In a surprise trip shrouded in secrecy, President Bush and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates flew roughly 11 hours to a remote air base in western Iraq for a meeting with senior U.S. military leaders and top Iraqi political leadership.
National security adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters the Al Asad Air Base in the Anbar province was chosen because of its remarkable turnaround in security. A year ago violence was high and a military intelligence officer said it was lost to al Qaeda.
Bush and Gates join Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who is also in Iraq.
A Decisional Meeting
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell described this extraordinary meeting as a decisional meeting.
"This is the last opportunity the president will have to meet with his war council and the Iraqi leadership before making his decision on the way forward in Iraq," Morrell said. "This is clearly a meeting geared toward making a decision."
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http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3552389&page=1
The timing of this is a joke !! With the report due to be released, they are there to tie off any loose ends, before he tells the American people there will be no change.
One flew over about a two weeks ago.