Following a week of heavy insurgent attacks on American forces in Iraq and just days after a cargo plane was struck by a missile and forced to land at the Baghdad airport in 2003, President George W. Bush made history to expresses his gratitude to those who called him their commander in chief.
U.S. troops preparing to enjoy their Thanksgiving meal were told the U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, and the commander of coalition forces, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, would be joining them.
As Bremer prepared to read a proclamation from Bush, he paused and asked, “Let’s see if we’ve got anybody more senior here who can read the president’s Thanksgiving speech. Is there anybody back there who’s more senior than I?”
A teary-eyed Bush emerged in a U.S. Army exercise jacket. He was greeted with thunderous applause and a standing ovation. It was the first time a U.S. president had ever visited Iraq.
“I was just looking for a warm meal somewhere,” Bush joked, telling the troops, “I can’t think of a finer group of folks to have dinner with.”
“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,” Bush told the service members. He told them they were the ones defending the American people and how grateful he and the nation were for their efforts.
“It helps a lot knowing that the commander in chief himself is going to come out here and make some of the same sacrifices away from his family, away from his home, to show that he is devoted and in the same position that we are,” Pvt. Patrick McFarland of the 1st Armored Division told CNN at the time.
