Thanksgiving took an unexpected twist Thursday when President Bush, supposedly having a family dinner in Texas, paid a surprise visit to Baghdad.
The president secretly slipped out of his ranch at Crawford, Tex., Wednesday night and flew to Washington, then to Baghdad for a two and a half hour visit where he talked with about 600 soldiers gathered for Thanksgiving dinner. Only a few people knew of Bush's plans.
In the U.S., meanwhile, it was largely a day of food, family and festivities.
Several cities held parades to celebrate Thanksgiving and the traditional Macy's parade went off as planned in New York featuring vintage balloons and "Hairspray" star Harvey Fierstein, who joined the parade in drag as Mrs. Santa Claus.
There were the usual professional football games, at Detroit and Dallas, and a handful of college skirmishes.
Wall Street took the day off.
