Trouble Mounts For Bush As Lethal Iraqi Resistance Claims More Lives

Independent (UK) ^ | 7-27-2003 | Rupert Cornwell

[blam]

Trouble mounts for Bush as lethal Iraqi resistance claims more lives

By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
27 July 2003

Just how organised is the resistance, and who is doing the organising, is not clear. But yesterday's grenade attack which killed three US troops outside a children's hospital north of Baghdad and injured four others has banished the hope that the death of Saddam Hussein's two sons would halt the de facto guerrilla war against the American forces occupying Iraq.

Even more ominously for President Bush, it can only deliver another blow to the morale of soldiers deployed in an inhospitable and scorching hot country, and alarm a public opinion growing steadily more disenchanted with an operation whose costs are soaring and of which no end is in sight.

Since Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed in Mosul on Tuesday, the ambushes have, if anything, become deadlier. Eight US soldiers have died, They may also hasten yet another revamp of the reconstruction effort.

Last week Paul Bremer, the chief US civilian administrator in Iraq, was in Washington to give a progress report. Outwardly he was all optimism, claiming that rebuilding was running ahead of schedule. Privately however, the message was very different, as he pleaded for more money and more personnel.

And in a rare admission of human fallibility, Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy Secretary of Defense and a prime architect of the war, conceded last week that the Pentagon had been wrong in some of its post-war assumptions, and that "some conditions were worse than we anticipated."

The position of Mr Bremer is not in question. But the administration is urgently seeking to enlist one or more prominent figures to work alongside him, to try to revive public confidence in the overall project.

One person contacted is James Baker, the former Secretary of State and a trusted Bush family retainer who superintended the Republican team in Florida in the furiously contested aftermath of the presidential vote in Florida. Mr Baker, 73, who also served as Treasury Secretary, is seen as an ideal man to lead the search for foreign financial support for reconstruction.

For President Bush, the Iraqi war that had seemed to seal his popularity (and 2004 re-election) now threaten to become a liability. His approval ratings are back to the low 50s, where they were before the September 11 terrorist attacks, and a growing proportion of Americans tells pollsters the invasion was not worth it.

Mr Bush's Democratic challengers are increasingly critical of the war, and of how the administration used intelligence about Saddam Hussein's alleged illegal weapon programmes to justify it.

[Arkie2]

More gloom and doom from the press. What a crock.

[Dog]

Alleged WMD.......LOL!

I loathe the press..

[Satadru]

Bring it on!

[Joee]

I'm curious! Has anyone seen anything like a Arab body count resulting from US actions against the many, daily, ambushes being pulled on our troops. Surely they (the US troops) are shooting back and I would suspect aerial action is also taken against the enemy, but I have yet to see and US claims for arab KIA's, etc. Seems strange!

[What Is Ain't]

This is Robert Fisk's paper. He isn't known to shout "USA" very often.

[Nebullis]

Resistance? How about agitation, instigation, criminal unrest, or terrorism?

[Dog]

I heard a report today there are around 9,000 of the deadenders and we seem to be picking them up in sweeps all the time. This is being done by 2 or 3 man cells who pick the time and place they mount the attack.

You really can't defend against an enemy you don't see until after he sets off the roadside bomb and then strafes you with AK-47 fire..

[Congressman Billybob]

The writer of this piece is a geopolitical bigot and an historical moron. For an honest appraisal of the Iraq occupation which points out the parallels with the (extremely successful) occupation of German, post WW II, click below.

Congressman Billybob

Latest article, now up FR, "Sixteen Little Words."

[Sacajaweau]

I think the count on captures (detainees) were 1000 Iraqis during the last month. Haven't heard a total death or injured stat. Of course we have to consider Iraqis killing Iraqis also...these folks are CRAZY.

[KDD]

I don't think President Bushs dip in the polls have anything to do with the war. Because of current actions by the Republican House, it is my suspicion that the RNC has determined that the biggest threat to the Presidents popularity comes from a growing disatifaction with the Patriot Act and the provisions in it that are almost cerainly un-constitutional.

Ashcroft may be a liability.

[EternalVigilance]

Even more ominously for President Bush, it can only deliver another blow to the morale of soldiers deployed in an inhospitable and scorching hot country, and alarm a public opinion growing steadily more disenchanted with an operation whose costs are soaring and of which no end is in sight.

Wow.

In one sentence, the writer delivers his complete, omniscient knowledge of a)Military affairs, including the condition of the morale of all the American troops on the ground in Iraq b)the future of Iraq and the world c) the meteorological and geologic conditions of Iraq d) The complete opinion of the entirety of the American people e) The future of the war effort f) the condition of the balance sheets of the war effort g) the future costs of the liberation of Iraq h) President Bush's future political prospects.....

What a genius!

[PISANO]

Crap from the UK! Why bother to post this?

[mtbopfuyn]

Quagmire! Though it's very sad about these soldiers and their families, our troops are probably safer in Iraq than in any US city on a Saturday night with all the muggings, drive by shootings, and drunk drivers.

[KDD]

Excuse the poor spelling...previewed it.

Where are my reading glasses?

[blam]

"Though it's very sad about these soldiers and their families, our troops are probably safer in Iraq than in any US city on a Saturday night with all the muggings, drive by shootings, and drunk drivers."

Yup. During Gulf War 1, more military personnel (Worldwide) were killed in auto accidents than were killed in the war. I expect the same is true now.

[zarf]

This war. People die. I wish all the whiners would shut the f--k up.

[John Lenin]

W needs to speak to the American people and tell them he knew it wasn't going to be easy and that more lives will be lost but our credibility as a superpower is at stake, if we listen to Dean and pull out the troops it is the same thing as surrendering.

There seems to be a lack of leadership in this administration since the offical war ended, what the heck is going on here ?

[boris]

"W needs to speak to the American people and tell them he knew it wasn't going to be easy and that more lives will be lost but our credibility as a superpower is at stake, if we listen to Dean and pull out the troops it is the same thing as surrendering."

Personally I think that we should either (a) pull out and let the whole bloody mess collapse or (b) pull out all the stops and use the measures the Brits did during their colonial period.

Personally again, I am opposed to putting American soldiers at risk when all we need to do is bomb them back into the early stone age. Rebuilding? Whatever for?

And so if one American is killed, an entire village should be raised. If ten are killed, a mid-sized city should vanish from the face of the Earth.

Play it for real--hard ball folks--or don't play at all.

--Boris

[sgtbono2002]

The Author sounds elated that body bags are coming home.