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11/27/2003 Archived Entry: "Bush Pays Surprise Thanksgiving Visit to Troops in Iraq"

I'D SAY THAT WAS A PRETTY BIG SURPRISE: George W. Bush celebrated Thanksgiving today...in Baghdad! Dubya made a secret trip and surprised the heck of the 1st Armored Division and the 82nd Airborne Division at the Baghdad International Airport today by carrying out a turkey with the fixings.

"We did not charge hundreds of miles into 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," Bush said, to a standing ovation. "We will prevail. We will win because our cause is just."

...

The president was introduced to the troops by L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, who kept the crowd off guard by saying it was time for the most senior official present to read the president's Thanksiving Proclamation.

"Is there anyone back there more senior than us?" he asked, the signal for Bush to emerge from behind a curtain and for the stunned audience to erupt in cheers, "hoo-ahs" and waves of applause. The president was wearing a jacket bearing the patch of the 1st Armored Division.

Speaking in the chow hall before helping dish up the plates, Bush included a call to the people of Iraq to "seize the moment and rebuild your great country, based on human dignity and freedom."

That is so cool...

Read on.

[Update - 7:57pm] Read the text of Bush's remarks to the soldiers here.

Replies: 1 Comment

Unyielding in the face of danger.

Somehow, I doubt that the 600 troops, who were expecting a speech from Paul Bremer, are representative of the other 130,000 who got no heroic visitors to deliver speeches and serve their mashed potatoes.

Below is part of Dubya's speech made after he snuck into Iraq.

""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.""

Then he (not "WE") retreated back onto AF1 and slunk out of Iraq the same way he came in.

GO DUBYA! You're a hero again! Just like you were in Viet Nam!!!!

Posted by chris mohr @ 12/01/2003 08:11 PM EST