International headlines: “Electoral raid on Baghdad”. “The turkey has landed”. “…(F)irst US president to visit Iraq in order to provide the television pictures required by his re-election campaign…” “…(O)ne of the most audacious publicity coups in White House history…”. “George W Bush does not attend the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, but has dinner in Baghdad with those who dream of coming home alive”. “It is like playing the last $100 dollar bill at the casino…(O)nly one thing can ensure victory for Bush at the November 2004 polls: Saddam Hussein dead or chained up.” —abc.net.au

And: more to the point (and less unambiguous), the US Press reaction. — Howard Kurtz, Washington Post