Bush in Baghdad on farewell visit

BAGHDAD: President George W. Bush made an unannounced farewell visit to Baghdad on Sunday, just weeks before he leaves office and bequeaths the unpopular Iraq war to President-elect Barack Obama.

Slipping out of the White House over the weekend, Bush flew secretly to the Iraqi
capital to hold talks with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and address a rally of US troops. “Bush has come to meet Iraqi leaders, thank the troops and celebrate the new security agreement,” a White House official said.

Bush arrived first by helicopter at the presidential palace for talks with President Jalal Talabani and his two vice-presidents. He planned to meet later with Maliki.

Bush’s trip — his fourth to Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion — follows approval of a security pact between Washington and Baghdad last month that paves the way for US forces to withdraw by the end of 2011.

The brief visit was meant to showcase recent security gains in Iraq but was also a stark reminder of how heavily the war will weigh on the Republican president’s foreign policy legacy. Though Iraq has slipped down the list of Americans’ concerns as the recession-hit US economy has taken centre stage, polls show most people think the war was a mistake.

It will now be left to Obama, a Democrat and early opponent of US military involvement in Iraq, to sort out an exit strategy after he takes office on January 20.

About 140,000 US troops will still be in Iraq nearly six years into a war that has killed more than 4,200 American military personnel and tens of thousands of Iraqis.