MEDIA TURNS INTO FULLTIME PRESS AGENCY FOR BUSH'S "PR" TRIP TO

"The White House Press Corps Has Turned Into a Full Time Press Agency
For The President" --  Harpers' Rick MacArthur on Bush's Secretive
Thanksgiving Trip to Iraq

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We speak with Harpers magazine publisher Rick MacArthur about what is
being described as one of the most secretive presidential trips in
American history. President Bush returned to the U.S. from Iraq early
Friday morning, after spending Thanksgiving dinner with hundreds of
soldiers in Baghdad in what is being described as one of the most
secretive presidential trips in American history.

The trip was a tightly held secret among only a few aides until the
very end. The administration did not announce it until Bush had left
Baghdad and even Bush's parents did not know about his trip beforehand
[Doesn't "W" trust his father not to tip off some Iraqi resistance
fighters? Hmmmmm..! -ED] The president left his ranch in an unmarked car,
not the usual presidential limousine and tried to disguise his
appearance.

A total of 13 journalists accompanied Bush on the trip. They were
instructed not to tell their families or editor where they were going.
On the way, White House communications chief Dan Bartlett told
reporters that if news of the trip leaked out before Air Force One
landed in Iraq, the plane would turn around.

Air traffic controllers in Baghdad did not know the plane heading for
the runway was Air Force One. It landed without its lights under cover
of darkness.

Bush spent only two and a half hours in the secure area around Baghdad
airport where he spent Thanksgiving dinner with some 600 soldiers. He
also met with members of the Iraqi Governing Council, including Ahmad
Chalabi, the exile leader who is close to senior officials at the
Pentagon.

    * Rick MacArthur, publisher of Harpers and author of the book
Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda In the Gulf War.

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STILL FEELING LIKE THE MAINSTREAM U.S. CORPORATE MEDIA
IS GIVING A FULL HONEST PICTURE OF WHAT'S GOING ON?

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