WP (Milbank): For Bush,* an Election-Year Powder Keg

[kskiska]

By Dana Milbank and Robin Wright

The terrorists probably did not plan yesterday's attacks on Iraqi Shiites to coincide with the American electoral festival of Super Tuesday. But the timing is an apt reminder that this year's presidential election is likely to be shaped by events the Bush administration cannot control.

Vice President Cheney, in a trio of interviews with cable news outlets yesterday, brushed off the attacks as a sign of "desperation" among U.S. foes -- a response the administration has used for other bloody setbacks in Iraq. But administration officials also acknowledge that there is little that can be done to stop the attacks and that such violence is likely to worsen as power is transferred to Iraqis on June 30.

That raises the danger for President Bush that the public will come to see the attacks not as an inevitable side effect of democratic progress in Iraq but as the unraveling of the nearly year-old U.S. occupation there -- the main foreign enterprise of the Bush presidency. With the presidential election looming, Bush needs to show by this fall that democracy is waxing in Iraq and violence is waning.

The administration's critics say more violence like yesterday's would discredit Bush's promise to stabilize Iraq. "Iraq goes directly to Bush's main vulnerability -- credibility," said Henri J. Barkey, a former State Department official during the Clinton administration who now teaches at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. He added: "Each bombing adds to the disenchantment of the American public and forces people to question whether this was worth it."

(snip)

Even as the world digested news of yesterday's bombings, the administration continued with its efforts to demonstrate progress in Iraq. The Pentagon released an "Iraq Fact of the Day" announcing: "Thousands of children throughout Iraq will soon be able to participate in an Iraqi Boy Scout and Girl Scout program."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24349-2004Mar2.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Maybe "thousands of orphans"

would be more appropriate in this "Iraq Fact of the Day:
"Thousands of children throughout Iraq will soon be able to participate in an Iraqi Boy Scout and Girl Scout program."

Maybe their neighbors can find bits of cloth resembling little uniforms for them.

What fun.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. The Cost

By 6/30/2004:

$500 billion (direct, DoD, incidental, black-budget and off-budget costs)
600 coalition troops killed
5000 coalition troops wounded
? Iraqis killed or wounded

But we get the oil, don't we?

--bkl

[Tom Kitten]

3. Interesting spin...

Gee all these bombings and dead people might be seen as a sign of danger for the Bush administration! Oh, the horror of it all! Who would have thunk it?

Since when did the 5 w's of journalism become the 4 w's? When did "why" become a taboo question for investigation? As in, "why" are things the way they are now in Iraq, and "why" does the administration consider this operation a "success", and "why" are we told the danger from terrorism is still ever present?

And that's just for starters...

[Stephanie]

4. "Bush's main vulnerability -- credibility"

Bears repitition.

[Disturbed]

5. WMDs

Wasn't that the reason given for the illegal attack of a sovereign country? Since none have been found isn't that reason suspect? Is not an ivestigation warrented that actually produces true answers something that is owed to the American people ASAP?