President Obama’s Surprise Visit To Afghanistan

About Photo: President Barack Obama meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 28, 2010.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza


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More at the White House Blog

North Korea Pardons Two U.S. Journalists after Bill Clinton makes Surprise Visit

North Korea Pardons Two U.S. Journalists after Bill Clinton makes Surprise Visit
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
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FOXNews.com brings us the following GOOD news this Tuesday afternoon and it goes like this… North Korean leader Kim Jong Il pardons two American reporters after Bill Clinton makes a surprise visit to the communist nation to negotiate their release…
Read the rest at link below…
Jailed U.S. Journalists Pardoned, Expected to Return Home From North Korea
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North Korea: Two U.S. Journalists Pardoned

About this AP News Video: North Korean media say leader Kim Jong Il has pardoned two American journalists and ordered their release during the visit by former President Bill Clinton. (August 4th)
This News Video posted on YouTube by AssociatedPress
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Good work, Bill!
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I for one do not care what the Left - Right or Center say about you on this matter. The way I see it… you stepped up when asked… and the outcome was a VERY positive one. Just ask the family members and other loved ones of Laura and Euna.
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I am surprised you didn’t take pop Bush along with you though. That would have shut a lot of folks up at least.
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Welcome home Laura Ling & Euna Lee
AubreyJ………

President Obama Makes Surprise Visit To Iraq And Troops

President Obama Makes Surprise Visit
to Iraq and Troops
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
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Photo by Staff Sgt. Joy Pariante - Multi-National Corps Iraq Public Affairs
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President Obama made a surprise visit to Iraq Tuesday at the tail end of a marathon week of meetings in Europe and Turkey… The president landed in Baghdad late Tuesday afternoon local time and plans to visit troops at Camp Victory. He was greeted upon arrival by his top commander in the country, Gen. Ray Odierno. This is Obama's first trip to Iraq as president -- it comes as he begins to execute plans to shift U.S. troops from Iraq, a war he opposed as a candidate, to Afghanistan…
Read the full report at link below…
Obama Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq, Plans to Meet With U.S. Troops
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Obama Praises Troops for Performing ‘Brilliantly’ in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq
Tuesday, April 7, 2009

In an unannounced visit here today, President Barack Obama praised servicemembers and government employees for their professionalism and sacrifice.
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"You have performed brilliantly in every mission that has been given to you," Obama told about 1,500 U.S. servicemembers, government civilians and contractors at Al Faw Palace in Baghdad, the headquarters of Multinational Corps Iraq.
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The president thanked the assembled servicemembers for their steadfast focus on the task at hand. "Through controversy and difficulty and politics, you kept your eyes focused on just doing your job."
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Obama acknowledged that work remains to be done in Iraq, but told the servicemembers that through their service, they have been critical in ensuring that Iraq no longer remains a haven for terrorists.
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"You have given Iraq the opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country. That is an extraordinary achievement, and for that you have the thanks of the American people," he said.
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In closing, the president assured the audience that "we have not forgotten what you have already done; we are grateful for what you will do; and as long as I'm in the White House, you're going to get the support you need and the thanks that you deserve from a grateful nation."

From a DoD’s Multinational Corps Iraq news release

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Stopping by Baghdad

The President addresses the troops at the Al Faw Palace in Baghdad in a surprise visit before coming home from Europe.
Video posted on YouTube by the whitehouse

* Transcript and lots of photos HERE
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AubreyJ………

President Bush Flies into Iraq on Surprise Visit

President Bush Flies into Iraq

on Surprise Visit
Sunday, September 03, 2007

President Bush has made a surprise visit to Iraq today and he was accompanied by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. They met up with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and top military officials...
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>>> CHRON.com has this story...
President Bush and his national security team made a first-hand assessment of the war in Iraq and prospects for political reconciliation Monday before a showdown with Congress over the U.S. troop buildup... The president secretly flew 12 hours to this dusty air base in a remote part of Anbar province, bypassing Baghdad...
Read this story in full HERE

>>> FOXNews.com repots the story this way...
President Bush and his national security team made a first-hand assessment of the war in Iraq and prospects for political reconciliation Monday before a showdown with Congress over the U.S. troop buildup...
Read the rest HERE

>>> From the White House website...
* President Bush Visits and Thanks Troops in Anbar Province
* President Bush Meets with Prime Minister Maliki and Iraqi Leaders

About Photo: President Bush shakes hands with troops during a surprise Labor Day visit to Iraq, Sept. 3, 2007. The president thanked the troops for their hard work and said he's proud to be their commander-in-chief.
DoD photo by AF Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen

>>> From the DoD website...
* Military Surge Working, Bush Tells Troops in Iraq
* Photo Essay I: Leaders Address Troops in Al Asad
* Photo Essay II: Leaders Thank Troops in Iraq

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U.S. Department Of Defense put this out...
President Assembles 'War Council' in Anbar Province

President Bush has assembled his “war council” here in a surprise holiday weekend-meeting, at this remote airbase, in what is probably the group’s last meeting before the president makes his decision on next steps for U.S. involvement in the war.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. William Fallon, commander of U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker are all slated to meet with top Iraqi political leaders over the next several hours.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, President Jalal Talabani, Vice President Tariq al Hashimi, Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, and Massoud Barzani, president of the semiautonomous Kurdish region, are all slated to meet with the U.S. officials.

“This will be the last big gathering of the president’s top military advisors and the Iraqi leadership before the president makes a decision about the way forward,” said Geoff Morrell, Pentagon press secretary. “This is very much a decisional meeting. This meeting will put him [the president] much closer to making a decision, if he hasn’t already.”

The president and his top decision-makers traveled here to discuss progress in Iraq “face-to-face” with key leaders on the ground as he prepares his recommendations for the next steps in the theater, officials said.

The meeting comes days before Petraeus is scheduled to report before Congress on progress made here.

Gates did not address the press during the overnight flight, but a senior Defense Department official traveling with the secretary, speaking on background, told reporters the trip is all within the “context of making a decision” about future plans for Iraq.

“Nothing beats looking your commander in the eye … and saying ‘What do you think? What do we need to do? How’s this coming along?” the official said. “I think it’s instrumental to the decision process, for what the military recommendations are going to be, and the defense department’s recommendations are going to be to the president.”

The group is also slated to meet with local tribal leaders to discuss the recent surge of support for coalition forces in the region.

This is Gates’ second trip to this western-most province in Iraq that was once considered hopelessly lost to the insurgency. In recent months, though, tribal leaders and forces have begun siding with U.S. and Iraqi forces to repel al Qaeda in Iraq.

The official said Gates has read and heard military and media reports on the emergence of support for coalition forces in the former insurgent stronghold, but wanted to see the progress first-hand.

“This is an opportunity for him to get a perspective on it while he’s out there,” the official said. “These are other people that are reaching out to work with the coalition, work with the Iraqi government. And even though they are unofficial at this point, it’s important for all of us to hear what they have to say and recognize that they can be, and have been up to this point, a healthy part of stabilizing Anbar and other parts of western Baghdad.”

Gates is also slated to meet with about 700 Marines at the base during his visit. Nearly 35,000 Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen serve in Multinational Force West.

Al Asad Airbase is the second largest airbase in Iraq and is about 120 miles northwest of Baghdad.

(From a news article by DoD’s American Forces Press Service and was written by Fred W. Baker III)

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Video from DoD

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Good going Mr. President-

God Bless the troops too...
AubreyJ.........