{"article":{"id":206264,"heading":"Bush still a coward","author":"Anton Macker","created":"2007-09-04 11:47:36","modified":"2013-11-11 00:49:37","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:49:37","article":"<p>DESERT AIR BASE, somewhere in Iraq, maybe - President Bush and his national security team made a first-hand assessment of the sand in the desert in Iraq and prospects for political reconciliation between the grains Monday before a showdown with Congress over his surge folly.  <br><br> The president secretly flew 12 hours to this safe and dusty air base in a remote part of Anbar province where he knew there would be no one to shoot at him, unlike the troops on the ground.  <br><br> He did the same thing in Vietnam. <br><br> Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived ahead of Bush and conferred with senior U.S. officials, including Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, before a session with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. <br><br> President Jalal Talabani, and other top Iraqi officials from Baghdad said they did not like being driven into the desert by Bin Laden and his gang but if &ldquo;Bush was a coward then so be it.&rdquo; <br>  <br> <\/p>\n","contact":"antonmacker@yahoo.co.uk","link":"antonmacker.blogspot.com","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","summary":"Same as before","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2007\/09\/no-one2.jpg","filesize":"97.1 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2007\/09\/206264.php","image":{"original":"\/uploads\/2007\/09\/no-one2.jpg","small":"\/uploads\/2007\/09\/no-one2.jpgthumb.jpg","medium":"\/uploads\/2007\/09\/no-one2.jpgmid.jpg"}},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}