"Something Different about Advancing Forward Together Toward Cival War"

Bush: 'Something different happening in Iraq'

Opinion polls suggest support for the war is continuing to decline, and Democrats are increasing pressure to withdraw the troops. In response, the White House in recent months has taken a more measured tone when talking about the war, staying away from exuberant claims while emphasizing that steady progress is being made despite the violence

Fresh from his secret Baghdad trip, President Bush Wednesday morning described the excursion as a strategy session with Iraq's prime minister saying: "The progress will be steady toward a goal... I hope there's not an expectation from people that all of a sudden there's going to be zero violence."

"People know they've got to reconcile the past in order to have a bright future," the president said. He said Washington will try to get Iraqi leaders together with "leaders from countries like South Africa to share their experiences with this new government to help them reconcile the past."

South Africa? South Africa shot itself in the foot. It was it's very own home grown evil empire. We didn't go there and bomb them into the 20 century with the rest of the western world - you can not compare post-Aparthied South Africa with post-Saddam Hussan Iraq. Gawd.

Operation Advancing Forward Together.

Who writes these slogans? Does Laura not busy enough ridding the country of gang violence?

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- As part of a crackdown to restore security to Baghdad, Iraqi troops manned checkpoints Wednesday on roads in and out of the capital.
It was unclear how many troops were stationed across the city, but it appeared less than the 70,000 troops that the Iraqi Interior Ministry had said it would deploy for the open-ended mission -- dubbed Operation Advancing Forward Together.
Other developments:

• Gunmen opened fire Wednesday on a car carrying a member of the Muqdadiya town council, killing him and one of his guards, according to a Baquba police official. A bystander also was wounded. Muqdadiya is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Baquba, the capital of Diyala province.
• Fighting between Iraqi security forces and insurgents in a Diyala province town left five forces dead and three others wounded, an official said. The clashes took place Tuesday night in Dahlaghiya, nearly 20 miles (32 miles) east of Baquba. Four insurgents were detained, the official said.
• Gunmen sprayed bullets Wednesday at electronic stores in Baquba, killing four civilians, a police official said.
• The senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday he favors a phased redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq beginning by the end of 2006 and finishing by the end of 2007.
• A statement posted online Tuesday and attributed to the purported new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, threatens attacks on Sunni government officials in Baghdad.