How can anyone suggest that the trip was a PR exercise staged only for the media?

If that had been the case then surely Dubya would have announced the trip in advance and paraded through the streets of Baghdad to the happy cheering throngs of grateful Iraqis keen to show their gratitude. What wonderful propaganda that would have been.

To sneak in under a massive security blackout with only the minimum of media and sneak out again 2 hours and 23 minutes later shows how selfless the trip was.

There is no way the footage of this private trip to boost troop morale will be used during the election campaign!