"Thank you, America"

Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi today addressed a Joint Session of Congress.

It's my honor to come to Congress and to thank this nation and its people for making our cause your cause, our struggle your struggle.

Before I turn to my government's plan for Iraq, I have three important messages for you today.

First, we are succeeding in Iraq.

It's a tough struggle with setbacks, but we are succeeding.

I have seen some of the images that are being shown here on television. They are disturbing. They focus on the tragedies, such as the brutal and barbaric murder of two American hostages this week.

My thoughts and prayers go out to their families and to all those who lost loved ones.

Yet, as we mourn these losses, we must not forget either the progress we are making or what is at stake in Iraq.

We are fighting for freedom and democracy, ours and yours. Every day, we strengthen the institutions that will protect our new democracy, and every day, we grow in strength and determination to defeat the terrorists and their barbarism.

The second message is quite simple and one that I would like to deliver directly from my people to yours: Thank you, America.

Full transcript here.

I did not see the speech—up too late last night—but Roger Simon did, and calls it “the best speech of the political campaign so far.”

Political? Is that really the right word?

Apparently so, to judge from John Kerry's toxic reaction (which unfortunately I was up in time to see). The UK Guardian headlines it Kerry: Allawi's Take on Iraq Unrealistic.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Thursday that Iraq's Ayad Allawi was sent before Congress to put the “best face'' on Bush administration policy.

Shortly after Allawi, the interim government's prime minister, gave a rosy portrayal of progress toward peace in Iraq, Kerry said the assessment contradicted reality on the ground.

“The prime minister and the president are here obviously to put their best face on the policy, but the fact is that the CIA estimates, the reporting, the ground operations and the troops all tell a different story,'' Kerry said.

Allawi told a joint meeting of Congress that democratic elections will take place in Iraq in January as scheduled, but Kerry said that was unrealistic.

“The United States and the Iraqis have retreated from whole areas of Iraq,'' Kerry told reporters outside a Columbus firehouse. “There are no-go zones in Iraq today. You can't hold an election in a no-go zone.''

Kerry's remarks come one day after he told The Associated Press that President Bush's statement that a “handful'' of people are willing to kill to stop progress in Iraq was a blunder that showed he was avoiding reality.

“George Bush let Osama bin Laden escape at Tora Bora,'' Kerry said in a brief interview Wednesday. “George Bush retreated from Fallujah and other communities in Iraq which are now overrun with terrorists and threaten our troops. And George Bush said on the record we can't win the war on terror.

“And even today, he blundered again saying there are only a handful of terrorists in Iraq,'' Kerry said. “I think he's living in a make believe world.''

Note that the dateline on the story is Columbus, Ohio—in other words, the Democratic candidate could not be bothered to attend the Joint Session, would not deign to speak with the Iraqi PM himself, and most certainly will not admit that his continual slandering of the mission in Iraq, and of the allies who have gone the distance with us, is having a pernicious effect.

My occasional co-blogger Doug Heinz e-mailed me a rant an hour or so back, which I reproduce here with his permission.

I officially have election fatigue. Please, please get me to November as quick as possible. Today, the PM of a liberated and free Iraq addresses the American government to thank them for giving them a shot at true democracy. In the face of terrorist fascists, he proclaims victory and with a little needed bravado, is trying to instill the hope of free elections into the hearts of many Iraqis who are undoubtedly scared right now.

Then Kerry gets out there and crushes their hope. He tells them they are in a quagmire (created by Bush and Cheney of course) and that Allawi is just blowing smoke up their asses. I know this is the definition of political opportunism, but it is also the definition of defeatism and retreat.

Excuse my language, but f*** John Kerry. I am convinced that Lyndon Johnson (from his grave) and Jimmy Carter are on their knees praying for a Kerry victory in hopes that their presidencies will look like minor historical aberrations versus the potential catastrophe that John Kerry could bring in 4 years… [There has never] in US history been the potential for such a perfect storm within the office of president. If I was a pro-war Democrat who didn't really like Bush, I would just stay home and wait till '08. John Kerry played a major role in America's only previous defeat, now he may lead the charge in another defeat that will surrender America to her perfidious “allies” and nihilistic foes who demand not just capitulation, but our very souls.

What he said.