On the President's Speech:

Look, I appreciate his comments about George W. Bush. But he speaks of the bright future of Iraq as if he didn't oppose each and every tough decision of Bush's that has brought us to this ability to withdrawal troops. The very agreement, the dates of withdrawal, ALL OF IT was part and parcel of the troop surge agreement Bush signed with Malaki. In fact the surge is what made this withdrawal date workable, a surge then candidate Obama vigorously opposed. My worst nightmare - Obama taking credit for the success of Bush's commitment to win.

I also found it near humorous that Obama attempted to tie the success of the Iraq surge to a justification of his Afghanistan surge. And make no mistake, of the 55,000 troops remaining behind on the outskirts are 4,500 special forces operators engaging in daily combat missions to eradicate Al Qeada. Not that I disagree with that, not in the least, but I hardly think Obama can declare an "end" to combat missions in Iraq when SEALs & Delta Force are putting their lives on the line on a daily basis.

I can only hope that the former president had the opportunity to see the plaque which sat on Ronald Reagan's desk: "There is no limit to what a man can achieve so long as he does not care whom gets the credit."

And assuming Baghdad becomes a jewel of the East, I do have faith though that history will properly record which CIC caused a democracy to flourish in Iraq.