And this is the administration that told Americans we have to watch what we say

You almost have to admire their chutzpah.

After years of being told by the Bush Administration that we have to watch what we say, that for a candidate to oppose Bush's policy in Iraq emboldens the enemy, that opposing Bush is unpatriotic; after surveillance of peace groups and protesting nuns being put on no-fly lists, after being told we have to put up with illegal wiretapping in the name of national security, now we're being told that the huge anti-American demonstrations taking place in Iraq are a benchmark of progress:

A huge anti-American protest swept two cities in Iraq today, but White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters this only underscores how much "progress" the U.S. is making in that country.

Four years since the fall of Baghad, Iraq "is now a place where people can freely gather and express their opinions, and that was something they could not do under Saddam." Johndrove said, traveling with President Bush to Arizona.

He also noted that Moktada al-Sahr had called for "massive protests-- I'm not sure that we 've seen that, those numbers materialize."

But the Associated Press reported this afternoon: "Tens of thousands of Shiites -- a sea of women in black abayas and men waving Iraqi flags -- marched from Kufa to Najaf on Monday, demanding U.S. forces leave their country on the fourth anniversary of fall of Baghdad. Streets in the capital were silent and empty under a hastily imposed 24-hour driving ban.

"Demonstrators ripped apart American flags and tromped across a Stars and Stripes rug flung on the road between the two holy cities for the huge march."

Johndroe also said: "While we have much more progress ahead of us -- the United States, the coalition and Iraqis have much more to do -- this is a country that has come a long way from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein."

....and handed that tyranny back to us in the emboldened dictatorship of George W. Bush.

Somehow I'm not sure that the families of the over 3200 young Americans killed in this war and the over 30,000 wounded would agree that fighting for the right of Iraqis to march in the streets in favor of killing Americans is a noble cause.