President gives credit for free elections in Iraq to UN

Yesterday wasn't the best day for Obama foreign relations.

First, he recognized the Islamic Courts Movement in Ethiopia, a group that the Bush administration helped remove last year.

Then, with free and fair elections in Iraq, a direct result of the Bush doctrine ... he recognizes the United Nations, but not our military. This isn't feeling good so far.

Security for the country's first ballot since 2005 was extremely tight, with Iraqi police and military deployed in force, and Mr Obama praised the technical assistance by the United Nations and other organisations to Iraq's electoral commission, which he said "performed professionally under difficult circumstances."