Bush Wants Iraq to Be More Like Israel

President Bush, in an effort to buy time and lower expectations for the surge, has set a new goal for Iraq: be like Israel.  As in a country “that can protect its people, deliver basic services for all its citizens and function as a democracy even amid violence.”  In view of daily violence that’s off the charts by Israeli standards and Iraq’s lack of a functioning government, democratic or otherwise, couldn’t he have set the bar a tad lower?  But as long as you’re aiming high, why not just change the name to New Finland and leave?

BBC:

He said: “Our success in Iraq must not be measured by the enemy’s ability to get a car bombing in the evening news.”

The terms of success set out by Mr Bush included “the rise of a government that can protect its people, deliver basic services for all its citizens and function as a democracy even amid violence”.

Mr Bush suggested Israel as a standard to work towards.

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