Though President Bush told his guests at Camp David that he was “losing altitude” when he excused himself to go to bed late Monday, he knew he would soon be actually gaining altitude in a plane headed for Baghdad.
“The POTUS is on board!” Bush playfully hollered to reporters as he ascended the stairs of Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base.
POTUS is the White House acronym for President of the United States.
Less than two hours earlier, Bush had been chatting with advisers at Camp David, where he was wrapping up the first of what was supposed to be two days of Iraq talks at the sprawling presidential retreat. At 7:45 p.m., he slipped away, telling his war council he planned to read a bit before falling asleep. Bush then furtively boarded a helicopter and flew to Andrews, where he hopped on Air Force One for the 11-hour flight to Baghdad. Reporters on board were sworn to secrecy.
White House Counselor Dan Bartlett explained to reporters that a “very, very close circle of people,” no more than half a dozen of the president’s most trusted aides, had been planning the trip for more than a month. News of the trip did not spread until after Air Force One landed in Baghdad, where Bush took a dangerous, six-minute chopper ride to the Green Zone for meetings with U.S. and Iraqi officials.
Security was extraordinarily tight.
“When you’re entering into a situation where the enemy is so active, we have to be extra cautious,” Bartlett said. “But I think the American people and the entire international community are reassured by the fact that the president is making such a personal effort to ensure the success of the new government.”
