Bush lies to American public about his Thanksgiving plans.

Sorry about the Subject line. I just wanted to beat Muskie to it... :>)

>From MSNBC, see: http://msnbc.com/news/998294.asp?0cv=CA00

Have a good Thanksgiving.

Bob

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Bush surprises U.S. troops in Iraq

ASSOCIATED PRESS 
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 27 — President Bush made a surprise visit Thursday to U.S.
troops in Baghdad, flying secretly to violence-scarred Iraq on a trip tense with
concerns about his safety.

THE VISIT, timed to coincide with Thanksgiving, was the first trip ever by a
U.S. president to Iraq.

Air Force One landed in darkness at Baghdad International Airport. Security
fears were heightened by an attack Saturday in which a missile struck a DHL
cargo plane, forcing it to make an emergency landing at the airport with its
wing aflame.

“You are defending the American people from danger, and we are grateful,” Bush
told 600 soldiers who were stunned and
delighted by his appearance. 

Bush spend only about two hours on the ground, limiting his visit to a dinner at
the airport with U.S. forces. The troops had been told that the VIP guests would
be Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez,
commander of coalition forces in Iraq.

Bush’s trip — on the large plane he most frequently uses — 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.

“If this breaks while we’re in the air, we’re turning around,” White House
communications director Dan Bartlett told reporters on the flight to Baghdad.

‘CAMEL TROT’ IN BAGHDAD
More normal celebrations went on at other U.S. bases. In downtown Baghdad, about
100 runners kicked off Thanksgiving with an early morning “camel trot” through
Saddam Hussein’s palace complex and past bombed-out mansions and concrete blast
walls topped with razor wire.

The runners in the 6- and 3-mile races were mostly military personnel or members
of the U.S.-led coalition running Iraq. They were split into a half-dozen groups
based on age and sex.

The rain-swept course wound through the avenues and alleyways of the former
Republican Palace complex, which now houses the headquarters of the Coalition
Provisional Authority. It is heavily fortified with high concrete walls topped
with razor wire.

The finish line was at a victory arch next to a wrecked building that once
housed Saddam’s Special Republican Guard and close to the main palace from whose
roof four massive busts of Saddam glowered at the runners.

The winners of the races received small gold-colored cups and medals — all of
them retrieved from the Iraqi Olympic Committee building, which was looted and
burned during the war that ended Saddam’s regime.

Many ofthe troops usually watch football games or take part in races known as
“turkey trots.”

“Last year, I spent Thanksgiving in Austin, Texas, doing the turkey trot. I
never thought I’d be doing the camel trot in Baghdad this year,” said Dan Senor,
a spokesman for the civilian administration. He was wearing a white sweat shirt
with the logo “Bush-Cheney ’04” on the chest.

“I miss my family and friends, but I look forward to spending Thanksgiving with
my colleagues,” said Beverly Corbett, a nurse from Idaho.

Other U.S. units throughout Iraq were organizing races, football games and other
sporting events to mark the holiday. In Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit, a
Thanksgiving concert was also planned.

‘BIG MORALE-BUILDER’
A military center in Philadelphia operated by the Defense Logistics Agency is
responsible for providing food rations to troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan
and other parts of the world.

In southwest Asia alone, the shopping list this year includes about 80,000
pounds of boneless turkeys, 7,000 pounds of whole turkeys, 14,040 cans of
cranberry sauce, 48,500 bags of cornbread stuffing mix, 5,200 cans of mashed
potatoes and 3,000 cases of corn on the cob.

It’s enough to feed an army a quintessentially American meal.

“Obviously, food is a big morale-builder every day of the week. When people out
in the field can get a hot meal, that’s something special,” said Rich Faso, the
center’s chief of operational rations-business units.

When turkey and gravy replace ordinary rations for Thanksgiving, it’s even more
significant, he said.

The Philadelphia supply facility is one of three major purchasing centers in the
country, said Jack Hooper, a spokesman for the Defense Logistics Agency. The
others are in Richmond, Va., and Columbus, Ohio.

The center, part of the Defense Department, also distributes medical, general
and industrial supplies.

The food — prepared either by the food-service organizations, the military
itself or private contractors — is routinely transported aboard a commercial
ocean freighter and then delivered to soldiers via truck, Faso said.

GLOBAL OPERATION
More than 75 delivery points in countries including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Djibouti
and United Arab Emirates were scheduled to receive and serve Thanksgiving and
Christmas meals this year.

The delivery can be complicated by a lack of infrastructure or continued
violence. But when it gets there, the reactions from soldiers often proves it
was worth the effort.

Maj. Bob Hepner, commander of the 109th Public Affairs Detachment at Fort
Indiantown Gap in central Pennsylvania, recalled eating turkey and gravy in
Afghanistan last Christmas.

“It was a really good day,” Hepner said. “And the soldiers, we loved it. You’re
so far away and nothing is like being home, but that made it as close to being
home as possible.”

c 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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