Rumsfeld Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq
MOSUL, Iraq - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visited wounded soldiers and brought holiday greetings on Christmas Eve amid tight security at an air base in northern Iraq where an insurgent's attack killed 14 U.S. troops and eight other people earlier this week.
Hoping to demonstrate compassion for soldiers' sacrifices, Rumsfeld landed in darkness and walked immediately from his plane to a combat surgical hospital where many of the bombing victims were treated after Tuesday's lunchtime attack on a mess tent. The most seriously wounded already have been transferred to a U.S. military hospital in Germany.
Out of concern for security, Rumsfeld's aides went to unusual lengths to keep his visit a secret prior to his arrival, with only a few reporters and one TV crew accompanying him on an overnight flight from Washington.
In an interview aboard the C-17 cargo plane that brought him to Mosul, Rumsfeld said he'd been planning to visit U.S. troops here long before the deadly attack Tuesday, believed to have been carried out by a suicide bomber.
"The focus of the trip is to thank the troops and wish them a Merry Christmas," he said.
The blast Tuesday at Forward Operating Base Marez was the deadliest single attack on a U.S. base in Iraq, striking as hundreds of soldiers sat down to lunch. Fourteen U.S. servicemembers, four American civilians, three Iraqi National Guard members and one "unidentified non-U.S. person" were killed.
The top U.S. general in northern Iraq said Thursday that the suicide bomber believed to have blown himself up in the dining tent was probably wearing an Iraqi military uniform.
The stealth Christmas Eve trip came on the heels of several difficult weeks for the defense chief. Several high-profile Republicans have publicly criticized Rumsfeld, prompting President Bush to defend him Monday as a "good human being who cares deeply about the military and deeply about the grief that war causes."
Speaking for himself on Wednesday, Rumsfeld said he stays awake at night worrying about soldiers and their families and shares their grief over lost loved ones.
"I am truly saddened by the thought that anyone could have the impression that I, or others here, are doing anything other than working urgently to see that the lives of the fighting men and women are protected and are cared for in every way humanly possible," he said.
More than 1,300 Americans have been killed since the war with Iraq began in March 2003, including a devastating suicide attack on an Army mess tent near Mosul on Tuesday. The Pentagon is increasing the number of troops in Iraq to a wartime high of 150,000 in January to boost security for the Iraqi elections.