Vice President Dick Cheney landed in Baghdad today on an unannounced trip for meetings with U.S. military commanders and Iraqi officials before a progress report on the war set for delivery to Congress next month.
Cheney, arriving just before the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion, scheduled meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as well as Army General David Petraeus, Ambassador Ryan Crocker and other leaders.
Petraeus and Crocker are scheduled to brief Congress on progress in Iraq since President George W. Bush ordered the deployment of 30,000 extra U.S. soldiers a year ago. Cheney flew by helicopter from Baghdad International Airport to the fortified Green Zone for talks.
He told reporters it was "especially significant'' that he was in Iraq five years after the March 20, 2003, invasion that toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and ended "Saddam's tyranny.''
