Lisa Mullins speaks with the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad about President Obama's unannounced visit there.
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LISA MULLINS: I'm Lisa Mullins, and this is The World. US troops in Baghdad gave a hero's welcome to their commander-in-chief today. Barack Obama paid a surprise visit to the Iraqi capital. The President arrived as security in the country is improving. But car bombs in Baghdad in the past two days killed more than 40 people, and those attacks underline the threat that militants still pose in Iraq. Today, Mr. Obama delivered a message to Iraqis – that it's time for them to take responsibility for their country. The BBC's Jim Muir is in Baghdad. Jim, President Obama's trip to Baghdad was a secret until he got there. Is the security situation still so bad that he can only visit Iraq unannounced?
JIM MUIR: Well, that's the situation for any major leader coming here. They're always sworn in secrecy until they actually touch down. That's convention, really, that only when they touch down is it announced. So that's not really surprising, but what is a little bit surprising is that he was supposed to helicopter into the center of town to meet with Iraqi leaders. That was deemed to be unsafe because of weather conditions. Well, the weather actually wasn't that bad. The visibility was really okay. The alternative would have been come in by motorcade. That probably would have been deemed too dangerous, because in the past 24 hours we've had 7 car bombs and more than 40 people killed. So they obviously couldn't risk exposing the President of the United States to that kind of danger.
MULLINS: This is a very short visit by the President. What does Barack Obama achieve with this kind of pit stop?
MUIR: Well, I think two things. One is the focus on the troops themselves – a morale booster there. And I think certainly from the reaction of the troops he met, which was quite ecstatic, that really hit the gong, as it were, for the troops here – to have their commander-in-chief turn up unexpectedly like that and to get to see him and to hear his encouraging words, not just about withdrawals, but also he committed himself to looking after the veterans when they get back home. He said, “As long as I'm in the White House, we're not going to abandon you.†The other thing is politically, the messages he's giving to the Iraqi leadership through the Prime Minister and the President, really saying, “We are committed to pulling out. You've got to get your house in order.†He didn't say it quite that bluntly, but that is the message: “We're committed to getting all troops out by 2011, and you've got to take responsibility for your own country.†So there is kind of a wake-up call that he's been delivering there.
MULLINS: Now, before we get to the wake-up call and the reaction to it, how about the reaction among the military members? I mean, did the military react differently than they did previously or even to President Bush?
MUIR: I would say there was quite a strong element of spontaneous genuine welcome there. I mean, it's hard for us to judge because we're not actually on the spot for that, but his charisma and the excitement he generated during the election, I think that has fed through to the troops here. They were jostling, trying to get pictures of him, trying to shake his hand and so on. There's a kind of star quality there that they could respond to. And the fact that he was telling them what they wanted to hear – that they'll be out of here, that they have been doing an important job very well and very creditably – whereas of course, when Bush was here or even when Mr. Obama was here as President-elect, there was a warm welcome, but this I think had a special quality to it.
MULLINS: One of the things that President Obama said before he left Istanbul, Turkey, was that although he had opposed the Iraq war before it began, he has to ensure that the withdrawal of troops is done responsibly so Iraq doesn't fall into chaos. Does anyone believe there that Iraq is still vulnerable to chaos and capable of falling apart once the US leaves?
MUIR: There are some people who do fear that. I mean, some Iraqi leaders have expressed that fear. And generally, if you speak to American commanders, nobody will say definitively, “Iraq has turned a corner. We have beaten Al Qaeda,†et cetera. They will say, “The danger is still there. We have to build on it. We have to consolidate the center, consolidate Iraqi institutions,†and so on. So there is as Mr. Obama himself said, a lot of achievement that has been accomplished, but a lot more needs to be done. And I think that's his message to the Iraqi leadership, that, you know, “We will do everything we can to make things stable, to leave in an orderly manner. But you've got to step forward, too and take on responsibility for your own affairs.â€
MULLINS: I'm just curious, Jim, before we let you go. Is there anything that you've spotted today that you thought was of interest, especially given how many trips you've seen by American leaders to Baghdad?
MUIR: I think just the sheer kind of un-alloyed if you like nature of this. There seemed to be genuine pleasure in seeing this man. A kind of universal, I would say, “welcome†to the message he's putting across. You know, compare it to George Bush's last visit here when he had shoes thrown at him by an Iraqi journalist, who in fact, coincidentally on this very same day has had his sentence commuted to 1 year from 3 by an appeals court. So in a sense, that's an interesting counterpoint to Mr. Obama's visit.
MULLINS: All right. The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad. Thanks, Jim.
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