CAMP DAVID, Md. — President Bush, who visited troops in Iraq on Thanksgiving after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, called a dozen servicemen and women Thursday to extend best wishes and say it was “the least I can do.”
Three of those receiving holiday greetings are in the Army, two are Marines, three are in the Air Force, two serve in the Coast Guard and two in the Navy. The troops called are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and aboard ship, said White House press secretary Dana Perino.
“He called to wish the members of the military and their families and the troops that they are serving with a happy Thanksgiving. He said, ‘I can’t tell you how impressed I am by the courage and compassion of our troops.’ He thanked them for their service,” Perino said. “He said how proud he is of them.”
The president asked for God’s blessings on the members of the military, Perino said. He said he was thankful to be commander in chief of the finest military ever assembled and told them that “calling you is the least I can do because I admire the military so much.”
Among those who spoke with Bush was Air Force Tech. Sgt. Cimarron Reeves in Iraq, who does post-blast analysis that is vital to counter improvised explosive devices. The White House said Reeves’ father, Doy Reeves, lives in Whitewater, Colo., near Grand Junction. Doy Reeves didn’t have a listed phone number and couldn’t be reached.
The president celebrated the holiday at Camp David with his wife, Laura, and their twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, who have a birthday this weekend. Also present were Jenna’s husband-to-be Henry Hager, some of the president’s brothers and sisters with their families, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Bush, who plans to return to Washington on Saturday, had no public schedule for the stay at Camp David.
