ARAB-US RELATIONS - Nov. 27 - Bush Visits Baghdad.

Pres. Bush flies to Baghdad to share a Thanksgiving dinner with American troops in a bold statement of personal support for the US occupation of Iraq. (Bush travelled halfway around the world and back to make a two-and-half-hour stop in Iraq, the first visit to the country by a US president. White House officials went to extraordinary lengths to keep preparations for Bush's visit secret. Even the First Lady, Laura Bush, was unaware of his trip until 48 hours before he arrived in Baghdad).

Bush tells about 600 soldiers at a military mess hall at Baghdad International Airport: "I bring a message on behalf of America: We thank you for your service, we are proud of you and America stands solidly behind you..."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". (He was hailed by loud cheers from the troops as he made a surprise entrance at a Thanksgiving eve dinner, attended by CPA chief Paul Bremer and coalition commander Gen Ricardo Sanchez, and was interrupted by standing ovations. Wearing an exercise jacket with a 1st Armoured Division patch, Bush later stood in a queue for food, dished out sweet potatoes and corn and posed with a plate of roast turkey. The visit underlined his presidency's shared fate with the American soldiers in Iraq. Its dramatic impact in the US - with imagery of a president warmly welcomed by his troops in troubled times - seems likely to exceed that of his May 1 flight to the landing deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircaft carrier, from where he controversially declared the end of combat operations in Iraq. After a week in which he has secured a reform of the Medicare health-insurance system and seen evidence of a rapidly strengthening US economy, Bush's visit also showed a willingness to confront the most controversial element of his presidency. US soldiers welcomed the morale-boosting visit.

The FT on Nov. 28 quoted Sgt Jeremy Gregg, serving with the 82nd Airborne outside Baghdad, as saying: "Bush is good for taking responsibility, for helping these people. He took a lot of flak for it, but that is leadership". The highways leading into Baghdad were closed miles from the airport for Bush's visit, forcing local traffic to take backroads into the capital. The cloak-and-dagger operation that took Bush from his Texas ranch at night on Nov. 26 for the 30-hour trip - 27 of them in the air - was orchestrated by the tightest circle of the president's confidants in the White House. Vice-president Cheney and national security adviser Rice were only informed of his visit on Nov. 26 by video conference just hours before he departed. Even Bush's parents were kept in the dark. White House officials briefed reporters that the decision was made by the president to go to Baghdad nearly 6 weeks ago during his tour of Asia. The handful of reporters who accompanied Bush were sworn to secrecy. The White House communications director, Dan Bartlett, said the president had been whisked out of his ranch in Crawford in an unmarked car, taken to Waco airport nearby and flown to Andrews air force base just outside Washington where he switched aeroplanes before flying to Baghdad).