Wowie, Part II

This really is some story: Media: Amid Tight Secrecy, a Tip: Bush Is Going to Baghdad

In a scene out of a Tom Clancy novel, Mr. Allen was then driven several blocks to what he later described as "a concealed parking lot" and told only that "someone wanted to talk" to him.

That person was Dan Bartlett, Mr. Bush's communications director, who came bearing a message: "The president's going to Baghdad."

It was just before 4 p.m. in Texas. A little more than four hours later, Mr. Allen and several other journalists were seated aboard Air Force One and flying toward Washington. By 9:35 a.m. Eastern time the next day, the journalists, including writers from The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and Reuters, as well as a camera crew from Fox News and photographers from several wire services, would touch down with the president in Iraq. The outside world — including in many cases, bosses and families — would not learn of their journey until after they were on their way back home.

[...]

For the journalists involved, the president's surprising appearance before the troops was unmistakably exciting.

In his report to the press corps, Mr. Allen described sitting on Air Force One across from Richard Keil of Bloomberg News. At one point, Mr. Allen wrote, Mr. Keil "leaned across the aisle, shoved aside his I-Pod headset and grinned as he said, `The president of the United States is AWOL, and we're with him. The ultimate road trip.' "