To the Point

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi Addresses Congress

Iraq's Prime Minister today told Congress what the majority wanted to hear. After weeks of escalating violence and increasingly grim assessments, Iyad Allawi's upbeat pronouncements that he will succeed in stabilizing Iraq and holding elections in January had politicians up on their feet time and time again. Afterward, the Prime Minister joined President Bush at the White House Rose Garden, where they told reporters that the reality in Iraq is much more positive than what the media are reporting. Warren Olney speaks with journalists in the US and Middle East, political scientists and a former CIA analyst about Allawi's rosy predictions, what Democrats call an elaborate "photo opportunity," and the importance of speeches to joint sessions of Congress and the role of Congress in the War in Iraq. Reporters Notebook: Britain, US at Odds over Iraqi Hostage and Cat Stevens A British hostage has made a desperate plea for his life, as his family accuses the US of "sabotaging" the release of two Iraqi women, as demanded by Kenneth Bigley's captors. Toby Helm, chief political correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, offers perspective on how the story is being covered in Britain, along with the deportation of folk singer-turned-Muslim convert, Cat Stevens.