On Friday, the president was poised to tell the APEC conference in Australia that his policies in Iraq have been so successful, he was able to land at a well-guarded airport in Anbar province and visit with troops at a well-guarded base. As David Kurtz discovered, Bush realized how foolish this was, and wisely decided to leave the remarks out of his speech: "Citing the President's brief stop in a heavily guarded U.S. encampment as proof of peace and stability in the country at large was too over the top, even for the White House."

It was not, unfortunately, too over the top for the AP's Anne Gearan. (thanks to reader C.E.)

Anbar has transformed from an insurgent haven partly run by al-Qaida to a chunk of Iraqi heartland safe enough for the president and his war Cabinet to spend the day.

Sigh.