Romney makes surprise stop in Baghdad

Traveling under tight security, Governor Mitt Romney yesterday wrapped up an unannounced, one-day trip to Iraq to visit troops from Massachusetts, and warned against a ``cut and run" pullout from the war-torn country.

Romney, traveling with two other governors, will conduct a round of talks with national leaders in Afghanistan today and meet US troops, as part of a Department of Defense-sponsored visit to the two countries at the center of US military activity in the region.

The Massachusetts governor, who is exploring a bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, yesterday said he supported President Bush's strategy to maintain a strong US presence in Iraq.

``It would be a severe mistake for us to cut and run," the governor said yesterday in a telephone interview from Kuwait City just hours after he arrived from Baghdad. The potential sectarian strife that could ensue if the United States pulled out suddenly, he said, ``could lead to a humanitarian disaster."

``There is a high degree of hope that this country will take a very positive step," the governor said, adding that the recent formation of a coalition government could be a turning point ``if this coalition shows strong leadership."

The trip, which Romney's staff said he had requested some months ago, occurred at what US officials in Washington and Baghdad say is a critical juncture. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced his government last weekend, but vital Cabinet posts overseeing the police, the army, and national security have yet to be filled.

In the past, Romney has criticized the lack of good intelligence leading up to the Iraq war. Yesterday, he sidestepped the question when he was asked in an interview with the Globe if he would have supported the war had he known then what he knows now of the intelligence failures, and in light of the continued heavy civil strife that is wracking the country.

``I am not engaging in Monday morning quarterbacking," Romney told the Globe. ``I supported the war, as did Congress and many Democrats. We have learned some lessons about the period immediately following major conflict. I believe we are doing the right thing."

Romney is traveling with Governors Matt Blunt, a Republican from Missouri, and Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat from Montana. The governor scoffed yesterday at suggestions by Democrats and political analysts that he was burnishing his foreign policy credentials, noting that he is the 29th governor to visit Iraq during the war and that the tours sponsored by the Defense Department are primarily focused on meeting members of guard and reserve units.

The governors were briefed in Baghdad by Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad, US ambassador to Iraq , and General George W. Casey Jr., leader of the US-led forces. But Romney said most of his time was spent with Massachusetts members of the National Guard and reserve units at military bases in and around the Baghdad Airport.

``You come away with a greater sense of appreciation for the men and women of Massachusetts who are over here," Romney said. ``I saw several hundred from the Guard, from the reserve, and the active duty ranks."

He said a number of the troops had given him notes to bring to their families in Massachusetts after he returns on Saturday. About 500 Massachusetts National Guardsmen and many more active duty military personnel from the state are stationed in Iraq.

Romney said he was particularly proud when he learned that his helicopter escort was manned by the Third Battalion, 126th Aviation unit, which is based at Camp Edwards on Cape Cod and flies out of the nearby Otis Air National Guard field.

Romney started his trip in Washington, where he was briefed Monday by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to his office. He went to Kuwait City, then arrived in Baghdad Tuesday at about 11 a.m. EST and left at about 10:30 a.m. yesterday.

Today, Romney and the other governors are scheduled to meet with President Karzai of Afghanistan and Afghan governors in Kabul as part of the six-day trip.

They will also visit a provincial reconstruction team at an undisclosed location. They are scheduled to spend tonight at the US Embassy in Afghanistan . Tomorrow they will breakfast with troops before heading back home through the American military facility in Ramstein, Germany.

The first part of Romney's trip was not disclosed until after he left Iraq, under a reporting embargo requested by the Department of Defense.

Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable, a Defense Department spokesman, said a news blackout on visits to Iraq by American dignitaries is necessary to protect their safety.

``We like to keep them alive," Venable said. ``An advance announcement of those travels doesn't further that objective."

He said no news embargo is needed for trips to Afghanistan. ``The differences between Iraq and Afghanistan are substantial in terms of security requirements. The threat is much more pervasive in Iraq."

Romney, who is short on foreign policy experience, made a one-day visit last month to the US base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where the US government operates a controversial detention center for suspected terrorists.

``I have been hoping to come over to Iraq for some time," he said. ``I am the 29th governor to do one of these trip and I am here to show my support and appreciation for the troops."

Still, the Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman, Philip W. Johnston, chided Romney for taking the trip and noted that Baghdad was just one of many cities the governor has visited lately while exploring his presidential options.

``We've become used to Mitt Romney being in Des Moines, Savannah, Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, but Baghdad? This is getting ridiculous," Johnston said. ``The presidential election isn't for two years but Mitt Romney apparently thinks he's already a major foreign policy expert."

His visit to the front lines of a controversial war theater provokes memories of the visit to Vietnam by his late father, George W. Romney, then governor of Michigan and a leading contender for the 1968 GOP presidential nomination. The elder Romney, a moderate Republican, saw his campaign unravel after he said on his return that he had been ``brainwashed" by American officials who briefed him on the war effort.

Globe correspondent Charles Crain, working out of Bagdhad, contributed to this report.