United States president, George W. Bush, made a surprise visit to Iraq on monday, using the war zone as a backdrop to argue his case that the buildup of united states troops is helping stabilising the nation.
The president secretely flew 11 hours to Iraq as a showdown nears with congress over whether his decision in January to order 30,000 more united states troops to Iraq is working.
Bush and his national secerity team flew directly to this air base in a remote part of Anbar province, by passing Baghdad in a synbolic expression of impatience with political paralysis in the nation’s capital. The gesture underscored the united states belief that the spark for progress may come at the local level.
Defence secretary, Robert Gates, arrived ahead of Bush and conferred with senior united states officials, including Gen.David Petraesus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, before openiing a session with prime minister Nourial Malike, president Jalal Talabani, and other Iraqi officials from Baghdad.
To a large degree, the setting was the message; Bringing Almaliki, a shite, to the heart of the administration’s war critics that the beleaguered Iraqi leadres is capable of reaching out to Sunnis, who ran the country for years under Sadden Hussein.