Bush goes to Iraq on Thanksgiving to visit troops.

[lysergik]

A whole *2* hours.. photo-op time.
--

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,104246,00.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq — President Bush (search) 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 minimize chances of making it a target -- landed under a crescent moon at Baghdad International Airport (search).

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.

[wndycty]

1. He could not be upstaged by Hillary

Natch

[peaches2003]

2. Photo-op

Now we know the real reason he had our kids go to war and die- so he could have a photo-op for his reelection.

[Patriot_Spear]

5. Perfect photo op...

"Bush* Too Afraid to Show Face in Daylight"

"Troops Face Endless Days in Iraq, Bush* Leaves Iraq in the Dark"

You get the picture...

[shockingelk]

34. Bush's "layover at Baghdad Airport"

Why is this president so addicted to lying that he lies about noble actions?

How courageous is Bush compared to every other official who proudly announced their itinerary in advance?

How many liberated Iraqis got the chance to cheer him?

Why did he cut and run only after two hours?

[PunkinPi]

33. ...and here it is

[newyawker99]

37. Hi peaches2003!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[asjr]

7. iraq

That was the first thing that entered my mind. I wonder how much booze they had to ply him with to get enough courage to go? Well, He is a Copy Cat! Copy Cat!

[glarius]

35. He appeared from behind a curtain (like the Wizard of Oz!) hahaha

They said he surprised the soldiers by coming out from behind a curtain.....That's fuuunnnyyy!!!

[Patriot_Spear]

3. Oh well...

Hopefully next time he'll let everyone know he's coming...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. I hope he doesn't say "OK, let's eat turkey now!"

That may be misinterpreted and cause a little bit of trouble.

[Catshrink]

6. LOL

[kentuck]

8. They advertised Hillary's trip but kept Bush's secret? Why?

Is this supposed to show how brave he is? Went in under cover of darkness with th lights out. Reminds me of conspiracy theory about his Dad doing a similar trick, but I can't remember the exact details, something about an October Surprise?....

[Patriot_Spear]

9. Because Bush* is a coward- and Hillary is not.

Simple enough.

[Citizen Daryl]

10. Reason For Secrecy

"They advertised Hillary's trip but kept Bush's secret? Why?"

They were afraid the Iraqis would give the American people a regime change for Thanksgiving.

[newyawker99]

38. Hi Citizen Daryl!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[lysergik]

Rove didn't want Shruby to get hurt

So they kept it quiet. Chimpy strutted around the airport for a whopping 2 hours and made sure they burned up a couple dozen rolls of film and then ran back on AF1 and got the hell out of there. Of course all the chickenhawk freeper morons will put Shrub on a bigger pedestal now because he's so "brave" and loves the troops so much. WTF ever!

[Deja Q]

11. What a coward... and a stupid fool too.

The Iraqis missed Wolfoblitz, but maybe they'll hit the Grand Wizard* himself... Karma can be brutal at times.

I'm not advocating for his death, but if the idiot* wants to go over there, he'll be in for a big shock if he hasn't kept up with all the news showing the Iraqi people don't like us being there... with the Prez making a personal appearance to gloat, after everything else he's said and allowed, only an absolute cretin would be stupid enough to set foot in a country he decimated...

Dragging the bodies of Saddam's boys along Iraq's streets didn't help either and was hypocritical as the US got mad at everyone when Al Jazeera put up pics of US bodies or whatever...

[wndycty]

12. I truly think this is a reaction to Hillary's trip. . .

. . .think about how much planning and advanced work goes into a normal trip. This was pulled off under the cover of night because it was a last minute thing.

[kentuck]

13. The thought crossed my mind also...

How could that chickenshit let a woman, Hillary at that, upstage him and go into Baghdad when that was the last thing in the world he wanted to do...?

[wndycty]

14. Don't forget that she went to Afghanistan as well. . .

. . .could you just see the pics of Hillary with the troops as W sat home in Crawford.

