Bush Secret Visit Took Weeks of Planning

[Bantu_Kelani]

What was the point of him going there? What did it prove? He went to see troops near the airport. He didn't go to Basra or Tikrit for crying out loud. He was as safe as a chickenhawk could be.... It was nice of him to go entertain them, however.

B.K

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Bush Secret Visit Took Weeks of Planning
Fri Nov 28,11:38 AM ET  

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE - Three hours from landing on a high-risk visit to Baghdad, President Bush (news - web sites) was most anxious about keeping it a secret.


"I was fully prepared to turn this baby around, come home," Bush said later aboard Air Force One. To everyone's amazement the secrecy held.

The world did not learn that Bush had spent 2 1/2 hours Thursday on a Thanksgiving Day visit to troops in Baghdad until his jumbo jet was again in the air, flying back to the United States, where he arrived early Friday, making it back to his ranch in Texas shortly before daybreak.

As the president was cheering up soldiers in a mess hall in Baghdad, newscasters back home were reporting that he was enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with his family at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. That was what reporters had been told by White House officials.

Bush said he thought Americans would be understanding about the deception because it was important for soldiers at risk to know that the commander in chief and the country supported them and appreciated their sacrifices.

He told reporters that Americans understand that if the trip had been announced "it would have put me in harm's way. It would have put others in harm's way, including yourselves."

The bold nature of the trip, with television networks broadcasting the news on a day when most Americans were at home with families watching football or parades, could give Bush a PR boost at a time of steadily increasing casualties among U.S. troops and polling that shows postwar Iraq (news - web sites) becoming more of a liability for the president.

Behind the trip were weeks of top-secret planning, doubts and last minute questions. It began in mid-October when chief of staff Andy Card asked Bush whether he would be interested in going to Baghdad for the holiday.

"Yes, I would," Bush replied. "Except I don't want to go if it puts anyone in harm's way. I said it's very essential I understand all aspects of the trip, starting with whether or not we could get in and out safely."

If word leaked out of the trip, Air Force One could become a prized target for terrorists and Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) loyalists.

Bush said he was "the biggest skeptic of all" about whether the trip could be pulled off. He questioned military commanders and the civilian administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, and even sat down with the pilot of Air Force One, Col. Mark Tillman, to go over details.

Three hours from Baghdad, Bush still was concerned about secrecy.

He questioned his secret service agents and they checked with officials on the ground. No leaks. Bush said he had been prepared to pull the plug if the secret were out.

Air Force One, with its lights off and window shades pulled down, landed in darkness. Bush's motorcade from the plane sped across the unlit tarmac at Baghdad airport, to a mess hall where 600 soldiers were waiting impatiently for Thanksgiving dinner.

Bremer told the soldiers it was time to read a Thanksgiving message from the president, a task reserved for the most senior official present.

"Is there anybody back there more senior than us?" Bremer said, standing alongside Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq.

With that, Bush stepped from behind the stage and electrified the crowd.

"I was just looking for a warm meal somewhere," he joked to the cheering crowd.

Addressing troops from the 1st Armored Division and the 82nd Airborne, and other units, Bush said he brought a message from home: "We thank you for your service. We're proud of you and America stands solidly behind you."

Bush said the terrorists and insurgents were testing America's resolve and "they hope we will run" from Iraq.

"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.

The remarks brought the soldiers to their feet.

"It was a pleasant surprise," said Master Sgt. Michael Johnson (news - web sites) of Turlock, Calif. "They had us waiting so long I started to get (mad). But it's not so often you get to meet a president."

Bush served mashed potatoes for 10 minutes and then ducked into a meeting with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), who had accompanied him to Baghdad, along with Bremer, Sanchez and four members of the Iraqi Governing Council.

Five reporters, five photographers and a camera crew and producer, sworn to secrecy, accompanied the president on the trip. Bush surreptitiously left his ranch in an unmarked car with tinted windows, riding with Rice and secret service agents.

Other Secret Service agents left at the ranch were not told the president had departed. Rice and the president wore ball caps; Bush said he pulled his low on his face and slouched down in his seat to avoid being recognized by an airfield guard.

"We looked like a normal couple," Bush said of himself and Rice.

Interviewed on NBC's "Today" show Friday, she said security was "very, very tight" and said that "almost no one knew because operational security was absolutely critical."

Air Force One landed at Andrews Air Force Base just outside Washington and was pulled into a huge hanger. Out of view, Bush then boarded an identical jumbo jet, used alternately with the other aircraft as Air Force One.

