WASHINGTON (AP) - Offering a simple, "Thank you America," Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi declared Thursday that his country is succeeding in its effort to move past the war that ousted Saddam Hussein.
In an appearance that President Bush's advisers hoped would ease American voters' doubts about the troubled campaign in Iraq, Allawi told a joint meeting of Congress that despite struggles and setbacks, "the values of liberty and democracy" are taking hold there.
"Today, we are better off, you are better off, the world is better off without Saddam Hussein," Allawi said. He added: "Your decision to go into Iraq was not an easy one, but it was the right one."
