Iraqi Prime Minister says that American troops can leave "anytime they want". He says Iraq will be fine.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi army and police are capable of keeping security in the country when American troops leave "any time they want," though he acknowledged the forces need further weapons and training.

The embattled prime minister sought to show confidence at a time when congressional pressure is growing for a withdrawal and the Bush administration reported little progress had been made on the most vital of a series of political benchmarks it wants al-Maliki to carry out.

Al-Maliki said difficulty in enacting the measures was "natural" given Iraq's turmoil.

But one of his top aides, Hassan al-Suneid, rankled at the assessment, saying the U.S. was treating Iraq like "an experiment in an American laboratory." He sharply criticised the U.S. military, saying it was committing human rights violations, embarassing the Iraqi government with its tactics and cooperating with "gangs of killers" in its campaign against al-Qaida in Iraq.

I can certainly understand al-Suneid's feeling that we are treating Iraq like "an experiment in an American laboratory", because we are. Bush has even referred to it as an "experiment in democracy". But can you imagine having another country blow the shit out of your country and then try to manipulate the survivors to accept a completely foreign type of government? How long would you play along?

And now they are tired of our interference and want us out. And who can blame them?

I just wonder how the Bush administration will spin this story.