Surprise visits or so they call it

If you are in the US, you are probably tired of hearing frequent news of leaders making 'surprise' visits to Baghdad. Ever since Bush declared major combat operations were over aboard the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, every single high-ranking official of the Bush administration and political leaders from across the globe have only made unannounced or in their words, 'surprise' visits to the country's capital.

Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Troops in Baghdad

Blair makes surprise Iraq visit

Rice makes surprise visit to Iraq

Rumsfield on surprise visit

Vice president makes surprise visit to Iraq

Powell makes a surprise visit to Baghdad

Polish Prime Minster makes a surprise visit

And that is what ticks me off bcos they want us to believe that all those visits are really unplanned as they say. The whole world knows about the security situation in Iraq and how badly the US troops over there are finding it to tackle the seemingly endless insurgency & sectarian violence. It is said that the troops even hesitate to venture out on the streets for fear of insurgent attacks. So, why don't they cut the crap and tell us that surprise visits are necessary bcos the route from the airport to the center of Baghdad is not yet secure completely.

The worst part about the whole issue is that the US troops are unable to completely secure the road connecting the Baghdad airport and the 'Green zone', the main base for coalition officials & troops in Iraq and is supposedly a safe zone bcos of the high security. Though there are a lot of bombings in the Baghdad area, you would see none of them happening inside the green zone. The road is roughly, hold you breath, just 7 miles long. This road called Route Irish is popularly called as the death road and the most dangerous road in the world, mainly bcos of the occurrence of high number of RPG attacks. It is really a shame that after having occupied the country for close to 3 years, the coalition troops are still hesitant to have one high profile official pay a proper announced visit to the country. So, till then, wait for the next 'surprise' visit by another high ranking Bush administration official.