Posted on 12/15/2003 9:54:58 AM PST by presidio9
At the White House on Sunday morning, President Bush's aides watching television finally saw images that they had been awaiting for months. Iraqis were dancing in the streets of Baghdad, celebrating the capture of Saddam Hussein.
Bush's national security officials did not for a moment interpret the joy in Iraq as an indicator that bloody guerrilla warfare is about to end. Attacks against U.S. and other coalition troops can be expected to continue, but the end of Saddam's danger will make easier the occupation and pacification. And the political fallout will be profound.
The joy at the White House on Sunday was most intense among Bush political aides. With a sprightly domestic economy picking up and promising a buoyant 2004, the biggest roadblock in the way of the president's re-election is perceived by his political managers to be Iraq. Thus, Saddam under lock and key is an enormous political benefit for Bush.
Indeed, the immediate problem at the White House has been to curtail genuine exuberance over the capture of the Iraqi dictator. Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell, who often disagree with each other, were at the same Washington Christmas party Saturday night and could hardly contain their glee over what they knew but nobody else did. The other partygoers knew something was up, but Cheney and Powell did not say what.
When Saddam's capture became public Sunday morning, presidential aides were instructed to make the White House a "gloat-free zone." Accordingly, statements by staffers were low-key. Bush himself managed to restrain his natural high spirits with a sober four-minute speech that made clear that armed struggle in Iraq is not over.
Bush's political team was going to make sure he did not repeat the same mistake he made on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln months ago when "Mission Accomplished!" was heralded. The White House first announced that a press pool would be admitted to the president's noon remarks Sunday, then reversed that judgment. Reporters were kept out to make sure there would be no dangerous question-and-answer period that might show Bush gloating. "If I had my way, the president wouldn't answer any questions between now and the election," said one Republican political operative.
Capturing Saddam is particularly important for domestic politics because Democrats have been so aggressive in taunting Bush for the failure to do so until now. The dictator being at large has been part of the set political speech by all the serious contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination. They can still bring up the failure to apprehend Osama bin Laden, but he has long since been eclipsed by Saddam as an object of American hate.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.), previously scheduled for Sunday morning interview programs on television, were caught short by the big news from Iraq. They could only offer the lame argument that Bush should seize the opportunity now to bring foreign troops into the Iraq mix. That confirmed the judgment by the Bush political high command that the Democrats would sink themselves, if given a chance. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) challenged the Democratic candidates Sunday to refrain from politics for just this one day of national triumph. They could not because they cannot concede such a major tactical advantage for Bush. Thus, following Frist on "Fox News Sunday," Kerry immediately began importuning the president to internationalize the conflict in Iraq.
In the view of the Bush political team, Saddam's capture poses particularly difficult questions for the Democratic front-runner, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. He has been against intervention in Iraq from the start, and former Vice President Al Gore endorsed him last week precisely for that reason.
Beyond politics, Bush aides consider this a much bigger victory than they will publicly admit. In playing down the significance of the capture to avoid the impression of arrogance, the White House is leading some commentators on television to minimize the importance of what happened.
Actually, the president's national security team thinks the events of this weekend will exert enormous influence in Iraq and through the entire region. They especially point to the picture of a bedraggled Saddam not trying to use his pistol in a do-or-die resistance and meekly submitting to American GIs sticking tongue depressors into the unresisting tyrant's throat.
This television image spread worldwide, say Bush's Middle East experts, is expected to have special impact throughout the Arab world. The downgrading of Saddam's reputation as somebody who can stand up to the Americans is immense. Even though Saddam apparently was not micromanaging the guerrilla warfare, his removal from the scene is considered a psychological blow to Arab extremist forces all over the region.
Actually, the president's national security team thinks the events of this weekend will exert enormous influence in Iraq and through the entire region. They especially point to the picture of a bedraggled Saddam not trying to use his pistol in a do-or-die resistance and meekly submitting to American GIs sticking tongue depressors into the unresisting tyrant's throat.Public inspection of his hair for lice was a particularly nice touch : )
In playing down the significance of the capture to avoid the impression of arrogance, the White House is leading some commentators on television to minimize the importance of what happened.
This is key. The president has tricked knuckleheads like Rather and Jennings into lowering expectations for this capture. Bush, Rather, and Jennings are all saying that this capture will not lead to a spectacular collapse of resistance in Iraq.
So, if it doesn’t, Bush was right to say it wouldn’t and the media has made sure that that message has gotten out.
But if it does drop dramatically, it’s another huge victory for Bush, and it pushes Howard Dean and his party further down the spider hole of electoral politics.
Rather and Jennings don’t even realize they’ve been conscripted into the reelection effort. Dumbasses.
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