It was not he who sent troops into the credibility-sapping streets of Baghdad.

My comments:

Sap is the watery substance in a plant, without which the plant weakens and withers.

As a verb, is something saps, it weakens and loses power.

The credibility-sapping streets of Bagdad?

That means sending troops to Iraq leads to the gradual loss of American credibility in the world.

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pluck a brand from the burning

for the sake of it

She's fair game!

Longevity has its place.

lose three stone是什么意思？

vintage mother

down the road

take sth in stride

Sour puss 酸猫？

in double time

out of the bottle

national god

give my right arm

sit sb down

hitch one's wagon to a star

fighting without fighting

on the back of

the buck stops there?

bargain for jobs

Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（张欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.