Obama lands in Iraq for first visit as president
Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:05 am
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.
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.