Iraq’s Baghdad International Airport was shut down today while Air Force One landed and President Obama deplaned to go visit American soldiers at Camp Victory. “Our men and women who are in harm’s way, either in Iraq or Afghanistan, deserve our utmost respect and appreciation,” press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters aboard the plane. Many of them had suspected a surprise trip to either of the locations at the end of Obama’s European tour, but the White House had kept it under wraps. The president met with Iraqi officials, and was supposed to meet with Iraqi prime minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki as well, but poor weather conditions will likely change that meeting into a phoner.
