US President George W. Bush's surprise visit to troops in Iraq was a public relations coup, but is unlikely to boost sagging domestic support for US involvement in Iraq, analysts said.

Bush won a standing ovation from some 600 delighted American soldiers he surprised at a Thanksgiving dinner at Baghdad airport.

"It's public relations for the American public. It's a symbolic action," said Stephen Zunes, a professor of political science and a Middle East specialist at the University of San Francisco.

"I think there is some need to give some kind of gesture that shows that he supports the troops," Zunes said.

"I think the troops are demoralized, dealing with problems. If the commander-in-chief comes, even though only for two hours in the airport, it helps them," said Judith Kipper, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"It was a real motivator for me personally," said Specialist James Echols, 22, of Luverne, Alabama. "He took time away from his family to meet us."

Bush is the latest in a line of presidents who have had to boost the morale of US soldiers on the frontlines.

"It is not at all unusual for the commander-in-chief to visit with the troops in a war zone. Obviously with the security situation there, they kept it in secret," Kipper stressed.

Bush's visit came on Thanksgiving Day, the biggest US holiday apart from Christmas, which many Americans celebrate with their families in a tradition that dates to a first settlers' harvest in the early 17th century.

"I was just looking for a warm meal somewhere," the president quipped to the cheering soldiers. "Thanks for inviting me to dinner."

Although troop morale in Iraq received a hearty boost from the visit, analysts doubted the trip would brighten Bush's fortunes back home, where recent polls show sagging support for the occupation.

Kipper said Bush's visit to what the president has called the central front in the global war on terrorism might "temporarily" lift his public opinion ratings on the home front with the 2004 election less than a year away.

"Something like this, holiday season, economy is getting better, a lot of losses every day. In that sense, it helps. It is not something that gives a fix for the election" though, Kipper said.

Support for Bush's handling of Iraq since May 1 has plummeted, falling to 42 per cent from 80 per cent in an April 23 poll, according to a November 19 survey by USA Today.

Fifty-five per cent of those polled disapproved of the US handling of post-war Iraq, the highest negative response to the question since US tanks entered Baghdad in April.

"I am not sure it is going to be particularly helpful," Kipper said in reference to the wider political questions plaguing Bush's Iraq policy.

"President (Lyndon) Johnson did it in Vietnam, there were photographs of him shaking hands with the troops. But that did not help his political prospects in the longer term," Zunes opined.

"The fact that has been done so quickly and secretly underscores the failure of the operation so far," Zunes said.

The death toll among US forces serving in Iraq has continued to tick up since Bush announced an end to major combat operations in Iraq on May 1, and chief US foe, ex-dictator Saddam Hussein still remains at large.

The analysts also noted that one of Bush's past attempts to boost morale over Iraq had backfired.

Bush landed in a navy jet on the deck of a US aircraft carrier on May 1 and announced to assembled crew, below a banner stating "Mission Accomplished", that major warfare had ended in Iraq.

More US soldiers have died since the Bush announcement than during the war to oust Saddam.

(China Daily November 28, 2003)