President Bush Shows Support For Iraqi Prime Minister and U.S. Troops in Iraq

President Bush today had to again defend Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malikil against U.S. lawmakers wanting to call for a no-confidence vote on his leadership at the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City, Mo. where he was speaking.

“Prime Minister Maliki is a good guy, a good man with a difficult job, and I support him, it’s not up to the politicians in Washington, D.C., to say whether he will remain in his position. That is up to the Iraqi people who now live in a democracy and not a dictatorship.” was the response given by Bush.

In his speech Bush also included a defense of Iraq’s political progress, and many critics this week have also had to accept the success of the U.S. troop surge, but continued to protest about the slow pace of political reconciliation.

Is Prime Minister Nouri al-Malikil “the right guy for Iraq”?

Is the presence of the U.S. troops in Iraq still needed?