"Bush Said to Be Frustrated by Level of Public Support in Iraq
By THOM SHANKER and MARK MAZZETTI
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 - President Bush made clear in a private meeting this week that he was concerned about the lack of progress in Iraq and frustrated that the new Iraqi government - and the Iraqi people - had not shown greater public support for the American mission, participants in the meeting said Tuesday.
Those who attended a Monday lunch at the Pentagon that included the president's war cabinet and several outside experts said Mr. Bush carefully avoided expressing a clear personal view of the new prime minister of Iraq, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.
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"I sensed a frustration with the lack of progress on the bigger picture of Iraq generally - that we continue to lose a lot of lives, it continues to sap our budget," said one person who attended the meeting. "The president wants the people in Iraq to get more on board to bring success."
[snip]
More generally, the participants said, the president expressed frustration that Iraqis had not come to appreciate the sacrifices the United States had made in Iraq, and was puzzled as to how a recent anti-American rally in support of Hezbollah in Baghdad could draw such a large crowd. "I do think he was frustrated about why 10,000 Shiites would go into the streets and demonstrate against the United States," said another person who attended.
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One participant in the lunch, Carole A. O'Leary, a professor at American University who is also doing work in Iraq with a State Department grant, said Mr. Bush expressed the view that "the Shia-led government needs to clearly and publicly express the same appreciation for United States efforts and sacrifices as they do in private."
[snip]
One of the participants at the Monday lunch, Eric Davis, a Rutgers University political science professor who previously served as director of the university's Center for Middle Eastern Studies, released a text of his remarks.
Mr. Davis said he discussed the regional upheaval that could follow if Iraq descended into chaos or was allowed to divide along ethnic lines. "I believe that the American people do not fully understand the potential domino effects that the collapse of Iraq into disorder and anarchy would have on the Middle East and the global political system," he said.
[snip]
Vali R. Nasr, an expert on Shia Islam, said the Pentagon meeting appeared to be an effort to give White House, Pentagon and State Department officials better insight into Iraq's religious and ethnic mix.
[snip].
Source: NYT
You just can't make this stuff up. The president of the country responsible for starving the country to the extent that hundreds of thousands of children died, who bombed the place to bits, who's troops have committed atrocity after atrocity, such as gang rape, shooting pregnant women, fomenting civil war, is "frustrated" that the people subject to this treatment aren't properly grateful to massah. Mind you Bush isn't the only American politician who complains about American "sacrifices" in Iraq. So ungrateful those brown people … … …
