President Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Troops in Iraq

[Hannibal]

BAGHDAD, Iraq — President Bush made a surprise Thanksgiving visit to American troops in Baghdad Thursday, flying secretly to violence-scarred Iraq to thank U.S. forces for serving there. It was the first trip ever by an American president to Iraq -- a mission tense with concern about his safety.

"You are defending the American people from danger and we are grateful," Bush told some 600 soldiers who were stunned and delighted by his appearance.

The president's plane -- its lights darkened and windows closed to minimize chances of making it a target -- landed under a crescent moon at Baghdad International Airport .

Bush flew in on the plane he most often uses, and White House officials went to extraordinary lengths to keep the trip a secret, fearing its disclosure would prompt terrorist attempts to kill him.

The news of Bush's trip was not released until he was in the air on the way back to the United States. "If this breaks while we're in the air we're turning around," White House communications director Dan Bartlett told reporters on the flight to Baghdad.

Security fears were heightened by an attack last Saturday in which a missile struck a DHL cargo plane, forcing it to make an emergency landing at the airport with its wing aflame.

Bush spent only about two hours on the ground, limiting his visit to the airport dinner with U.S. forces. The troops had been told that the VIP guests would be L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq.

In a ruse staged in the name of security, the White House had put out word that Bush would be spending Thanksgiving at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, with his wife, Laura, his parents and other family members. Even the dinner menu was announced.

Instead, Bush slipped away from his home without notice Wednesday evening and flew to Washington to pick up aides and a handful of reporters sworn to secrecy. Plans called for the trip to be abandoned if word had leaked out in advance.

Within the White House only a handful of senior aides knew about the trip, officials said.

Security fears were underscored by regular attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq. More than five dozen U.S. troops were killed by hostile fire in November, more than any other month since the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1. Early this week, a U.S. military official, Col. William Darley, said attacks peaked at more than 40 per day about two weeks ago and have since dropped to about 30 per day.

The violence persisted Thursday as the president was en route here.

Insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Italian mission in Baghdad, damaging the building but causing no injuries, the U.S. military said. Also, a U.S. military convoy came under attack on the main highway west of Baghdad near the town of Abu Ghraib , witnesses said. And in the northern city of Mosul, unidentified gunmen shot dead an Iraqi police sergeant, said Brig. Gen. Muwaffaq Mohammed.

Since operations began, nearly 300 U.S. service members have died of hostile action, including 183 since May 1 when Bush declared an end to major fighting.

Bush's father visited U.S. troops at a desert outpost in Saudi Arabia on Thanksgiving Day 1990, in the runup to the Gulf War. "We won't pull punches. We are not here on some exercise. And we're not walking away until our mission is done, until the invader is out of Kuwait," he told the troops. At one p oint, he climbed into a bunker to chat with troops.

Bush's father shared lunch with U.S. troops 65 miles from Kuwait, occupied at the time by Saddam Hussein's forces. George H.W. Bush had been the first U.S. president to visit a front-line area since President Nixon went to Vietnam in 1969.

[Hannibal]

This is AWESOME!! That definately had to shock a few of the troops. Too bad Al Jazerra wasnt invited ;-)

[kruser79]

Truly amazing! This man is the best boss we've had in a looooong time.

[BrianOKeeffe]

Simply Excellent !!!

[The_Federalist]

I know I am proud to have a CinC that really cares about troops, not like these anti-war demagogues who use our troops as a political tool.

[kruser79]

All the naysayers need to take a good close look at the man. This is a man that has true compassion for the people in his charge, and under his command. The fact that he has gotten misty eyed when with his troops, and informing the populace of tragedy, hasn't been lost on me.
To me, having a CinC with feelings means that if we're deployed, it was a last resort and that he had no other option. Sincerity can't be faked. It has to be true, his predecessor didn't have a sincere bone in his body, and it showed....

[The_Federalist]

Anyone else disturbed by pundits from Democratic party that are claiming our President's trip to Iraq on Thanksgiving was just a "political" add for his re-election campaign next year. Yet this same party seems awfully quite about a particular senator from NY who received far less media attention for her visit to troops in Afghanistan.

I don’t know how anyone can condemn and politicize the leader-of-the-free-world for flying 20+ hours into a war-zone to serve Thanksgiving dinner to our soldiers.