More on the President's visit to Baghdad

The NY Times' John Burns and Dexter Filkins report on an extroidinary visit to the Iraqi capital:

President Bush made a surprise visit to Baghdad today and held direct talks with Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, offering a dramatic show of support to the new government while driving home that the country's future lay in Iraqi hands.

Mr. Bush's unannounced trip to Baghdad, kept secret from some of his aides as well as from Mr. Maliki himself, followed the killing last week of the most-wanted terrorist in the country, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and the completion of Mr. Maliki's government on the same day.

Arriving here under extraordinary security, President Bush signaled that he had come to Baghdad to shore up Mr. Maliki's new government and to signal that that the Americans were preparing to reduce their responsibilities, with the war now well into its fourth year.

President Bush and Mr. Maliki shook hands in front of a large crowd in the rotunda of the Republican Presidential Palace, then walked together into a meeting of the 39-member Iraqi cabinet. The President's visit lasted a mere six hours, with Mr. Bush flying out of the country at about 9:50 p.m. Baghdad time (1:50 Eastern time).

Seated at a polished oval table in front of the Iraqi and American flags, Mr. Bush congratulated Mr. Maliki on the formation of his cabinet, saying he was "impressed" with the lineup.

"I have expressed our country's desire to work with you but I appreciate you recognize the fact that the future of your country is in your hands," said Mr. Bush, speaking in what used to be the office of L. Paul Bremer, the chief American administrator in the first year following the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime.

"The decisions you and your cabinet make will be a determinant as to whether or not a country succeeds that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself," Mr. Bush said.

...


There is more to this story, but what Bush is making clear is that we have given the Iraqis an opportunity and it is up to them to seize and do something worthwhile with it. In reality that is all we could have ever offered the Iraqis. They now have to be weened from dependency.

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