Reporters who joined the trip at Andrews had their cell phones, pagers and other electronic devices taken away by security officials until the plane was headed toward Iraq.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031128/ap_on_re_mi_ea/bush_8

[Bantu_Kelani]

The turkey has landed: how Bush cooked up a secret mission to give thanks to his troops
By Phil Reeves in Baghdad and David Usborne in New York
28 November 2003

George Bush delivered a dramatic Thanksgiving Day surprise last night by flying, under cover of darkness, into Iraq on board Air Force One.

Two hundred and ten days after declaring an end to major combat, President Bush slipped into the unstable and dangerous Middle Eastern country that his troops now occupy with the lights on his plane darkened and the windows blacked out.

The extraordinary mission ­ no American president has visited a war zone since Richard Nixon flew to Vietnam in 1969 ­ was clearly calculated to burnish Mr Bush's image as he prepares for a re-election campaign that will be overshadowed by violence in Iraq and the rising toll of American casualties. It was spent with 600 soldiers at a turkey and sweet potato dinner in a mess hall at Baghdad airport and lasted a mere two and a half hours.

Yet it was enough to secure valuable prime-time television coverage on Thanksgiving Day, featuring pictures of a determined president rallying his troops after a grim month in which 70 lives have been lost. The operation was surrounded in extraordinary secrecy, and was known beforehand only to a handful of the President's closest aides. The White House communications director, Dan Bartlett, told a group of hand-picked reporters invited on the flight and sworn to secrecy that "if this breaks while we are in the air, we're turning around".

Even Laura Bush, the President's wife, was reportedly kept out of the loop until the last moment. In a deft stroke of misinformation, the White House had said that President Bush would be eating Thanksgiving Day dinner at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and even released details of the menu.

His parents, George and Barbara Bush, travelled there expecting to see him. Instead, unknown even to secret service agents guarding his Texas ranch, Mr Bush flew back to Washington DC from Texas on Wednesday evening to begin the clandestine flight to Baghdad.

It was a moment of extraordinary political theatre as Paul Bremer, the top US official in Iraq, told troops he had a Thanksgiving message from the President and that the most "senior" US official among them should be the one to read it. Turning toward the stage backdrop, Bremer asked: "Is there anyone back there who's more senior than us?"

Enter Mr Bush. "I was just looking for a warm meal somewhere ­ thanks for inviting me to dinner," the President, wearing a coy smile and with tears in his eyes, told the soldiers.

In spectacular vote-winning form, he posed with a platter of roast turkey. And for 10 minutes he dished out mashed potatoes and corn to the the 1st Armoured Division and the 82nd Airborne Division.

News of the visit only broke in the US after Air Force One had taken off from Baghdad and was on its way home. And no sooner was the visit made public in Baghdad, than the city was shaken by the sounds of conflict ­ repeated loud explosions, gunfire and ambulance sirens.

The administration will be hoping that the video images will help erase memories of a not dissimilar staged event on 1 May in which the President landed on an American aircraft carrier to announce that the war in Iraq had been won. As the violence has worsened, that day has come to haunt the White House. This time, wearing a US army jacket, he told the troops that America "stands solidly" behind them, and ­ to whoops of approval ­ that the US military was doing a "fantastic job".

As well as potatoes, he also served them, and the television cameras, with a portion of his familiar "war on terror" rhetoric. "You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq," he said, "so we don't have to face them in our own country."

Not that the mere fact of the President having spent two and a half hours in Iraq is likely to do anything to change events in Iraq or curb the violence there. Nearly 300 US services personnel have died in hostile action, 183 of them since 1 May when Mr Bush declared an end to major combat.

More than 60 US troops were killed by hostile fire in November, more than any other month since the end of major combat. But it was a bold and meticulously orchestrated gesture that will have no political downside. Mr Bush will also have artfully upstaged Senator Hillary Clinton who is due to visit the Iraq capital this morning. "You are defending the American people from danger and we are grateful," he told the soldiers.

The visit came during a lull in the violence, which may have been linked to the Muslim Eid-al-Fitr holiday. Some Iraqis were unimpressed. "To hell with Bush," said Mohammed al-Jubouri. "He is another Mongol in a line of invaders who have destroyed Iraq."

http://www.uscrusade.com/

[Ayinde]

I like this take on it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New Bush Tape Raises Fears of Attacks

By DISASSOCIATED PRESS
November 28, 2003

A tape today surfaced in U.S. media outlets of someone purporting to be George W. Bush at a U.S. military base in Baghdad.

