Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq

I wonder if Bush laid down the law or what. It is significant that the visit was in Anbar. In effect he is in former (or present) insurgent territory. Of course the air base is probably reasonably secure. But the Sunni sheiks in Anbar may be fair weather friends. Once rid of Al Qaeda in Iraq they may turn back to confronting the US with their new weapons.


Bush makes surprise visit to Iraq


Andrew Gray and Matt Spetalnick, Reuters
Published: Monday, September 03, 2007
AL ASAD AIR FORCE BASE, Iraq (Reuters) - President George W. Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq on Monday, just a week before his top officials in Baghdad present pivotal testimony to Congress that could influence future policy on the war.

The White House said Bush had arrived at the al-Asad Air Force base, west of Baghdad in Anbar province. He was accompanied by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and national security adviser Steven Hadley. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was also there.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Bush, Rice and Gates would meet their top commanders, Iraqi leaders including Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and tribal leaders in Anbar, once the most dangerous region for U.S. troops.

"This is very much the meeting of the war council," Morrell told reporters.

"This will be the last big gathering of the president's advisers and the Iraqi leaders before the president makes a decision on the way forward."

The stopover in Iraq had not been announced previously by the White House. Bush, who visited Iraq in June last year and previously in November 2003, is on his way to a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in Sydney.

Bush is under mounting pressure from opposition Democrats and some senior Republicans who want U.S. troops to start leaving Iraq after more than four years of war in which 3,700 American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed.

The U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker will appear before Congress on September 10.

They will give their assessment on the impact of Bush's decision to send an extra 30,000 extra troops to Iraq.

The U.S. strategy has benefited from a rebellion by Sunni Arab tribal leaders against al Qaeda, especially in Anbar. In his testimony, Petraeus will likely highlight the success in pacifying restive Anbar, once considered lost to Sunni Arab insurgents and the most dangerous place in Iraq for U.S. troops.

The White House is required to submit its own report on the situation in Iraq by September 15.

Bush is under pressure to show Iraq's weak and divided Shi'ite-led government that the U.S. commitment is not open-ended. However, he has pleaded for patience and cited progress in recent months after a reduction in militant attacks.

Earlier, British troops quit the Iraqi city of Basra on Monday, leaving the southern oil hub without British forces for the first time since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The withdrawal from the besieged Basra Palace complex, under daily mortar and rocket fire by Shi'ite militias, is a step towards handing over Basra province to Iraqi control and an eventual British pullout from Iraq.

© Reuters 2007