Bush’s Final Iraq Visit Prompts Mixed Responses

RAY SUAREZ:

The president's surprise visit to Baghdad was meant to highlight the new U.S.-Iraqi security agreement, but also showed the deep divisions remaining over U.S. policy.

Unlike previous visits, Mr. Bush arrived in daylight, the scene broadcast across Iraq, a reminder of the last year's decline in violence. It was likely his last trip to Iraq as president.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

The war is not yet over, but with the conclusion of these agreements and the courage of the Iraqi people, and the Iraqi troops, and American troops, and civilian personnel, it is decisively on its way to being won.

RAY SUAREZ:

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the president officially signed the status-of-forces agreement that calls on U.S. forces to withdraw by 2011.

GEORGE W. BUSH:

This is a major achievement. Is it the end? Absolutely not. There is more work to be done. And all this basically says is, we've made — we've made good progress and we'll continue to work together to achieve peace. That's what we want: freedom and peace.

RAY SUAREZ:

The war enters its sixth year in April. It's cost more than 4,200 American lives and the lives of thousands more Iraqis.

It was right after the president and prime minister shook hands that an Iraqi journalist hurled shoes at Mr. Bush, shouting in Arabic, "This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is your farewell kiss, you dog."

The first shoe narrowly missed the president; the second was thrown before security forces tackled the man. He said the second toss was "from the widows, the orphans, and those who were killed in Iraq."

The president tried to make light of the incident.

GEORGE W. BUSH:

If you want the facts, it's a size 10 shoe that he threw.

RAY SUAREZ:

The Iraqi government condemned the act, but reaction on the street was mixed.

RAHIM HASSAN, Iraqi citizen (through translator): He deserves to be hit with more than one or two shoes. Who told him to come?

FADHIL RADHI, Iraqi citizen (through translator): I deem it unnecessary. This thing is unjustifiable. It is incorrect style. We are not in a war state. One can give his opinion in other ways.

RAY SUAREZ:

The president's visit came on the heels of new reports critical of the U.S. war in Iraq. One focused on detainee treatment at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere by U.S. forces.

It was released in part by the Senate Armed Services Committee last Thursday. It conducted a two-year bipartisan investigation.

The findings blame the abuse of prisoners on the Bush administration, including former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. It read, "The abuse of detainees in U.S. custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of a few bad apples acting on their own."

The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees."

The other study found the reconstruction effort, costing some $50 billion, was largely a failure.