Winning Their Hearts And Minds

To quote a great horrific leader, we're over there to win hearts and minds...yada yada yada. Other reasons include stopping Saddam Hussein, WMDs and the war on terreh. The Iraqis would greet us as liberators and throw flowers at our troops as they rolled on to Baghdad and victory. Remember all that stuff? So now that it's been almost five years since we occupied liberated Iraq, how are they liking us now?

From The LA Times:

BAGHDAD -- Dozens of Iraqi lawmakers walked out of parliament Wednesday to protest what they view as overly aggressive and humiliating treatment by U.S. soldiers as representatives enter Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, where the legislature is located.

"I and many of my colleagues who live outside the Green Zone face a lot of problems," said Feryad Rawandozi, a high-ranking official with the Kurdish parliamentary bloc. U.S. soldiers "are very arrogant and impolite when they talk to us, especially with those who don't speak English."

Hmmm, that doesn't sound very comforting. Army Maj. Anton Alston, who runs the operations around the Green Zone calls it a "cultural thing." However, members of the Parliament have another idea. They want special permits to grant them quicker access, you know, so they can govern and lead their country. Isn't that what Bush wants to happen over there? Oh wait, he's rather have us stay in Iraq forever, my bad.