Bush leaves awe in his Baghdad wake (good read)

telegraph india ^ | 11/28/03

[knak]

I love it.

[Eala]

Me too. The local paper (drifting left) reported that the soldiers climbed up on their chairs and tables to cheer him.

By contrast, in the same paper, Hillary's visit sounded as exciting as two-week-old turkey...

[little jeremiah]

“This ‘Baghdad coup’, primarily intended for the US public, was a brilliantly conceived and executed piece of election propaganda,” the newspaper said.

Total crap.

I would like to read more reactions from soldiers. Personally I think Bush did for the reasons stated. And if something done for the right reasons makes him look good, so be it!

[OESY]

BEST OF THE WEB TODAY, BY JAMES TARANTO, November 28, 2003

Sour Scribes
The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reports that the White House arranged for a pool of 13 reporters to accompany President Bush to Baghdad; the Drudge Report has a copy of the notes filed by Post reporter Mike Allen, who writes: "The [president's] staff aimed to keep the trip secret until after he had taken off from Baghdad--no filing was permitted from the site, by the pool or by locals."

This seems entirely reasonable; the president was taking a risk by landing at Baghdad (né Saddam) International Airport, where less than a week ago a terrorist's surface-to-air missile hit a civilian jet. As 20-year-old Pfc. Telo Monahan tells the Associated Press, Bush's visit "was a display of confidence in our ability to protect not just us, but him. It was just three or four days after that DHL plane got hit."

But some journalists are complaining, Kurtz reports:

Philip Taubman, Washington bureau chief of the New York Times, said that "in this day and age, there should have been a way to take more reporters. People are perfectly capable of maintaining a confidence for security reasons. It's a bad precedent." Once White House officials "decided to do a stealth trip, they bought into a whole series of things that are questionable."

Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, criticized the White House correspondents who made the trip without spilling the secret. "That's just not kosher," he said. "Reporters are in the business of telling the truth. They can't decide it's okay to lie sometimes because it serves a larger truth or good cause."

Is it any wonder Americans don't trust the press? Here we have an editor of the New York Times insisting that reporters can keep a secret, then in the very next breath, a self-styled rabbi of reportorial "excellence" denounces them for doing just that.

Rosentiel's comments are especially idiotic. The reporters didn't lie; they just waited 2 1/2 hours until Bush had left Baghdad before reporting that he had been there. Journalists often get information that is "embargoed"--i.e., not to be released until a time of the source's choosing--and by and large they comply with such embargoes. Moreover, withholding facts "because it serves a larger truth" is precisely what reporters do when they use anonymous sources.

Rosentiel adds that Bush's trip "was much bigger news on a slow news day if it was unexpected. What reporters have done by going along with this is to help Bush politically." Well, it's true that the element of surprise helped make this one of the most dramatic political gestures in recent history (actually, we can't think of anything that comes close to surpassing it). But what Rosentiel seems to be saying is that reporters had an obligation to diminish the news value of the story in order to hurt Bush politically.

Finally, Shock and Awe
Remember the "shock and awe" campaign in Baghdad that never materialized last March? CNN reports it finally arrived yesterday, when Bush emerged from behind the curtain:

The shocked and elated soldiers jumped to their feet, pumped their fists in the air, roared with delight, and grabbed their cameras to snap photographs. . . .

At the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where reporters had been told Bush would be having Thanksgiving dinner, the reaction among the press corps was shock and awe.

CNN's "ticker" yesterday kept mentioning that Bush was the first U.S. president ever to travel to Iraq--which is true, though Bill Clinton sent his wife.

London's far-left Independent newspaper, home of America-hating polemicist Robert Fisk, predictably sneers, headlining its story on the trip "The Turkey Has Landed: How Bush Cooked Up a Secret Mission to Give Thanks to His Troops." It ends as follows:

Some Iraqis were unimpressed. "To hell with Bush," said Mohammed al-Jubouri. "He is another Mongol in a line of invaders who have destroyed Iraq."

But although one of the bylines on the Independent story is "Phil Reeves in Baghdad," this quote seems to have been lifted without attribution from a Reuters dispatch.

Another Reuters dispatch mentions that President Bush by the way didn't serve in Vietnam: "The 57-year-old president, whose absence from active service in Vietnam was an issue during his election campaign, succeeded in impressing many of his troops and bolstering their morale."

Yet another Reuters dispatch helpfully explains Thanksgiving to those poor souls whose countries don't celebrate it: "Thanksgiving is one of the most cherished holidays in the United States, traditionally celebrated with a turkey dinner shared among family and friends who 'give thanks' for their blessings and good fortune." One man's thanks are another's ingratitude?

[Bonaparte]

If Bush had stayed home, the media would have slammed him for that. IOW, no matter what he does, the liberal media will continue to do all they can to hurt his presidency and re-election campaign.

[Sacajaweau]

Hillary who??

[Cultural Jihad]

“Election raid on Baghdad,” declared a front-page headline in France’s Left-wing newspaper Liberation, beside a photograph of Bush carrying a platter laden with roast turkey and fruit and surrounded by US troops.

We ought to raid their country and liberate our war dead from their soil.

[tubebender]

You won't believe this but when I saw the first footage of the President on Fox at around 9:30 Am PST I wondered where Santa parked the sleigh and as he spoke I was reminded of that famous quote "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus...

[Senator Goldwater]

"Thanksgiving is one of the most cherished holidays in the United States, traditionally celebrated with a turkey dinner shared among family and friends who 'give thanks' for their blessings and good fortune."

And I give thanks that my country has the blessing and good fortune to have this man as our leader at this time in our history.

[TheSpottedOwl]

The shocked and elated soldiers jumped to their feet, pumped their fists in the air, roared with delight, and grabbed their cameras to snap photographs. . . .

Beautiful. God bless our president and America!

[arasina]

[TheSpottedOwl]

Repeat after me....F*CK FRANCE!!!!

[KC_Conspirator]

The press is mad because they could not report on the President because it would endanger his life? That is outright treason and they should be called on the carpet for their hateful stances.

[Hazzardgate]

Aces!

[LeftyStomper]

Bwahahahaha!!!!!! Great pic arasina!

[Burkeman1]

Nice jesture by Bush. Nixon and Johnson both visited Viet Nam under even tougher combat circumstances. Glad to see Bush visited the troops at the airport.

[mariamou68]

Looks like we found the real turkey! I love this...

[The Shootist]

Sergeant Aaron Hildernbrandt, from Claremont, Florida

That's Clermont, Booker!

[MEG33]

Andrew Sullivan.com has an email from a soldier and he also roasts Dana Milbank for his column in the Wa Post.It helps crowd out the biased press.

[LoudRepublicangirl]

Why don't you go then.