Far from being hostile to the US or its security, the new Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, has gone on national television to both praise the work of Americans and their allies in Iraq and call for an end to attacks on them:

Iraq's new interim leader has praised the US-led coalition, saying it will guarantee security after the country regains its sovereignty on 30 June. In his first televised address to the nation, Iyad Allawi also urged an end to attacks on coalition forces who, he said, were making sacrifices for Iraq.

Anti-coalition militants brought Iraqis "nothing but evil", he said.

The speech follows an announcement by Iraq's new government endorsing a UN draft on the transfer of power.

It's great to see the new interim Iraqi government take the time to both praise and defend the American forces trying so hard to give them their first real chance at self-government. It would have been easy for Allawi to get on television and disparage the US/UK effort in order to build anti-Western credibility with his nation, and some pundits might even have offered him that advice for his first nationally-televised speech. Instead, Allawi acknowledged the real sacrifice of American, British, Polish, Italian, Japanese, and other troops in Iraq, saying, "Coalition forces too have offered the blood of their sons as a result of terror attacks."

Wouldn't it be nice if some Americans could be as gracious, instead of focusing on a few idiots on a night shift at Abu Ghraib?

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