"The Iraqi people will be self-governing," said President George W. Bush during his Tuesday press conference. The situation in Iraq, he admitted, has been "tough." Remnants of Saddam's forces and other factions have instigated violence. "It is a power grab by extremist elements," said Bush. Most Iraqis oppose this violence. They want freedom.
The president said the troops would get whatever they needed to "assure the success of their historic mission." The deadline of June 30 for transferring power to Iraq's governing council must be kept. "We are not an imperialist power as Japan and Germany can attest," said the president. "America's objective in Iraq is limited." Iraq must assume responsibility for its own future.
The plan is to create a stable environment for the Iraqis to ratify a constitution that respects individual rights. "The success of freedom in Iraq is vital for many reasons," said the president. The idea is to build a government that will serve as a model and inspiration for the Arabs. "It is vital for the defeat of violence in the world," Bush explained. "It is [therefore] vital for the security of America." The people we are fighting in Iraq are inspired by the same "ideology of murder and killing" that inspired the train bombings in Madrid and the horror of September 11. These killers seek the death of Jews and Christians, and Muslims who want to live in peace. None of this is the work of a religion. It is the work of political ideology. "They seek weapons of mass destruction for murder and blackmail on a massive scale," said the president. Retreat or appeasement will only result in greater bloodshed. "In this conflict there is no safe alternative to resolute action."
Bush explained that abandoning Iraq was not an option: "Every friend of America [in Iraq] would be betrayed to prison and murder as a new tyranny rose, every enemy of America would celebrate, proclaiming our weakness and decadence to recruit a new generation of killers." The course ahead is dictated by circumstances. "Iraq will be a free, independent country," declared the president.
Then came questions from the press. The first reporter noted that April has been the bloodiest month since the fall of Baghdad. He suggested a comparison to Vietnam. "I think the analogy is false," replied the president. "It sends the wrong message to the troops. It sends the wrong message to the enemy."
A second reporter tore into the president's honesty. "Before the war, you and members of your administration made several claims about Iraq that U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators with sweets and flowers, that Iraqi oil revenue would pay for most of the reconstruction; and that Iraq not only had weapons of mass destruction, but as Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said, we know where they are. How do you explain to Americans how you got that so wrong? And how do you answer your opponents, who say that you took this nation to war on the basis of what have turned out to be a series of false premises?"
President Bush offered the following reply: "[T]he lesson of September the 11th is, when this nation sees a threat, a gathering threat, we've got to deal with it. We can no longer hope that oceans protect us from harm. Every threat we must take seriously. Saddam Hussein was a threat. He was a threat because he had used weapons of mass destruction on his own people. He was a threat because he coddled terrorists. He was a threat because he funded suiciders. He was a threat to the region. He was a threat to the United States. That's the assessment that I made from the intelligence, the assessment that Congress made from the intelligence; that's the exact same assessment that the United Nations Security Council made with the intelligence. I went to the U.N., as you might recall, and said, either you take care of him, or we will. Any time an American President says, if you don't, we will, we better be prepared to."
A third journalist asked, "Two-and-a-half years later, do you feel any sense of personal responsibility for September 11th?" A fourth journalist lit into the president: "One of the biggest criticisms of you is that whether it's WMD in Iraq, postwar planning in Iraq, or even the question of whether this administration did enough to ward off 9/11, you never admit a mistake. Is that a fair criticism? And do you believe there were any errors in judgment that you made related to any of those topics I brought up?" A fifth journalist stuck the president with a question about the controversial August 6th [2001] PDB. Another press corps piranha bit and ripped: "Two weeks ago, a former counter-terrorism official at the NSC, Richard Clarke, offered an unequivocal apology to the America people for failing them prior to 9/11. Do you believe the American people deserve a similar apology from you, and would you be prepared to give them one?" Then came a scarring nip from yet another press pool fish, referring to America's allies in Iraq as "window dressing," noting America's reliance on "private contractors" and "hired guns." Another nibbled with annoyance on the fact that President Bush would appear before the 9/11 Commission with Vice President Dick Cheney at his side. Another repeated the idea that the president allowed the terror threat to "mature too far." Another noted smugly that "increasing numbers of Americans have qualms" about the war, "and this is an election year. Will it have been worth it, even if you lose your job because of it?" The press pool was red. There was foam and fang. "After 9/11, what would your biggest mistake be ... and what lessons have you learned from it?" Another gash, another swirl of blood, and the next fish struck. "With public support for your policies in Iraq falling off the way they have - quite significantly over the past couple of months - I guess I'd like to know if you feel in any way that you've failed as a communicator on this topic?" The fish makes another pass, and takes another bite. "I guess I just wonder if you feel that you have failed in any way? You don't have many of these press conferences where you engage in this kind of exchange. Have you failed in any way to really make the case to the American public?"
The president did not take offense. He fought to find the right words. He was not always articulate. Yet he was steady, determined and sure of his position. The voters will make their decision next November, he said. "If I tried to fine-tune my message based on polls, I think I'd be pretty ineffective. I know I would be disappointed in myself." The president spoke of his strong feelings, his commitment to stay the course. He then posed a question to his American listeners: "Do we have an obligation to lead, or should we shirk responsibility? That's how I view this debate," he said.
The small piranha of the White House press pool did their thing on Tuesday evening. They will continue to do their thing during this election year. It is hard to say if the president was hurt by so many barbed questions, or whether the piranhas chomped themselves in their frenzy.
Only time will tell.
