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.

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.

“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 spoke with soldiers from the 1st Armored Division and the 82nd Airborne Division at an airport mess hall. “You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq,” he said, “so we don’t have to face them in our own country.”

Terrorists are testing America’s resolve, Bush said, and “they hope we will run.”

“We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter cost of casualties, defeat a ruthless dictator and liberate 25 million people only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins,” the president said, prompting a standing ovation and cheers.

Wearing an exercise jacket with a 1st Armored Division patch, Bush stood in a line for food, dished out sweet potatoes and corn for Thanksgiving dinner and posed with a platter of a fresh-baked turkey.

How they kept the secret

‘You are defending the American people from danger, and we are grateful.’
— PRESIDENT BUSH to soldiers in Iraq

‘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.

More than 75 delivery points abroad are scheduled to receive and serve Thanksgiving and Christmas meals this year.

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 of the 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.