If Allawi had said the insurgency was rising, these are perilous times, we need help, the people are suffering, etc., one could respect him. Instead, he lied about matters which are easily checked. Why?:

In a question and answer session after his speech to Congress, Allawi described Baghdad as "very good and safe."

BAGHDAD — Large swaths of Iraq remain outside the control of the interim government, major highways are fraught with attackers, and interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi — along with the U.S. Embassy and much of the international community — must conduct business in fortified compounds guarded by tanks, blast walls and barbed wire.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis watching Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's speech on a television at a Baghdad cafe were skeptical.

"In Samarra, the Iraqi government has tackled the insurgents who once controlled the city," Allawi told members of the U.S. Congress.

"What he's saying isn't true. I can't even name an Iraqi city where there aren't clashes," said one Iraqi citizen.

Thursday, there were more clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents in Samarra and Sadr City — two of the eight strongholds guerrillas control. The others? Fallujah, Ramadi, Baqubah, Tall Afar, Mahmudiya and Beiji.

"What we have now, ironically, is a situation where Iraq is now more of a terror state safe haven today, than it was when Saddam was in power," says terrorism expert and NBC News analyst Roger Cressey.

And you'd want Kerry to participate in the con, too.

Arf