President George W. Bush went to Iraq to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and members of Mr. al-Maliki's cabinet.
Mr. al-Maliki said, Iraqis "are determined to succeed and we have to defeat terrorists and defeat all the hardships. God willing," said the Iraqi prime minister, "all the suffering will be over, all the soldiers will return to their countries with our gratitude."
Mr. al-Maliki's thirty-seven member cabinet includes Iraqi Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, and two Iraqi Christians. President Bush says that he is impressed by the composition of the cabinet:
"You've assembled people from all parts of your country, representing the different religions and the different histories and traditions. And yet the cabinet here represents the entire Iraqi people."
Mr. Bush said that he went to Iraq to discuss reconstruction and security strategies:
"And all of it makes sense to me. And so I've come to not only look you in the eye. I've also come to tell you that when America gives its word, it will keep its word; that it's in our interests that Iraq succeed."
Iraq is a central front in the war on terrorism, says President Bush. "And when Iraq succeeds in having a government of, and by, and for, the people," he says, Iraq "will have dealt a serious blow to those who have a vision of darkness, who don't believe in liberty, who are willing to kill the innocent in order to achieve a political objective."
The preceding was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States Government.