Bush Makes Surprise Visit to 51st State

...and the taxpayers will foot the bill. How much do you think that 5-hour meeting cost us?

"Good to see you," exclaimed al-Maliki, who didn't know Bush was in Baghdad until five minutes before they met.

"Thanks for having me," Bush responded. They smiled broadly and gave each other a two-handed handshake in the high-domed marble room.
The trip was known only to a handful of aides and a small number of reporters sworn to secrecy because of obvious security threats for Bush and members of his entourage.

The prime minister had been invited to the embassy on the pretense of taking part in a video conference with Bush, supposedly at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountins. The videoconference was to go on as scheduled, but with Bush appearing alongside al-Maliki.

SURPRISE!

UPDATE: There's more:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - President Bush assured Iraqis in a surprise visit to Baghdad on Tuesday that the United States stands with them and their new government. "It's in our interest that Iraq succeed," he said, seated alongside newly named Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The dramatic trip came as Bush sought to bolster support for Iraq's fledgling government and U.S. war policy at home.

Who is "our"? For some reason, I'm not feeling that I personally, not do 99% of Americans, have an interest in this, other than a desire for those people to get on about their lives without fears of being blown up on a daily basis. So it must be somebody else's interest that he's referring to.

Oh, and the other interest we have is...
WASHINGTON - The House passed a $94.5 billion bill Tuesday to pay for continuing U.S. military operations in
Iraq and Afghanistan, hurricane relief, bird flu preparations and border security at home.

Remember Ross Perot and that "giant sucking sound?" It's the sound of BILLIONS (doing my best Carl Sagan impression) and BILLIONS of dollars being sucked over to the Middle East.

The House-Senate compromise bill contains $66 billion for the two wars, bringing the cost of the three-year-old war in Iraq to about $320 billion. (that's 1/3 trillion dollars people!) Operations in Afghanistan have now tallied about $89 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The bill, which passed by a 351-67 vote, had only minimal debate Monday night.