Obama lands in Iraq for first visit as president

[Moguul21]

BAGHDAD – On a trip shrouded in secrecy, President Barack Obama flew into Iraq on Tuesday for a brief inspection of a war he opposed as a candidate and now vows to end as commander in chief. "There is still a lot of work to do here," he said.

Obama's motorcade rolled past troops standing at attention, en route to a meeting with several hundred men and women among the 139,000 American forces stationed in the country.

His gleaming white and blue Air Force One touched down hours after a car bomb exploded in a Shiite neighborhood of the capital city, a deadly reminder of the violence that has claimed the lives at least 4,266 members of the U.S. military and thousands more Iraqis since March 2003.