US President Bush told Iraq's new leader in a surprise
face-to-face visit on Tuesday that the fate of his war-scarred country was in
Iraq's own hands. Bush was pressed in turn not to withdraw US troops too
quickly.
"There's a worry almost to a person that we will leave before they are
capable of defending themselves," Bush said as he flew back to the United States
after his lightning, long-distance trip to meet with Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki.
Bush spent over 5 1/2 hours in Baghdad in his second visit of the three-year
war, both kept secret until he had safely arrived. He met with American troops
at Thanksgiving 2003 in a visit confined to the airport and limited to several
hours.
This time, he traveled to the city's heavily fortified Green Zone.
In a mission designed to both showcase US support for the new unity
government and to ease war concerns at home, the president told the Iraqi prime
minister the United States would stand by the new government as it works to
achieve stability.
"When America gives its word, it keeps its word,"
Bush said.
US
President George W. Bush (L) joins Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki,
during an Iraqi Cabinet Meeting at the US Embassy after Bush arrived in
Baghdad for a surprise visit to the city June 13, 2006.
[Reuters] |
At the same time, he emphasized that Iraq must control its own destiny.
"The decisions you and your cabinet make will be determinate as to whether or
not a country succeeds that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend
itself," he told al-Maliki.
Bush slipped away from what had been billed as a two-day meeting at Camp
David, Md., for the 11-hour overnight flight that brought him to his first
direct talks with al-Maliki and members of the new government.
His visit was accompanied by incredibly tight security. Leaving Baghdad,
lights were turned off both on the helicopters that took Bush and his entourage
to the airport and on Air Force One itself.
Only a handful of close aides knew about the trip in advance.
Later, speaking with reporters on the flight home, Bush said he assured the
Iraqi leaders "they didn't need to worry" about US troops withdrawing too soon
and too quickly.
"They are counting on us to continue to take the lead until such time as they
are ready to take the lead," Bush said.
Bush said that top US military and policy officials would sit down with Iraqi
officials in the days ahead "and devise a way forward." The president also said
he would step up pressure on other world leaders to do more to help Iraq.
"I am going to call these leaders again and remind them that a stable and
secure Iraq is part of a stable and secure Middle East," Bush said.
Bush's trip comes at a time when many Democrats - and some in his own party -
are calling for a substantial number of American troops to be brought home by
the end of this year.
War anxiety has been the driving force behind Bush's plunge in the polls and
a cause of Republican distress about holding control of Congress in the November
mid-tem elections.
Al-Maliki himself did not know the president was in Baghdad until five
minutes before they met in the blue-domed palace once used by Saddam Hussein but
which now houses part of the US Embassy in the heavily fortified Green Zone.
