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Bush thanks soldiers in rehearsed talk
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-14 20:21
It was billed as a conversation with U.S. troops, but the
questions President Bush asked on a teleconference call Thursday were
choreographed to match
"This is an important time," Allison Barber, deputy assistant defense
secretary, said, coaching the soldiers before Bush arrived. "The president is
looking forward to having just a conversation with you."
Barber said the president was interested in three topics: the overall
security situation in Iraq, security preparations for the weekend vote and
efforts to train Iraqi troops.
As she spoke in Washington, a live shot of 10 soldiers from the Army's 42nd
Infantry Division and one Iraqi soldier was beamed into the Eisenhower Executive
Office Building from Tikrit — the birthplace of former Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein.
"I'm going to ask somebody to grab those two water bottles against the wall
and move them out of the camera shot for me," Barber said.
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