The Politics of War
Whisked in secret to Iraq, Bush serves holiday dinner to the troops—showing he can still pull off a killer photo-op

Almost no one noticed when a large jet swooped over the military mess hall at the Baghdad airport on the evening of Thursday, Nov. 27. The 1st Armored Division's big brass band was noodling through jazz standards like Take the A Train while 550 soldiers sat at refectory tables, looking hungry and impatient to return to their camps so they could call their families for Thanksgiving. Finally, L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. proconsul in Iraq, took the stage and asked if there was anyone in the room more senior than he who could read the President's Thanksgiving message to the troops. There was: George W. Bush himself, who entered on cue, inspiring the stunned soldiers to leap to their feet and cheer. A few hours later, Americans watching television at home heard that their President had made a secret visit to Baghdad to share Thanksgiving dinner with the troops. Scenes of President Bush serving turkey and sweet potatoes to G.I.s saturated the news for the next 24 hours and beyond.

When his chief of staff Andy Card approached him in mid-October and asked whether he would consider flying into Baghdad to have Thanksgiving dinner with the troops, Bush didn't reject the idea as opportunistic or foolishly risky. As long as no one was put in harm's way, Bush told Card, he would go.

Secrecy was essential. Not since Abraham Lincoln visited Richmond, Va., just days after the Confederates fled, had a U.S. President placed himself so close to the front lines. If Iraqi insurgents had had warning of the President's visit, the risk of an attack would have been too high. The circle of silence was so small that not even the President's parents knew about the trip until after they had arrived to celebrate Thanksgiving at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The President's aides knew that, given no advance notice, the media would treat the visit as unfiltered breaking news, with less of the usual talking-head dissection of the President's motives. They would instead focus on the event itself–the shock and excitement of the troops, the images of Bush standing in the serving line, and the tributes of appreciation from individual G.I.s after he left.

And that's what happened. Cable anchors broke the news between the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the start of the day's football games. Scenes of Bush, his eyes moist with tears, speaking with the troops, serving them dinner and posing for snapshots, played all day long and into Friday. Nearly every daily newspaper in the country carried the story on its front page.

But if the President has learned anything, it is that P.R. triumphs can quickly fade or even sour. Although his Thanksgiving gambit played well at home, reviews were decidedly mixed in Iraq. As word of Bush's visit filtered across Baghdad, some Iraqis applauded the news, but many either dismissed it as meaningless or chided the U.S. President for never leaving the military base or meeting with any Iraqis. "I am very proud he came, but he should have come inside the real Baghdad," says Shuan Gharib, 32, a waiter. Says Alah Ghanam, 31, as he stands guard outside a western Baghdad restaurant: "He did it all for the coming election. But I have to say, coming to Baghdad was a very courageous step."

—from TIME, December 8, 2003

Questions

1. What was the value of keeping President Bush's trip to Iraq a surprise?

2. How did Iraqis view President Bush's visit?