[kentuck]

16. And if the word had leaked out...?

they said he would have turned around and came back. What does that tell you? The word had already leaked out about Hillary and she didn't turn around and come back. I am not impressed with this show of cowardice pretending to be courageous.

[trof]

19. Absolutely. As clear as glass.

Hillary shamed him into it.

[kentuck]

22. FOX NEWS is hilarious !

They are reporting it as something "heroic"...why, his plane could have been shot down by a rocket, etc... :) What a friggin' joke! Did he land the plane himself? Shamed into going to Iraq by Hillary, indeed.

[NJCher]

15. brave boy, brave, brave boy

Big improvement, shrubby, from when you were last seen flying to Omaha trying to get out of "harm's way" on 9/11.




Cher

[Jerseycoa]

17. Ha!

He had to scurry after our Hillary. Too funny.

[trof]

18. WINDOWS CLOSED?

:wtf:
They're ALWAYS closed.
Maybe they meant the shades were down?
jeez

[SeveneightyWhoa]

21. Why did the feel they even had to mention that?

What, was somebody going to see Bush's chimp face in the tiny window from a few thousand feet in the air?

[buycitgo]

28. I see a Steve Bell cartoon coming

He loves to do chimps on a 747.

Chris Matthews showed one of those, and even mentioned that people were referring to him as a chimpanzee!

I'll see if I can find that one

this isn't the one I meant, but it'll do

[buycitgo]

29. that's what I'm talking about

[janx]

24. I know! That's exactly my first reaction!

Who writes this stuff?

[SeveneightyWhoa]

26. I just realized that

CNN and this Fox article BOTH used the term "windows closed", which shows that they simply read or repeat the exact information thats handed to them.

[Ernesto]

20. OK OK

We are all shocked by this LBN... But think how this will play out this week in the "moderate media". This is the only thing we'll be hearing...... Think of "turkey-gate". Or "where's the banner"?..... Fact is, America is taking all this buffoonery in and the Gore majority in 2000 sure ain't going to change their vote... Could be plenty brush clearing in the chimp's future.

[maggrwaggr]

23. Wasn't he just in Nevada? Doesn't Nevada kinda look like Iraq?

was the whole thing staged?

[Zynx]

25. An airport dinner? LOL!

What a crock of shit.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

27. I have a question:

Was there any video footage actually shown of Bush with the troops in Baghdad?

[Pastiche423]

30. That is what I want to know

Was he really in Iraq?

[greatauntoftriplets]

31. Campaign appearance.

:puke:

[buycitgo]

32. two suckbutt kissasses on MSGOP

talking about how meaningful these IMAGES will be; how powerful.

one of them (from Iraq?) says that the Iraqi people will be galvanized by the president's commitment, as evidenced by his appearance, that they'll fall in with the program now.

Sure thing....that's why he had to SNEAK in by night, cause he didn't want all the folderol of the throngs of grateful Iraqis, strewing the runway with rose petals.

who do they think they're fooling with this horsesh*t

the other one, walleyed ex-military geeko, Ken Allard, will show the solidarity between not only the military and the pres, BUT ALSO the American people.

announcer now gushes about how the American will see his personal connection.

THEN, a fantastic fantastic Freudian slip by the horrid Allard:

he says something very close to this: "And, following the aircraft carrier SHITE, uh, shot"

these people are such awful liars, they can't even spit out the simplest groaners without their subconscious taking over.

THEN, the other guy says that this is a SERIOUS blow to Al Qaeda! didn't catch his rationale for that, as I was typing this up.

really disgusting crap vomited forth, though.

over to football

[lysergik]

36. CBS just interupted the parade.

To bring us a "special report"..

Chimpy goes to Iraq.. kissasskissasskissass..

CBS has sold out when they find this uninteresting news big enough to break into the middle of the T-day parade with it.

:thumbsdown:

[jonoboy]

39. what ,no time to walk amongst grateful Iraqis ??