George W Bush's secret visit to Baghdad last week was supposed to boost his image with voters back in US, but in effect it turned out to be an act of shame for a US president to be sneaking like a wanted man to visit his troops in a heavily guarded area, apparently to share Thanksgiving turkey with them.

The visit was meant to bolster the morale of the US troops, but it showed the pitiable plight of a US president, who visited an occupied territory without being invited by its people that he is supposed to be liberating.

There was no honour, no laurels, no grace, for the highest representative of the world's superpower to be acting like the very 'thugs and assassins' that he had been condemning. Even with 150,000 troops on the ground, Bush could not feel safe to meet the people that he was liberating.

It would appear, Saddam Hussein had reduced Bush to his own level, as far as the ground realities in Iraq are concerned. If Saddam was hiding from Bush, Bush too was scared of Saddam. It was not the proud sight of US posing as a victor lording on his booty in Iraq. It was at best a stalemate.

Bush has ended up disgracing his own country by being forced to salvage his popularity ratings with such a cheap and foolhardy show of bravado.