HUGE
Posted on 11/27/2003 9:42:19 AM PST by PeteFromMontana
Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq Email this Story
Nov 27, 12:27 PM (ET)
By TERENCE HUNT
(AP) U.S. Army Specialist Thomas Huffstatler, left standing, of Summit Ark., standing, Sgt. Stephen... Full Image
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - 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 minimzie chances of making it a target - landed under a crescent moon at Bagdad 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.
Excellent!
or - Bush Leaves After Only Two Hours, Leaving Troops With Only Leftovers
Ain't possible! LOL
There is no clearer example of the differences between the publicity grabbing Clintons and this President. Clinton would have announced it ahead of time and milked it with a furrowed brow as something he just had to do, picture taken with head held up.
Our President just did the right thing. Bush is truly a great president - even if I do disagree with him once in a while.
bump
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"Purpose of missus clinton's Iraq-Afghanistan-Thanksgiving photo-op is to mine for material for prez campaign--HERS," charges unnamed dwarf "The only turkeys here are the nine legitimate Democratic candidates. . . and the taxpayers, who are footing the bill."
"The purpose of clinton's Iraq-Afghanistan-Thanksgiving photo-op is to mine for material for the presidential campaign--HERS," huffs the dwarf, also unnamed. He continues, "The Iraq-Iowa connection was not lost on ME. The only turkeys here are the nine legitimate Democratic candidates… and the taxpayers, who are paying for clinton's junket... who ALWAYS pay for clinton junkets."  (viewing movie requires Flash Player 6, available HERE) According to her own press release, missus clinton will not only use her Thanksgiving jaunt to defuse the clinton reputation for military effeteness and loathing; she will tackle the clinton record of rapes and other predations by arranging photo-ops with different groups of women of both countries. "I want to be sure that big-haired as well as burqaed women are involved," she said. Citing security concerns, the exact itinerary of the trip was not disclosed. Missus clinton, who travels with Secret Service protection, (also at taxpayer expense), said she was not concerned about her safety, but her office would not discuss what, if any, extra protective efforts were made for her trip. We have learned, however, that continuous sweeps will be made of missus clinton's person, looking for the activation of global-positioning nanodevices, i.e., NanoVarmin, that are believed to have been planted by the burgeoning anti-clinton Democrat opposition. Mia T, hillary's Iraq Turkeys |
THE INTERMINABLE clintons
It's time to take out the trash...
A Senate en passant capture is THE MOVE...
NEW AUDIO! Hear the Bill Bennett (PARDONGATE) epilogue
-PJ
He did not "upstage" anyone. To upstage someone that has to be your intent. He was just doing what he should have done.
There is an old saying, the people that say things about other people are the ones you most have to look out for. Clift sees things through these glasses and thinks eveyone else is the same way.
Hey, Elanor, did it ever occur to you that some people just do what they think is the right thing to do?
Hillary is now the (unknowing), helpless sock puppet. Sounds good! Couldn't happen to a more deserving being.
What a great gesture. And it will bump his approval rating bigtime, I'm sure.
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ASHINGTON, Nov. 25--According to an unnamed source close to his campaign, one of the nine dwarfs is charging missus clinton with exploiting the war on terror… and at taxpayer expense… even as she continues to undermine the nine Democrats running for president.