President Bush has secretly arrived on his fourth trip to Iraq during its invasion and occupation. Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will formalize the security agreement between the two nations. Bush will hand Iraq back the reigns of sovereigntry.
Although a secret Bush's visit should not have been much of a surprise. It comes on the heels of Defense Secretary Robert Gates' unannounced stop in Iraq on yesterday, at a military base in the central part of the country. Gates will be the lone Republican holdover from the Bush Cabinet in the Obama administration.
Bush's visit, as always was conducted under a strict cloak of secrecy. The White House put out false schedules detailing activities planned for Bush in Washington on Sunday. Though the security situation in Iraq has reportedly improved dramatically, an announced trip to that war zone is still considered dangerous. Bush's most recent Iraq stop was over 15 months ago, in September 2007.
During a press conference with Prime Minister al-Maliki, an Iraqi journalist stood up and
threw his shoes at Bush and the Iraqi leader. President Bush had to duck to avoid the shoes but he was not hit. White House press secretary Dana Perino got knocked beneath her eye by a microphone.
Iraq is a place that has defined his two terms in office. There are a mere 37 days before he hands the effort off to Barack Obama who has pledged to end the occupation.The new U.S.-Iraqi security pact goes into effect next month. It replaces the standing U.N. mandate that has given the U.S. led - so called - coalition of the willing to conduct military operations and detain people without formal charges if they were believed to pose a security threat. These murky provisions led to some of the Abu Ghraib jail abuses.
The status of forces agreement changes some of those terms and calls for all American troops to be withdrawn by the end of 2011, in two stages. President Bush has had to capitulate to many demands from the Iraqi government. Bush was dead set against a timetable for withdrawal in recent years arguing it would play into the hands of insurgents.
''There's no question that if we were to prematurely withdraw and the march to democracy were to fail, then Al-Qaeda would be emboldened. 'Terrorist groups would be emboldened. The Islamo-fascists would be emboldened." - George Bush, March 22, 2006
Bush also has intimated that he wanted to wash his hands of the withdrawal issue and he has by virtue of American troops guaranteed to be serving in Iraq after he leaves office January 20th.
“The issue of removing troops from Iraq will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq." George W. Bush, March 22, 2006
The Iraqi’s were reluctant to be bullied into agreeing with the Bush version of the agreement due to an immunity provisions for U.S. soldiers and contractors. President Bush also resisted to setting a timetable schedule for pulling America's soldiers out, Bush also had to succumb to Iraqi provisions on that topic.
President Bush's initial justification for invading Iraq was a necessary action to protect Americans and fight terrorism. The administration promoted false claims about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq's possession. Even after these alleged weapons were not found, he escalated perceived successful invasion and expanded it into a nation building occupation that launched a civil war in between the countries three major groups (Shias, Sunnis and Kurds). And although al-Qaeda terrorists were not in the country during strongman Saddam Hussein's reign as Bush and Co. try to maintain, they flooded into the country after the invasion to fight the occupying US led coalition.
The occupation also has had a profound impact on the American economy with nearly $600 billion and rising, having been spent so far on
largely wasteful projects in Iraq while America is in the midst of its largest financial crisis since the depression era.
