Bush surprises US troops with Iraq trip ( 2003-11-28 09:55) (Agencies)
U.S. President Bush flew to Iraq under extraordinary secrecy and security
Thursday to spend Thanksgiving with U.S. troops and thank them for "defending
the American people from danger."
U.S. President
Bush puts his arms around a soldier during a surprise visit to the
troops at Baghdad International Airport Thursday Nov. 27, 2003. [AP
Photo]
The unannounced visit brought wild cheers
from battle-worn soldiers, stunned the nation and even surprised the president's
parents, who had been expecting him at the Thanksgiving table at his Crawford,
Texas ranch.
Bush, the first U.S. president to visit Iraq, promised that insurgents
testing America's commitment will not be rewarded with a U.S. retreat.
"We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter
cost of casualties, defeat a ruthless dictator and liberate 25 million people
only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins," Bush told about 600
soldiers from the 1st Armored Division and the 82nd Airborne.
The troops had been told only that they were gathered for Thanksgiving dinner
with a VIP guest in the mess hall at Baghdad International Airport.
L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, added his own drama to the
surprise. Billed as the special guest along with coalition forces commander Lt.
Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, Bremer opened the program by telling the soldiers it was
time to read the president's Thanksgiving proclamation.
He asked if there was "anybody back there more senior than us" to read the
president's words. Bush emerged from behind a curtain as cheering soldiers
climbed on chairs and tables to yell their approval.
The president shed a few tears.
"I was just looking for a warm meal somewhere," he joked, fresh from an
11-hour overseas flight. "Thanks for inviting me to dinner."
Wearing an exercise jacket with a 1st Armored Division patch, Bush then
worked the entire room and dished out — but did not sit down to eat — sweet
potatoes and corn from the chow line.
"We thank you for your service, we're proud of you, and America stands
solidly behind you," he said during brief remarks delivered on a day when
Americans count blessings. "You are defending the American people from danger
and we are grateful."
Later, back aboard Air Force One for the flight home to Crawford, the
president told reporters that he made his decision while thinking about how hard
it must be for soldiers to spend the holiday far from home and family.
"It's got to be a lonely moment for them," Bush said. "I thought it was
important to send that message that we care for them (the troops) and we support
them strongly, that we erase any doubts in their minds as to whether or not the
people stand with them. ... Having seen the reaction of those troops, you know
it was the right thing to do."
With U.S. forces in Iraq the target of regular, deadly attacks, Bush has been
heavily criticized for his policies, particularly from Democrats seeking to turn
the issue into a political vulnerability for him in next year's presidential
election.
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. Since
operations began, nearly 300 U.S. service members have died of hostile action,
including 183 since May 1.
The violence persisted Thursday even as the president was en route to
Baghdad.
Insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Italian mission in the
city, 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.
But Bush, his visit providing striking images of support for him among the
troops, told the soldiers their sacrifices are contributing to the safety of
their nation.
"You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq so we don't have to face them
in our own country," Bush said. "You're defeating Saddam's henchmen so that the
people of Iraq can live in peace and freedom."
In turn, soldiers spoke enthusiastically about the president. "After 13
months in theater, my morale had kind of sputtered," said Capt. Mark St.
Laurent, 36, of Leesburg, Va. "Now I'm good for another two months."
During his 2 1/2 hours on the ground, Bush also met with four members of the
Iraqi Governing Coalition, Baghdad's mayor and city council, and with top U.S.
commanders.
When Bush's father visited U.S. troops at a desert outpost in Saudi Arabia on
Thanksgiving Day 1990, in the runup to the first Gulf War, he became the first
U.S. president to visit a front-line area since President Nixon went to Vietnam
in 1969.
Dwight David Eisenhower, as president-elect, visited Korean battle fronts in
December 1952 and President Lyndon Johnson made two wartime trips to Vietnam.
Bush first began discussing a visit to Iraq for Thanksgiving five or six
weeks ago, White House communications director Dan Bartlett said. After ordering
the planning to proceed during his trip to Asia last month, Bush made the final
decision to go on Wednesday, after a secure video conference call from his ranch
with Vice President Dick Cheney, chief of staff Andrew Card and national
security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
White House officials went to extraordinary lengths to keep the trip a
secret, fearing its disclosure would prompt terrorist attempts to kill him.
In a ruse staged in the name of security, White House deputy press secretary
Claire Buchan put out word Wednesday — unknowingly, she said later — that Bush
would be spending Thanksgiving in Texas with his wife, Laura, his parents and
other family members. She even announced the dinner menu.
Only a handful of the president's top aides knew about the trip beforehand
and Bush told reporters his decision was touch-and-go until the last minute.
Even the president's parents were not told until they arrived at the ranch
Thursday morning expecting to see their son for the Thanksgiving meal they would
end up eating without him.
Instead, Bush had quietly slipped away from his home on Wednesday evening, in
an unmarked vehicle and wearing a ballcap pulled down low over his forehead. He
flew to Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington accompanied from Texas by two
reporters and a few photographers summoned only hours before. There, he picked
up a few aides and some more reporters sworn to secrecy, and made the switch to
another plane inside a huge hangar for the long flight.
It was evening in Baghdad when the president's plane — which had flown the
whole trip with its lights darkened and window blinds closed — landed under a
crescent moon, with Bush himself in the cockpit to watch Air Force One pilot
Col. Mark Tillman "bring it in."
"Had security been broken, that would have been a time when we would have
been most vulnerable," Bush said.
Even then, 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," Bartlett had
told reporters.
