American troops Thursday, November 27 to boost morale in a country where hundreds of U.S. service men lost their lives.
"We did not charge hundreds of miles through 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," an emotional Bush said to a standing ovation.
It was a reference to the close to 200 U.S. soldiers who died since he declared major combat operations over in May. "We will prevail. We will win because our cause is just. We will win because we will stay on the offensive," Bush promised.
SENIOR PERSON
He spoke after Iraq’s U.S. civil administrator Paul Bremer told soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 1st Armored Division and the 82nd Airborne he was supposed to read the president’s Thanksgiving address to them "but would defer to the most senior person" on the premises.
At that point, Bush emerged wearing a military jacket and loud, thunderous cheering began, Reuters reported. "I was just looking for a warm meal somewhere," Bush said, according to news reports. "Thanks for inviting me to dinner."
Soon after the president was seen carrying a huge platter of turkey and fixings and also took a place in the chow line, serving plates of food.
TOTAL SURPRISE
Bush’s arrival came as a total surprise for the estimated 600 troops stunned to see the president emerge in a military mess hall at the heavily fortified Baghdad International Airport.
His plane had landed under cover of darkness, apparently to avoid missile strikes, that earlier in the week hit a DHL cargo plane. Reuters quoted aides as saying that Bush made the decision to go five or six weeks ago on a trip to Asia. He only informed Vice President Dick Cheney , White House chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice in a video conference call on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
The effort to travel Bush from his range in Taxes to Iraq for his two and a half hours with the soldiers was one of the most secretive operations in recent times.
PARENTS NOT TOLD
It was so secret that Bush’s parents, former President George Bush and Barbara Bush were not told. Bush only told his wife hours before leaving and his daughters, Barbara and Jenna, just before departing, Reuters said.
To add to the confusion, White House officials had told reporters covering the president’s supposed Thanksgiving weekend in Texas that he and the First Lady were having free-range turkey with their daughters and his parents, the former President Bush, and ex-First Lady Bush, the Voice of America (VOA) reported.
Bush was smuggled off his Crawford, Texas, ranch in an unmarked vehicle without his usual motorcade for a 45-minute drive to Texas State Technical College airport in nearby Waco.
WHISKED OFF
White House communications director Dan Bartlett would not say how Bush was whisked off the ranch. "If you were outside the ranch waiting for the president, you would not have known that the president just left," he said.
At the Texas airport, Bush departed aboard his presidential 747 aircraft, Air Force One . The cover story was the plane was being taken to Washington for maintenance. He entered the rear of the plane. The aircraft’s lights were dark as it flew.
Upon landing at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, the plane was rolled into a giant, heavily guarded hangar where an identical plane awaited. Bush switched to the second jet for the Baghdad flight with a handful aids, officials, some reporters and security personnel.
NOBLE TRADITION
From start to finish the operation took 30 hours, of which 27 was spend in the air. Bush suggested that he wanted to pay tribute to the men and women of the U.S. military. In another written statement distributed to media he said they are continuing the noble tradition of sacrificing to preserve American freedoms and "defend peace around the world."
The brief trip of Bush, who claims to be a born again Christian, also came as a morale boost for evangelical groups active in Iraq.
Several Christian organizations and churches from the United States and other countries have made clear they will continue to distribute food and other aid to Iraq, despite daily bomb attacks and other acts of violence.
Their assistance comes at a time when an the International Red Cross and the United Nations recently cut back its foreign staff after they became targets of terrorist attacks.
