Washington Post: President’s Iraq Success Story a ‘Tall’ Tale

Truthdig says:

The Washington Post throws cold water on Bush’s much-touted claim that the Tall Afar region of Iraq is a case study in the U.S.’ ability to help restore stability to a war-torn area.

(Check out the transcript of Bush’s speech--particularly the unscripted Q & A session at the end.)

Washington Post:

CLEVELAND, March 20—As President Bush tells the tale, the battle for Tall Afar offers a case study in how U.S. and Iraqi forces working together can root out insurgents and restore stability. “The example of Tall Afar,” he told an audience here Monday, “gives me confidence in our strategy.”

Reports from the streets of Tall Afar, half a world away, offer a more complex story. U.S. forces last fall did drive out radicals who had brutalized the mid-size city near the Syrian border. But lately, residents say, the city has taken another dark turn. “The armed men are fewer,” Nassir Sebti, 42, an air-conditioning mechanic, told a Washington Post interviewer Monday, “but the assassinations between Sunni and Shiites have increased.”

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