An Indelible Moment in A War and Presidency [Washington Post]

truthisfreedom

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri Nov-28-03 02:18 PM
Original message

An Indelible Moment in A War and Presidency [Washington Post]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17520-2003Nov27.html

An Indelible Moment in A War and Presidency

By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 28, 2003; Page A01

Three images tell the story of George W. Bush's presidency.

The first, of Bush and bullhorn atop the rubble at New York's Ground Zero on Sept. 14, 2001, came to symbolize his transformation into a powerful wartime president. The second, of Bush in flight suit with "Mission Accomplished" banner aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, became the symbol of Bush's unrealized optimism about the U.S. military's victory in Iraq.
<snip>

While the troops cheered the moment, it is too soon to know whether the image of Bush in his Army jacket yesterday will become a symbol of strong leadership or a symbol of unwarranted bravado.

<snip>

But one thing is certain. Bush's Thanksgiving Day surprise ties him, for better or worse, ever more tightly to the outcome of the Iraq struggle.
"It raises the stakes," said Rich Bond, a former head of the Republican Party. "When you're playing poker and somebody is coming at you, a great way to deter them is to raise the stakes. George Bush just placed his stature in an extraordinary way to reassert his commitment to Iraq."

<snip>
In contrast to Bush's carrier landing, which they immediately branded a stunt, Bush's critics yesterday did not begrudge him the trip to Iraq, nor the necessary secrecy, nor even the disinformation the White House used to lead people to believe he would be at home on his ranch in Texas all day. Rather, they said the visit may come to reinforce their view that the administration has led the United States into a lonely occupation of Iraq without an obvious exit strategy.

Bush's entourage was fitted with ballistic vests, and the plane came in with neither running lights nor cabin lights, parking on a dark landing strip. "The message to the Iraqis is Bush doesn't think their country is secure," said Sidney Blumenthal, a former adviser to Clinton. "It underscores the insecurity, and it conveys insularity."
Chris Lehane, a strategist for retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark's presidential campaign, said Democrats would not fault Bush for visiting the troops.
"It's absolutely appropriate to be honoring our soldiers overseas in battle on a day like Thanksgiving," he said. "It's more important to honor them every day, which includes allowing us to appropriately honor the heroes who come back in caskets and giving our troops a strategy so they're not there next Thanksgiving."

<snip>

The visit's impact on U.S. public opinion and on the Iraqi public is not yet knowable. Though it will be to history to judge whether this third major image of Bush's presidency will become shorthand for a failed occupation or a successful war, both supporters and critics yesterday said it was appropriate to make a holiday visit to the soldiers he sent to battle -- and to bind further his political fortunes to the outcome of the mission in Iraq.

<snip>

Staff writer Vernon Loeb contributed to this report.