13 June 2006
U.S. President Arrives in Baghdad for Surprise Trip
Bush meets with Iraqi officials, U.S. troops in five-hour visit
Washington -- President Bush made an unannounced five-hour visit to Baghdad June 13 for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani, and other Iraqi leaders, and paid a visit to U.S. troops serving in Iraq.
In remarks with the Iraqi prime minister, Bush said they had discussed al-Maliki’s security, economic and construction strategies, “and all of it made sense to me.”
“It’s an impressive group of men and women,” the U.S. president said of the new government. “And if given the right help I’m convinced that you will succeed and so will the world.”
Bush said he had come in order to meet face-to-face and to “tell you that when America gives its word, it will keep its word.”
Describing Iraq as a “central front” in the War on Terror, he said it is in the interests of the United States and the international community, as well as the Iraqi people, that the new democratic government succeeds.
The success of democracy in Iraq deals “a serious blow to those who have a vision of darkness, who don’t believe in liberty,” Bush said to the Iraqi leaders.
After his meeting with the Iraqi government, the president made remarks to U.S. troops in Baghdad, where he said that he had come away from his meetings “with the distinct impression that they are unified in serving the people of Iraq,” despite belonging to different religious and ethnic communities in the country.
The new government respects human rights and human dignity and will respond to the will of the Iraqi people, the president said.
“I … come away from here believing that the will is strong and the desire to meet the needs of the people is real and tangible,” he said.
The role of the United States will be to help Prime Minister al-Maliki and his government “implement his strategy and his plan to restore infrastructure and education and health and agricultural society so that people have the confidence in their new government,” Bush said.
Reporters traveling with the president were told by White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett that the trip was designed to allow Bush and Prime Minister al-Maliki to meet face-to-face and for the president to get a clearer sense of al-Maliki’s priorities, as well as specific ways the United States can help him meet his goals.
“[I]t’s critically important that you're able to meet with the new leader, confer with the leader who you're going to be making those decisions with," Bartlett was quoted as saying. "We are committed to the success of the new government and the Maliki plan that he is outlining."
The communications director also said the face-to-face meeting allowed the two leaders to “establish a closer relationship than you can just over a telephone."
The trip remained secret until the last moment, including from most U.S. officials and the Iraqi government. Bush originally was scheduled to participate in a videoconference with the Iraqi government from the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland.
Bartlett said the president had wanted to come to Iraq once the final Cabinet positions in the country’s new government had been chosen.
He said that Prime Minister al-Maliki also has been invited to visit President Bush at the White House, but added the timing of the trip has not yet been finalized.
Transcripts of the Bush’s remarks with the prime minister and his speech to U.S. troops in Iraq later in the day are available on the White House Web site.
For additional information, see Iraq Update.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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