President in Baghdad for Thanksgiving Day

The text of the president's speech is at the White House website:

.... I bring a message on behalf of America: we thank you for your service, we're proud of you, and America stands solidly behind you. (Applause.) Together, you and I have taken an oath to defend our country. You're honoring that oath. The United States military is doing a fantastic job. (Applause.) You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq, so that we don't have to face them in our own country. You're defeating Saddam's henchmen, so that the people of Iraq can live in peace and freedom.

By helping the Iraqi people become free, you're helping change a troubled and violent part of the world. By helping to build a peaceful and democratic country in the heart of the Middle East, you are defending the American people from danger and we are grateful. (Applause.)

You're engaged in a difficult mission. Those who attack our coalition forces and kill innocent Iraqis are testing our will. They hope we will run. 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. (Applause.)

We will prevail. We will win because our cause is just. We will win because we will stay on the offensive. And we will win because you're part of the finest military ever assembled. (Applause.) And we will prevail because the Iraqis want their freedom. (Applause.) ....

WaPo tells the story, today:

In a trip infused with cloak-and-dagger secrecy, President Bush paid a surprise visit to Iraq on Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving with U.S. troops and promised not to retreat in the face of truck bombs and assassinations.

Bush quietly slipped away from his Texas ranch Wednesday and flew to Washington, where he changed planes and picked up a few staff members for the long flight to the Iraqi capital. The presidential visit had been planned for almost six weeks but was tightly held, even by a small media pool traveling with him, until after Bush left Baghdad.

With a tear in his eye, Bush stunned 600 soldiers at a Thanksgiving celebration in the makeshift military base at Baghdad International Airport. He burst onstage with little warning and told them they are "defeating the terrorists here in Iraq so we don't have to face them in our own country....

WaPo also tells the story behind the story, Nov. 28:

As Air Force One headed under a false call sign for its unannounced landing in Iraq on Thursday, the Boeing 747 passed within sight of a British Airways pilot who radioed, "Did I just see Air Force One?"

"Gulfstream 5," replied Bush's pilot, Col. Mark Tillman. As one of Bush's aides recounted, the British Airways pilot seemed to sense that he was in on a secret and replied archly, "Oh."

The trip, aimed at boosting soldiers' morale and steadying Bush's political standing, had been in the works for weeks, but only a handful of his closest aides knew about it beforehand. The chosen few had talked about it only on secure telephone lines....

I don't know about you, Faithful Reader, but this story just tickles me pink. :-)

(Thanks, Peter.)

[Follow-up: A Bird's Eye View of the President's Thanksgiving Day.]

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 11/28/03 05:58:55 PM
Categorized as George W. Bush & Speeches and Suchlike.