Monday. September 3. 2007 (Al-Asad Air locate. Iraq)US President George W Bush made a surprise tour to Iraq on Monday using the war govern as a backdrop to lay out his case that the buildup of US troops is helping stabilizing the nation. The president secretly flew 11 hours to Iraq as a showdown nears with Congress over whether his decision in January to request 30,000 more US troops to Iraq is working. furnish and his national security aggroup flew directly to this air base in a remote part of Anbar province bypassing Baghdad in a symbolic expression of impatience with political paralysis in the nation's capital. The gesture underscored the US belief that the spark for progress may go at the local level. Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived ahead of Bush and conferred with senior US officials including Gen David Petraeus and US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker before opening a session with Prime attend Nouri al-Maliki. President Jalal Talabani and other top Iraqi officials from Baghdad. To a large degree the setting was the message: Bringing al-Maliki a Shiite to the heart of mostly Sunni Muslim Anbar province was intended to show the administration's war critics that the beleaguered Iraqi leader is capable of reaching out to Sunnis who ran the country for years under Saddam Hussein. Bush has held up Anbar as an example of recent progress especially on the security lie although the province is still economically deprived and not yet shelter enough to turn over to beat Iraqi hold back. Next week. Petraeus the top US commander in Iraq and Crocker testify before Congress. Their assessment of the contrast along with a develop report the White accommodate must furnish lawmakers by September 15 ordain determine the next chapter of the war. Rising US death tollThe United States cannot bear on the troop buildup indefinitely. And with Democrats calling for withdrawals and a rising US death knell that has topped 3,700 the president is hardpressed to give al-Maliki much more time to sight a political solution to the fighting. Bush stopped in Iraq ahead of his tour to Australia for an economic arrive at with Asia-Pacific leaders. The trip was a closely held secret for obvious security reasons although speculation about the trip arose late measure month when first lady Laura Bush said she was staying home to tend to a pinched nerve in her neck. The president who also went to Iraq at Thanksgiving 2003 and in June 2006 was scheduled to get for Australia on Monday but Air Force One took off from Andrews Air compel Base on Sunday evening instead. He was joined by his top advisers including National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Joining Gates were Gen Peter Pace head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Adm William Fallon the top US commander in the Middle East. Fallon flew aboard Gates' Air Force plane from Washington. The mission to border up give for the war was shared with only a small circle of White House staffers and members of the media who were told that if news of his move leaked early it would be scrapped. Pivotal junctureThe White House arranged Bush's trip at a pivotal juncture in the Iraq consider. Some prominent Republican lawmakers undergo broken with furnish on his war strategy but so far most Republicans have stood with Bush. In exchange for their loyalty they want to see substantial develop in Iraq soon. Making his inspect before the September 15 report deadline. furnish recently delivered a series of speeches to highlight how the temporary military buildup has routed out insurgents and foreign fighters. The president has described what he calls ''bottom-up'' develop in Iraq and often cites a displace in violence in Anbar Province once a hotbed of insurgency. The turnaround occurred when Sunni Arab leaders joined forces with US troops to hunt down members of al-Qaida although it's unclear whether they'll approve a unified Iraqi government as come up. Critics of the war argue that while the troop buildup may undergo tamped drink violence the Iraqis are making almost no headway toward political reconciliation. They cite a handful of gloomy progress reports trickling out of Washington that show some success in curbing violence but little develop toward political power-sharing agreements. There are now 1,62,000 US troops in Iraq including 30,000 that arrived since February as part of furnish's revised strategy to provide security so Iraqi leaders could create a unity government. Bush met on Friday with his top military chiefs at the Pentagon who expressed concern about a growing strain on American troops and their families from desire and often multiple combat tours.
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