Bush makes surprise Baghdad visit

President George Bush made a surprise visit to American troops in Baghdad today, flying secretly to violence-scarred Iraq on a trip tense with concerns about his safety.

The visit, timed to coincide with the American Thanksgiving holiday, was the first trip ever by an US president to Iraq.

Air Force One landed in darkness at Baghdad International Airport.

Security fears were heightened by an attack last Saturday in which a missile struck a DHL cargo plane, forcing it to make an emergency landing at the airport with its wing aflame.

Bush was to spend only two hours on the ground, limiting his visit to a dinner at the airport with US forces.

The troops had been told that the VIP guests would be Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq, and Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq.

Bush’s trip was a well-guarded secret, announced only after he landed in Baghdad.

In a ruse staged in the name of security, the White House had put out word that Bush would be spending Thanksgiving at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, with his wife, Laura, his parents and other family members. Even the dinner menu was announced.

Instead, Bush slipped away from his home without notice Wednesday evening and flew to Washington to pick up aides and a handful of reporters sworn to secrecy. Plans called for the trip to be abandoned if word had leaked out in advance.

Within the White House, only a handful of senior aides knew about the trip, officials said.

Security fears were underscored by regular attacks against US forces in Iraq.

More than 60 US troops were killed by hostile fire in November, more than any other month since the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1. Early this week, a US military official, Colonel William Darley, said attacks peaked at more than 40 per day about two weeks ago and have since dropped to about 30 per day.

The violence persisted today as the president was en route here.

Insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Italian mission in Baghdad, damaging the building but causing no injuries, the US military said.

Also, a US military convoy came under attack on the main highway west of Baghdad near the town of Abu Ghraib, witnesses said. In the northern city of Mosul, unidentified gunmen shot dead an Iraqi police sergeant.

Since operations began, nearly 300 US service members have died in hostile action, including 183 since May 1 when Bush declared an end to major fighting.

Bush’s father visited US troops at a desert outpost in Saudi Arabia on Thanksgiving Day 1990, in the run-up to the Gulf War.