Aid and comfort to himself: “Administration officials said Bush enjoys surprises and showing himself in charge, and Thursday’s whirlwind trip involved both. The president told reporters on Air Force One afterward that he had watched the landing from the cockpit and had spent weeks quizzing his pilot and military and security officials about the trip’s feasibility, insisting that it be scrapped if it endangered any Americans. ‘I was pretty tough,’ he said.” (Mike Allen, “With Iraq Trip, an Afterglow, but Uncertain Aftermath,” Washington Post, 11/29)

 

Aid and comfort to the enemy: “[A]nother member of the governing council, who asked not to be named, said the ‘excessive secrecy’ surrounding the visit could provide a propaganda boost to the insurgents. ‘They will be able to boast that they forced the most powerful man in the world to come in through the back door,’ he said.” (Michael Howard and Julian Borger, “Iraqis express cynicism at Bush’s 150-minute v

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