Top secret

If things are going so well in Iraq, why was it necessary to keep the trip a secret even from members of the Cabinet?

After dinner with his cabinet at Camp David on Monday night, President George W. Bush said he was tired and wanted to read.

Instead, he sneaked off the heavily guarded grounds, boarded a nondescript helicopter for Andrews Air Force Base and then a secrecy-cloaked flight to Baghdad.

Bush had slipped away, pleading exhaustion by saying, "I'm losing altitude," and later seemed jubilant to have pulled off his presidential disappearing act.

"The POTUS is on board," he shouted to reporters traveling with him as he boarded Air Force One, using White House shorthand for president of the United States.

Only Bush's innermost circle -- Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and first lady Laura Bush -- knew where he was going on Monday. The rest of the Cabinet expected to see him at Camp David on Tuesday for a teleconference with Iraqi leaders.

But by morning at Camp David, Bush had already arrived in Iraq for a meeting with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

And I'm concerned that Cabinet members, who should know better, fell for what might be the world's worst cover story.