Intelligence analysts around the world are studying the videotapes. "It certainly looked and sounded like him, but we get so few glimpses at Bush in real-life situations that it is hard to tell," said one operative from a Western intelligence agency.

People who know Bush said it appeared to him. "That's him, all right," said one longtime associate.

The tape shows the man claiming to be Bush praising U.S. attacks in Iraq. "We will stay until the job is done," he threatened.

The videotape was delivered to the Baghdad bureau of FOX News by an intermediary courier who has brought material before from the U.S. military, according to the U.S. network.

There were calls for FOX to be banned from some Arabic countries for broadcasting American militaristic propaganda.

While the quality of the tape was not poor, the alleged Bush did appear tired in portions of it, prompting speculation that he is on the run.

The man claiming to be Bush said: "We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter cost in casualties, defeat a brutal dictator and liberate 25 million people only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins."

Analysts pointed out that given the ongoing nature of the Iraqi resistance since "the end of major combat operations," that comment could have been recorded anytime in the past six months.

"When the man identified as Bush tells U.S. troops, 'You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq so we don't have to face them in our own country,' well, it's a little hard to believe that even the Bush White House would try to spin that," said the operative from a Western intelligence agency.

"How could anyone believe, after all that has been disclosed about the lies and distortions used to manipulate the public into accepting this war, that U.S. troops are defending the American people in Iraq? No major world leader would be so obtuse or so low as to try to sell that to people at this stage."

Members of the Iraqi Governing Council who met with the man identified as Bush said they had met with a man identified as Bush and were delaying comment until Paul Bremer was available to tell them what their comments would be.

Omar Ali, an Iraqi in a poor area of Baghdad said: "I don't understand why he didn't stay. Just because the U.S. nearly starved us with the sanctions for 12 years, killed my cousin during the invasion, busted down my door last week and is trying to find a way to steal our oil -- does he think that Iraqis would want to hurt him, our great liberator?"

Private Charles Sanders, who has been stationed in Iraq since the invasion said: "I was supposed to be back home by now. It was really getting depressing, but this is great. Sure, I don't get to look into the eyes of my little girl, or hold my wife tenderly in my arms, but the president served me turkey!"

Susan Jones in Pittsburgh, who this morning was driven to tears while watching "Dances with Wolves" on cable TV, said: "I was planning on talking over the Thanksgiving Day table with my family about how we slaughtered the Indians and enslaved the blacks, bullied Latin America and bombed Vietnam, and now were occupying Iraq. I don't know, is it just me, or do we just have this brutal aggressive side to us? But now I guess, well, just talk about Bush's visit instead."

When asked whether she was certain the president had gone to Iraq, Laura Bush said she hadn't noticed her husband had left the Crawford ranch. "I assumed he was out clearing brush," the First Lady said.

Correspondents Robert Jensen and Sam Husseini contributed to this report.

http://www.trinicenter.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=548

[kristine]

Iraqis ask why Bush didn't see Iraq on surprise trip to Baghdad


       

By Niko Price
ASSOCIATED PRESS
10:35 a.m. November 28, 2003


BAGHDAD, Iraq – President Bush's surprise visit to Iraq was the talk of Baghdad's teahouses, kebab shops and mosques Friday, with many Iraqis asking why he didn't take advantage of his trip to see firsthand how his rule has treated them.

Many complained that Bush met with few Iraqis during his secret, two-hour stay Thursday evening and never left the grounds of a heavily fortified U.S. base. Several called the trip an electoral stunt, and took offense that he would use their country as his stage.

"He visited Iraq for the sake of the Americans, not the Iraqis. He didn't come to see how we are doing," Muzher Abd Hanush, 54, said in his barbershop. "To come, say hello and leave – what good does that do?"

U.S. forces in Iraq generally took the trip as a morale boost, and praised their commander in chief for what they called a courageous move.

"It's an extremely admirable gesture. It's really a good example as a leader," Capt. Craig Childs, of Galveston, Texas, said at his base in the northern city of Tikrit. "It's a bold statement that he's confident of the job we're doing here to come within the enemy's reach."

But among Iraqis generally disappointed in the U.S.-led occupation, the trip swayed few opinions.

Some people applauded what they called a bold move and expressed vague hopes that it would help bring security, political stability and jobs to their war-shattered country. But they stressed it was results – not a photo opportunity – that would boost Bush's popularity here.

"If he takes care of Iraq, he will be welcomed here. If not – whether he's here or in the White House – he is of no use to us," said Fadel Hadi, 59, playing dominoes at a teahouse. "If his visit brings us some good, he will be welcome every day."

