President Bush makes surprise visit to Iraq
By Julian E. Barnes
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 3, 2007

AL-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq -- President Bush landed in Iraq today on his third surprise trip to the war zone, this time intent on emphasizing his belief that the current strategy is working to ease violence.

The visit, to a military base in Anbar province about 120 miles northwest of Baghdad, came on the eve of a crucial assessment on the progress of the war --and the success of recent U.S. troop "surge" -- being prepared by his administration and the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petreaus. the rest