar province. [my emphasis]

"We actually flew him up..." I bet we did. One reason, of course, is that if he hadn't been accompanied by a U.S. security cordon he'd have likely been assassinated. Another is he doesn't have his own airforce assets to get him up there timely and securely. But still General, let's mask Maliki's total dependence on us just a wee bit better...after all, he is the Prime Minister of a sovereign nation, yes?

P.S. Later in the testimony to the Armed Services Comittee Crocker touts this furtive trip to Tikrit as another example of improving relations between the central government and the provinces. Talk about weak fare...