Ahmed Kheiri, 24, saw the visit as a campaign tactic.

"He came for the sake of the elections," Kheiri said. "He never thought of the Iraqi people. He doesn't care about us. It was a personal visit for his own sake."

Iraqi politicians had mixed reactions to the visit. Mouwafik al-Rubei'e, a member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council who met Bush on Thursday night, said the president "reaffirmed his country's commitment to building a new, democratic and prosperous Iraq."

Another member of the Governing Council, Mahmoud Othman, said the trip meant little.

"We cannot consider Bush's arrival at Baghdad International Airport yesterday a visit to Iraq," he said. "He did not meet with ordinary Iraqis. Bush was only trying to boost the morale of his troops."

Indeed, many Iraqis questioned how the trip could possibly help improve their dire situation. Eight months after the U.S. invasion, Iraqis complain they still have few jobs, little security and no political representation.

During Friday prayers on the Muslim holy day, imams at Shiite and Sunni mosques alike criticized the visit, saying Bush should expend his energy helping Iraq recover from war instead of flying across the world to pose for the cameras.

"Instead of coming here to celebrate Thanksgiving with his troops, Bush should release the innocent people in his prisons and arrest the real terrorists conducting attacks," Skeikh Abdul Hadi al-Daraji said at the Muhsen Mosque in the poor, Shiite Muslim neighborhood of Sadr City.

"First Bush said he would liberate Iraq. Now he is occupying it. How long will he stay?" asked the imam at Baghdad's largest Sunni mosque, Abu Hanifa.

Bush's visit was spent entirely on the grounds of Baghdad International Airport, a 15-square-mile complex heavily guarded by U.S. troops. He flew in under complete secrecy, keeping his plans even from his own parents, whom he had invited to his Texas ranch for Thanksgiving dinner.

News of his visit didn't emerge until he had left Iraq, and given the power outages in some Baghdad neighborhoods Thursday night, that meant many Iraqis didn't hear about it until Friday.

While U.S. troops called the trip courageous, some Iraqis saw it as cowardly.

"The way he made the trip shows he's afraid of Iraqis," said Mohammed Kamel, 40, a former soldier who now drives a taxi. "He should be; we're a fierce people."

U.S. senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jack Reed spent about 10 hours in Baghdad on Friday and planned another day in Iraq on Saturday after overnighting out of the country. On Friday, Clinton traveled between the airport, coalition headquarters and another U.S. military base in a convoy of civilian SUVs with an escort of Humvees and Apache helicopters.

She met with coalition officials, U.S. troops, a group of Iraqi female politicians and talked briefly with Iraqi workers on the bases. Media coverage was restricted, however, and few Iraqis heard about her trip Friday.

Alla Abdul Wahab, a 38-year-old windowpane seller, hadn't heard about Clinton's trip, but asked what Bush's visit would ultimately do for Iraqis.

"What good will this visit bring?" he asked. "He came to see the Americans – that's all."


 

[iyah360]

http://rense.com/general45/leg.htm

Bush's Baghdad Turkey
A Leg-Pull
Julian Borger in Washington
The Guardian - UK
12-5-3

President George Bush did go to Baghdad. That much seems to be true, but some of the well-publicised details of last week's surprise Thanksgiving Day trip have since been called into question as the White House spin is deconstructed.
 
The problems start with the turkey. It is the focus of the quintessentially American holiday, and photographs printed around the US showed the president holding a prize roasted specimen on a platter.
 
However, the turkey was just for decoration, put there to make the occasion look more heartwarming, the Washington Post reported yesterday.
 
The soldiers were actually served pre-sliced turkey from canteen-style hot plates. The president never took a knife to the bird he held for the cameras. It may not even have been edible.
 
The revelation has thrown more light on the White House publicity machine a day after accusations that it made up a chance mid-air encounter between a British Airways pilot and the presidential plane.
 
Briefing journalists on board Air Force One, the White House communications director, Dan Bartlett, told how the president's pilot, Colonel Mark Tillman, bluffed his way out of an awkward situation to preserve the secrecy of the mission, when the BA pilot thought he recognised the distinctive livery. According to Mr Bartlett's account, Col Tillman radioed back identifying his jumbo as a Gulfstream V executive jet.
 
BA denied any knowledge of the incident, but yesterday National Air Traffic Services, confirmed the conversation took place between a pilot from a non-British carrier and an air traffic controller at Swanwick, Hampshire, who was simply reading from a flight plan that stated the flight would be operated by a Gulfstream.