Bush’s Thanksgiving Trip Is Assailed in Baghdad

President Bush’s Thanksgiving visit to the Middle East was denounced in Baghdad on Thursday as an attempt to shore up what the Iraqi media termed sagging support for Washington’s Persian Gulf policies.

The English-language Baghdad Observer, published by the government’s Department of Information, said the stops by Bush and Secretary of State James A. Baker III in the gulf region “take place at a time both seem to have been embarrassed at the home-front level.”

“Anti-war sentiment is spiraling. . . “ said the Observer editorial. “(Bush’s) popularity has receded at a menacing pace.”

Meanwhile, the newspaper went on: “Scores of world veteran politicians have visited Iraq to express their rejection of the U.S. and British policy of brinkmanship.”

Earlier in the week, Information Minister Latif Jasim branded the President’s planned visit with American troops in Saudi Arabia “a provocation” and said the Iraqi government would be watching it. No other Iraqi official, however, has publicly commented on the trip.

The front page of Thursday’s Observer ran a report of Bush’s impending visit under two top-of-the-page stories. One was on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s trip to Thi-qar province, where he visited various projects and spoke against the American threat, and the other was on the arrival in Baghdad of former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, a major celebrity in the Muslim world.

The Bush story, datelined Baghdad, was a fairly straightforward report of Bush’s planned activities, but it also included a number of quotes from GIs--presumably gleaned from reports by international news agencies--complaining about having to serve in the Saudi desert.

The article ran under the headline, “Bush Hopes Visit to Saudi Arabia Will Boost Morale,” and its second paragraph said:

“Only a few minutes’ flying time away from superior Iraq forces, U.S. troops are increasingly frustrated with enforced idleness in the harsh Saudi desert.”

The account quoted an unidentified Marine as saying he would rather have a visit from comedian Steve Martin than from the President.

All Iraqi newspapers are government-controlled, and in recent weeks they have highlighted Bush’s problems with Congress on his Persian Gulf policies.

Said the Observer editorial Thursday:

“The Congress, which enjoys a crucial say in the President’s gulf policy, has echoed a tide of American worry about the fate of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.”