"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.
With the president out of sight, L. Paul Bremer, the chief U.S.
civilian administrator, told the soldiers it was time to read the
president's Thanksgiving proclamation and that it was a task for the
most senior official present.
"Is there anybody back there more senior than us?" he asked. That
was the cue for Bush, who promptly stepped forward from behind a
curtain, setting off pandemonium among the troops.
"I was just looking for a warm meal somewhere," he joked. "Thanks
for inviting me. I can't think of finer folks to have Thanksgiving
dinner with than you all."
While here, Bush spoke with soldiers from the 1st Armored
Division and the 82nd Airborne Division at an airport mess hall.
"You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq," he said, "so we
don't have to face them in our own country."
Terrorists are testing America's resolve, Bush said, and "they
hope we will run."
"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," the president said, prompting a standing ovation and
cheers.
"We thank you for your service, we're proud of you, and America
stands solidly behind you," Bush said. And he urged the people of
Iraq to "seize the moment and rebuild your great country based on
human dignity and freedom."
"The regime of Saddam Hussein (news
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sites) is gone forever," he said. Bush also pledged the help of
the United States and its coalition partners, saying "we will stay
until the job is done. I'm confident we will succeed."
Wearing an exercise jacket with a 1st Armored Division patch,
Bush stood in a chow line and dished out sweet potatoes and corn for
Thanksgiving dinner and posed with a platter of a fresh-baked
turkey.
Soldiers at the dinner spoke enthusiastically about Bush.
"He's got to win in '04. No one else can prosecute this war like
he can," said Army Capt. John Morrison from Butler County, Pa. Said
PFC1 Kyle Crittenden of Humboldt County, Calif.: "I'm proud to serve
in his Army."
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.
Plans for the trip were tightly held among a handful of senior
aides. First lady Laura Bush, preparing a Thanksgiving Day dinner,
was not told until Tuesday or Wednesday. Bush's parents, former
President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, were invited to his
ranch for the holiday but were not informed.
As for Bush taking the risk of a trip to Baghdad, Bartlett said
it was appropriate for the president to visit troops on
Thanksgiving. "It is also appropriate that the president travel in a
way that his safety and security will not be compromised," he said.
Bush said with confidence that measures had been taken to ensure
his safety and that of others.
The president had slipped away from his Texas ranch in an
unmarked vehicle and was driven to a nearby airport, where he
climbed aboard Air Force One on the back stairs rather than the
front.
"If you were sitting outside the ranch waiting for the president
you would not have known the president had just left," Bartlett
said.
The plane stopped at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., outside
Washington, to pick up a few aides and four reporters and a camera
crew sworn to secrecy. Five photographers and another reporter
accompanied him from Texas after being summoned just hours before
his departure.
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 about two and a half 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 with Mrs. Bush and his parents and other family members.
Even the dinner menu was announced.
Instead, Bush slipped away from his home without notice.
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 (news
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sites). The first President Bush had been the first U.S.
president to visit a war zone 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.
