One can only hope they don't believe their own propaganda.

First, Allawi, lying to the US Congress. Now that's got to be either stupid or smart, but something.

Seeking to play down reports of "no-go zones" and images of nationwide mayhem, he said that, of Iraq's 18 provinces, 14 or 15 were "completely safe."

Yet Dr. Allawi will return to a country where violence is widespread, and to a capital where even his fortified headquarters remains the target of daily mortar rounds.

"Military combat, violence, assassinations and abductions continue to be reported across the country," the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, said this month. Many relief groups are pulling out of Iraq because of the epidemic of kidnappings and killings.

American troops leave their forts only in armed convoys. Simply to hand out food and candy in a relatively quiet neighborhood in Baghdad the other day, they felt compelled to first set up a defensive perimeter.

Iraqis opinion of this:

Iraqis reacted with astonishment and derision yesterday to a claim made by the interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, before the US Congress that 14 or 15 out of Iraq's 18 provinces "are completely safe."

"The truth is exactly the reverse," said a lorry driver, Abu Akil, as he queued for diesel yesterday. "There are 15 provinces which are dangerous and only the three Kurdish provinces in the north are OK. This speech was designed to be heard Americans and not by Iraqis."

The lorry drivers, desperate to feed their families, take great risks but they admit that many roads are now too dangerous. "The speech was ridiculous," said Maithan Maki. "When Allawi became Prime Minister I was in favour of him but things have got worse and worse." Mr Allawi's visit to the US may be doing him lasting damage in Iraq, reinforcing the impression that he is a pawn and out of touch with real events. Iraqis were aware when the US appointed him interim Prime Minister that he had long been financed by the CIA and MI6, but were prepared to forgive this if he could restore security."

<a hr4ef="http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6330853&src=rss/topNews&section=newsBAGHDAD (Reuters) - The ability of Iraqi insurgents to snatch foreigners from their guarded Baghdad offices highlighted the country's poor security as U.S. officials argued whether elections could be held in towns under rebel control.

Images of British hostage Kenneth Bigley and his relatives pleading for his life put pressure on Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, vulnerable a year before an election for his unpopular decision to back the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The gruesome beheadings of two Americans seized with Bigley served as a warning to other foreigners still in Iraq, but the Iraqi government said January polls would not be delayed.

"While previous victims were kidnapped on Iraq's perilous roads, the latest victims were captured in carefully planned snatch operations at their Baghdad homes and offices -- places foreigners felt secure with high walls and armed guards."

Now for Bush:
U.S. Documents Question Iraqi Police Training,Fri Sep 24, 2004 07:13 PM ET

By Anna Willard and Adam Entous
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fewer Iraqi security forces will be fully trained by the end of this year than cited by President Bush and it will take until July 2006 to fully train the police force, according to Pentagon documents."

I think we're so used to being lied to by this administration and it's puppets no one will be incensed over this, even though people are dying.

Arf