Bush makes suprise Iraq visit to close out tenure
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Aralık 15, 2008 00:00
BAGHDAD - U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday made a farewell visit to Iraq, a place that defines his presidency, just 37 days before he hands the war off to a successor who has pledged to end it.
Air Force One landed at Baghdad International Airport in the afternoon, after a secretive Saturday night departure from Washington and an 11-hour flight. In a sign of modest security gains in this war zone, Bush was welcomed with a formal arrival ceremony - a flourish that was not part of his previous three trips to Iraq.
But in many ways this was a victory lap without a victory: Nearly 150,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq fighting a war that is remarkably unpopular in the United States and across the globe. More than 4,209 members of the U.S. military have been killed in a war that has cost U.S. taxpayers $576 billion since it began five years and nine months ago. While violence has slowed in Iraq, attacks continue, especially in the north. At least 55 people were killed Thursday in a suicide bombing in a restaurant near Kirkuk.
As Daily News went to press, Bush planned to meet with senior Iraqi leaders, including PMNouri al-Maliki. Other Iraqi officials on Bush's agenda were Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, the country's two vice presidents, the speaker of the Council of Representatives and the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government Massoud Barzani. Al-Maliki and Bush were marking the recent security agreement between the two nations. Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the agreement was "a remarkable document - unique in the Arab world because it was publicly debated, discussed and adopted by an elected parliament."
Bush arrived in daylight, a sign of the security gains made in Iraq. Still, the trip was conducted under heavy security and a strict cloak of secrecy. People traveling with the president agreed to tell almost no one about the plans.
Bush's visit came after Defense Secretary Robert Gates' unannounced stop in Iraq on Saturday, at a sprawling military base in the central part of the country. For Bush, the war in Iraq is the issue around which both he and the country defined his two terms in office. Though his decision won support at first, the public now has largely decided that the U.S. needs to get out of Iraq.
But in many ways this was a victory lap without a victory: Nearly 150,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq fighting a war that is remarkably unpopular in the United States and across the globe. More than 4,209 members of the U.S. military have been killed in a war that has cost U.S. taxpayers $576 billion since it began five years and nine months ago. While violence has slowed in Iraq, attacks continue, especially in the north. At least 55 people were killed Thursday in a suicide bombing in a restaurant near Kirkuk.
As Daily News went to press, Bush planned to meet with senior Iraqi leaders, including PMNouri al-Maliki. Other Iraqi officials on Bush's agenda were Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, the country's two vice presidents, the speaker of the Council of Representatives and the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government Massoud Barzani. Al-Maliki and Bush were marking the recent security agreement between the two nations. Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the agreement was "a remarkable document - unique in the Arab world because it was publicly debated, discussed and adopted by an elected parliament."
Bush arrived in daylight, a sign of the security gains made in Iraq. Still, the trip was conducted under heavy security and a strict cloak of secrecy. People traveling with the president agreed to tell almost no one about the plans.
Bush's visit came after Defense Secretary Robert Gates' unannounced stop in Iraq on Saturday, at a sprawling military base in the central part of the country. For Bush, the war in Iraq is the issue around which both he and the country defined his two terms in office. Though his decision won support at first, the public now has largely decided that the U.S. needs to get out of Iraq.