Rumsfeld's Travels: Taking the 'Silver Bullet' to Iraq

April 26, 2006 — -- Americans awoke to the news this morning that Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice had arrived in Baghdad on yet another "surprise visit." Today's joint journey highlights the high level of security that goes into keeping secret the travel plans of a Cabinet VIP to Baghdad, not to mention two Cabinet VIPs.

On this trip, Rumsfeld flew to Iraq on a C-17 military transport plane equipped with a "silver bullet" in the middle of the aircraft. The silver bullet is a metallic box reminiscent of a 1950s Airstream trailer, where Rumsfeld and his staff can find privacy during the flight. Since the C-17 is a transport plane, passenger comfort isn't a priority. Reporters accompanying Rumsfeld sit in jump seats along the sides of the plane's fuselage, just as paratroopers would on their way to an airdrop. Not the most comfortable arrangement for a transcontinental flight.

The switch to nondescript C-17 military transport planes is done for security reasons, as the official planes might stand out too much in Baghdad's skies, making inviting targets for insurgents armed with shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.

A missile strike is a real threat, as witnessed a few years back when a DHL plane was forced to make an emergency landing at the airport after a surface-to-air missile hit one of its engines. In an effort to stymie any such attacks, military flights into Baghdad usually undertake evasive corkscrew maneuvers -- steep circles on the way to the runway, quite a harrowing experience for some passengers -- when landing at the airport.

On her earlier trip this month with Jack Straw, Rice willingly took a more spartan path to Iraq. As her official aircraft traveled to Kuwait to join the military aircraft that would take them to Baghdad, Rice generously offered Straw the bed in her quarters. Straw awoke in the morning to learn that Rice had slept on the floor in the aisle outside the cabin.

When Mother Nature is involved, even the best planning can go awry. Upon landing in Baghdad today, Rice and Straw emerged from the plane to face a torrential rainstorm. Suddenly, plans to helicopter to the Green Zone were nixed for a riskier motorcade along the city's airport road, one of Baghdad's most dangerous routes. At one point, the motorcade of armored vehicles was forced to wait on the road for 20 minutes because of an unrelated roadblock ahead. Eventually, after an hour-long trip, the motorcade arrived at the heavily fortified Green Zone.