Iraq's Interior Minister Thanks US Troops

"A top Iraqi official visited wounded American troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Tuesday to thank them for their part in ending Saddam Hussein’s rule in his country.

“We have come … to express our gratitude and appreciation for the sacrifices made by these great warriors, soldiers, in freeing the Iraqi people and in helping us in Iraq recover from tyranny and dictatorship,” Jawad Karim al-Bolani, Iraq’s minister of the interior, said through a translator to a handful of journalists in the lobby of the medical center.

“We also want to express our gratitude to the families of all these great men and women and express how important their sacrifices are for our nation,” he added.

Bolani’s visit with troops comes on the heels of Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) recent trip to the Middle East, where the Democratic presidential candidate caused a stir when he canceled a planned visit to wounded American soldiers."

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"The Iraqi government official, who didn’t mention presidential politics, said that he also wanted to visit Walter Reed because it was a “great institution.”

“(We wanted) to witness firsthand the level of technical (and) medical sophistication that is being practiced here so that we may learn from it to help our foreign wounded and the many, many victims of terrorism and violence in Iraq,” Bolani added.

CNSNews.com asked the minister if he supported a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq.

“I would like to talk about all the progress and all the improvements that have taken place throughout Iraq at the security level,” Bolani said, adding that Iraq still faces challenges in the future because of “regional considerations.”"

Rather ironic, isn't it? An officially appointed member of the Iraqi government visits injured US troops in a hospital and thanks them for what they have accomplished for Iraq, yet while in Germany the guy who wants to be president of the USA couldn't be bothered finding time in his schedule to visit these soldiers' injured comrades in a hospital there. After all, in the Demoncrat playbook, the people that liberated Iraq must not be recognized. I wonder if the Iraqi Minister intended to send a message to Obama Messiah and his devotees or was it a wholly genuine gesture?