BAGHDAD, Iraq – On a recent visit to wounded soldiers, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld grew teary as an injured soldier with swollen eyes and a bloodied hand, told him to disregard his critics because the armor on his jeep saved his life.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have said they have lost confidence in Mr. Rumsfeld’s leadership after he dismissed concerns that soldiers did not have the armor required to fight a creative, viscous insurgency here and that his office used an autopen to sign letters of condolence to dead soldiers’ families. Pentagon officials denied that Mr. Rumsfeld made the trip to combat the criticism.

General George Casey, commander of the coalition forces in Iraq, relayed the story of the defense secretary’s visit to American servicemen on trips to three military bases across Iraq on a damp and rainy Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve, General Casey had accompanied Mr. Rumsfeld to the hospital and said that blood trickled from the soldier’s eyes as he talked to Mr. Rumsfeld.

General Casey told troops that they are part of “the relentless march of human dignity over tyranny,” and that “we will succeed here.” He added that his goal was to explain to rank-and-file soldiers, typically removed from top military and political decision-makers, that their seemingly mundane and often dangerous jobs are crucial to achieving a democratic Iraq.

Like Mr. Rumsfeld, General Casey inspected the mess hall at Camp Merez near Mosul, where a suicide bomber murdered 18 American soldiers last week. Inside the tent, pools of blood have hardened on the floor, trays of half-eaten meals remain, and rain seeps in through a gaping hole in the ceiling. The bomb’s ball bearings’ indentations can be seen across the mess hall’s floor and in some of the furniture.

An officer told General Casey that the dining hall would be repaired and reopened once the crime scene is examined for evidence, even though they are certain a suicide bomber caused the explosion. Other soldiers pointed to an unfinished concrete dining hall across the road that was supposed to be completed by Christmas Day.

Later that morning, General Casey told a battalion of National Guard troops at an airbase in Kirkuk that Mr. Rumsfeld said, in off-the-cuff remarks to reporters and aides, that in his 72 years, he had witnessed “the rise and fall of fascism and communism and other tyrannical regimes. But what is constant is the relentless forward march of freedom.”

“That’s a little highfalutin for you,” General Casey added. “But what you do makes a difference.”

After finishing his speech, General Casey asked the soldiers sitting inside a well-stocked fitness center if they had any questions. General Casey scanned the crowd looking for a volunteer, but none accepted his offer. The only sound they made was a low-pitched “hoo-ah” after General Casey wished them a Merry Christmas. He spent his remaining time slapping backs, shaking hands, and posing for pictures.

General Casey then flew to Al-Asad, where the Marine Corps has an air base. After a classified intelligence briefing, General Casey ate and posed for pictures with Marines in the “chow hall.”

Many troops, such as 27-year-old Army Specialist Rodolfo Vallafranco of Texas, who provides security for senior commanders at an Army base in Balad, have spent two of the past three Christmases in Iraq. Specialist Vallafranco served in Iraq from March 2003 to April 2004; he was deployed just before Thanksgiving this year. The military is in the middle of a massive rotation so many servicemen are spending their first or final Christmas in Iraq.

Christmas Day throughout Iraq was dreary, damp, and rainy, and the weather forced General Casey to abandon plans to visit soldiers in Najaf and Fallujah, where some of the heaviest fighting in recent weeks has taken place. He had also planned to visit Al Kut, where Poland and Ukraine have their largest contingents of soldiers.

From Al-Asad, his tiny airplane was diverted to Balad, where General John Abizaid, Central Command in Tampa, Fla., also had been delayed by the fog and low, dark clouds. The two four-star generals met for several hours to discuss the progress in the war.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Kolbe, a Republican of Arizona, and chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees foreign aid, was also visiting Iraq with several other Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Senator Lieberman, a Democrat of Connecticut, will visit later this week, and Senator Kerry, a Democrat of Massachusetts, is scheduled to visit Iraq early next year.