President Bush on Tuesday urged Barack Obama to heed the advice of U.S. commanders, not liberal advocacy groups, when he visits Iraq next week after vowing to withdraw troops.
“I would ask him to listen carefully to Ryan Crocker and General [David] Petraeus,” Bush said, referring to America’s top diplomat and military commander in Iraq, respectively. “It’s a temptation to let the politics at home get in the way, you know, with theconsidered judgment of the commanders.”
In a veiled shot at Obama’s liberalism, Bush added: “You got these groups out there, MoveOn.org, you know, banging away on these candidates. And it’s hard to kind of divorce yourself from the politics.”
Bush also took a swipe at the media, suggesting Obama’s first trip to Iraq in two-and-a-half years will yield a more positive view than the one routinely presented by the press.
“I’m glad a lot of these elected officials are going over there, because they’ll get an interesting insight, something that you don’t get from just reading your wonderful newspapers or listening to your TV shows,” he said at a White House news conference
