Bush spends Thanksgiving in Iraq
US President George W Bush risked his life to travel to Baghdad on Thursday to celebrate a Thanksgiving Eve dinner with US troops in Iraq.
Mr Bush dropped a safe family dinner at his ranch in Crawford for a whirlwind two and a half hour stop in the war-torn country.
Mr Bush’s parents, George and Barbara, arrived at the ranch for a Thanksgiving meal but found their son elsewhere, speeding his way to the Middle East on the presidential jet Air Force One.
He arrived in Iraq on Thursday morning.
Mr Bush told about 600 soldiers, mostly from the US Army’s 1st Armoured Division and the 82nd Airborne, based at Baghdad International Airport: “I bring a message on behalf of America: We thank you for your service, we are proud of you and America stands solidly behind you.
“We will prevail. We will win because our cause is just,” he said.
“We will win because we will stay on the offensive. We will win because you are part of the finest military ever assembled.
“And we’ll win because the Iraqis want their freedom.”
In Baghdad, Mr Bush shared the meal with Paul Bremer, the US civilian administrator in Iraq, and the military coalition commander General Ricardo Sanchez and later helped serve the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner to troops.
Mr Bush received a standing ovation when he underlined the America’s commitment to peace in the region. “We did not charge hundreds of miles through 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,” he said.
About 130,000 US troops are trying to maintain the peace in Iraq.
