US President George W. Bush arrived in Baghdad on Sunday in an unannounced visit, after Iraq agreed a security pact with Washington, which would allow US troops to station for three more years, CNN reported.
President Bush, accompanied by his National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and Spokeswoman Dana Perino, departed from Andrews Air Force Base on Saturday night and arrived at Baghdad International Airport on Sunday.
In Baghdad, President Bush met his Iraqi counterpart President Jalal Talabani. He is scheduled to meet other top Iraqi officials and to address US troops stationed there, according to the report.
The unannounced visit, less than 40 days ahead of the end of President Bush's tenure, is his fourth as President and is viewed as a farewell for his controversial Iraqi policy, which labelled with a war in 2003 by a fabricated excuse and with an attempt to permanently station troops there in order to ensure its benefit in the oil-rich Middle East.
President-elect Barack Obama, who would take office on January 20, has pledged to end the policy by withdrawing all the US troops from Iraq in 16 months.
President Bush's visit to Iraq was to celebrate the conclusion of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Iraq, said CNN.
The SOFA pact stated, among other things, that the US troops would withdraw from Iraq's cities, towns and villages by June 30 next year to their bases and would leave the country on December 31, 2011.
For months, the two countries were at odds over the agreement, which the US
needs as a legitimate support for the station of its troops beyond 2008 after the current UN mandate ends on December 31.