Air Force One seems to be a hot topic here on PPRuNe, here's news of a surprising covert trip:
Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq
Thursday November 27, 2003 5:31 PM
By TERENCE HUNT
AP White House Correspondent
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - President Bush made a surprise Thanksgiving visit to American troops in Baghdad Thursday, flying secretly to violence-scarred Iraq on a trip tense with concerns about his safety.
It was the first trip ever by an American president to Iraq.
Air Force One landed in darkness at Baghdad International Airport. Security fears were heightened by an attack last Saturday in which a missile struck a DHL cargo plane, forcing it to make an emergency landing at the airport with its wing aflame.
Bush was to spend only 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 L. 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...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlates...437469,00.html
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Bush Makes Secret Thanksgiving Visit to Iraq
Thursday, November 27, 2003 12:54 p.m. ET
By Steve Holland
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - President Bush secretly traveled to Baghdad and paid a surprise Thanksgiving Day visit to U.S. troops on Thursday in a bold mission to boost the morale of forces in Iraq amid mounting casualties.
In an elaborate plan to ensure his security, Bush slipped away from his Texas ranch on Wednesday night, arrived in Iraq on Thursday and spent 2-1/2 hours with the troops.
"I bring a message on behalf of America: We thank you for your service, we are proud of you and America stands solidly behind you," Bush told about 600 soldiers, who were stunned to see the president emerge from a side door inside a military mess hall at Baghdad International Airport.
Bush dropped plans to eat the traditional turkey dinner with his wife and family in order to visit U.S. troops in the Iraqi capital, making him the first U.S. president ever to visit Iraq.
The troops, mostly from the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division and the 82nd Airborne, had no idea Bush would be there.
Without hinting of the enormous surprise to come, Iraq's U.S. civil administrator Paul Bremer told the soldiers he was supposed to read the president's Thanksgiving proclamation to them but would instead defer to the most senior person on the premises.
At that point, Bush emerged wearing a military jacket and loud cheering began.
"I was just looking for a warm meal somewhere," Bush said. "Thanks for inviting me to dinner ... I can't think of a finer group of folks to have Thanksgiving dinner with than you all."
...Bush stayed at the heavily guarded Baghdad airport for a total of two hours and 30 minutes before flying back to Washington and then on to Texas.
From start to finish, Bush's trip took about 30 hours, 27 of them spent in the air. Accompanying him were a handful of top aides, a contingent of U.S. Secret Service agents and a small group of reporters, all sworn to secrecy.
The mission was a closely held secret at the White House known only by a handful of senior aides. Aides said Bush made the decision to go five or six weeks ago while on a trip to Asia.
He informed Vice President Dick Cheney , White House chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice in a video conference call on Wednesday.
It was so secret that Bush's parents, former President George Bush and Barbara Bush were not told.
Bush only told his wife where he was going hours before leaving and informed his daughters, Barbara and Jenna, just before departing.
Bush was smuggled off his Crawford, Texas, ranch in an unmarked vehicle without his usual motorcade for a 45-minute drive to Texas State Technical College airport in nearby Waco.
White House communications director Dan Bartlett would not say how Bush was whisked off the ranch.
"If you were outside the ranch waiting for the president, you would not have known that the president just left," he said.
At the Texas airport, Bush departed aboard his presidential 747 aircraft, Air Force One . The cover story was the plane was being taken to Washington for maintenance. He entered the rear of the plane. The aircraft's lights were dark as it flew.
Upon landing at Washington's Andrews Air Force Base, this plane was rolled into a giant, heavily guarded hangar where an identical plane awaited. Bush switched to the second jet for the Baghdad flight.
As he boarded, he turned to reporters accompanying him, held one hand to his ear as if he were holding a cellular phone, made a cutting motion across his neck with the other and mouthed the words, "No calls."
http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/s...=wn_wire_story