Talk about a bald-faced attempt to spin down the success of the Bush Admin against all the naysayers.
No, the Iraqis aren't thanking America. They just have forgotten what we did.
To quote the late great Dean Wormer, "I hate those guys".
...asked how it had been possible for somebody like him to arrive at such a late stage in life without ever having voted, and now finally to have cast a ballot. He thought for a long while, then answered: "America - it was America that did it."
They haven't forgotten what we did. But they've stopped blaming every problem on us, expecting us to do everything for them and projecting all their hopes and fears and frustrations on us. That's a good thing. It's their country.
No, this is a good thing. The Iraqis are looking to themselves for the things they need, not to us. Did you read the rest of the article?
Now that they feel sovereign, they accept our presence more than ever, knowing they can ask us to leave if they choose, and we will do it.
Sorry, I can't see anything but a positive statement of achievement here. If what this writer says is true, we accomplished our goal.
I got the following just today from a friend, a Marine sergeant serving in the Najaf area:
The elections were a big day for us too as we were prepared for anything, but fortunately everything here was quiet and we had a huge voter turn out. The next day we while we were on patrol we had many of the Iraqi people come up to us and say thank you for giving them this opportunity. For many of the Iraqi people this is a big step toward rebuilding their country and having a free democratic government.