A late morning live news conference with President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister al-Jaafari just took place, attempting to present a united and optimistic front before the American public. Iraqi Prime Minister al-Jaafari read a statement that was almost word-for-word what Cheney recited yesterday during an interview with Wolf Blitzer, i.e. they said we would not defeat Saadam – we did. They said there would never be a sovereign Iraq – there is. They said we would never capture Saadam – we did. They said there would never be free elections – there were, etc. If they don’t want their puppet al-Jaafari to sound like a puppet, shouldn’t they at least give him a fresh text to read, one that does not mimic Cheney word for word?
The press corps was tepid as usual in their questions. The Downing Street Memos, while still exhibiting a half-life on the internet, are dissipating quickly in the mainstream media. Therefore, there were no questions regarding the legality/illegality of the Iraq invasion and occupation. No one asked President Bush about the divisive statements of his presidential advisor, Karl Rove, and why, in a supposed time of war, a spokesman for the Whitehouse would be instigating domestic political warfare. Of course, we already know the answer to the latter: this was another “pearl harbor scenario” of surprise political attack causing outrage and confusion, but also diffusing the issues under scrutiny. And notice the difference between their “controversial” attacks and those from Democrats. All of their team lines up behind the messenger. The Democrats caved in on Senator Durbin, when, in fact, they should have supported his charges and taken the implicit message in those words to the next level of outrage against the torture techniques that have been employed at Gitmo and elsewhere, and against the policy of extraordinary rendition.
Rove’s comments were the first shots fired in a new Administration initiative to re-sell and recast the Iraq war and occupation to the American public. Prior to the invasion of Iraq, the Republicans accused anti-war activists and anyone who even questioned the reasons behind the war planning of being unpatriotic at best and traitors at worst. This kind of lugubrious slander is diversionary in its tactic, a version of divide and conquer, and succeeds by being buoyed with a united front of propagandists who keep jabbing the wound causing a reactionary Left and the observing American public to lose sight of the issues that are adversely affecting the Administration. Witness the latest alignment of support for Rove’s statements:
A White House official said Friday the administration finds it ``somewhat puzzling'' that Democrats are demanding presidential adviser Karl Rove's apology or resignation for implying that liberals are soft on terrorism. ``I think Karl was very specific, very accurate, in who he was pointing out,'' communications director Dan Bartlett said. ``It's touched a chord with these Democrats. I'm not sure why.'' Congressional Republicans earlier joined the White House in standing solidly behind Rove, saying he shouldn't apologize and that he was outlining a philosophical divide between a president who sought to win the war on terrorism by taking the fight to the enemy and Democrats who questioned that approach.
The Durbin fiasco illustrates the impotence of a Left that lacks political and intellectual conviction, voice, and go-for-the-jugular determination. Now, we have Bush and al-Jaafari getting a national audience, a chance to espouse conviction and a positive description of events in Iraq, albeit a fallacious description, and state their case emphatically:
President Bush assured Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on Friday ''there are not going to be any timetables'' for withdrawal of American forces and vowed victory over insurgents attempting to prevent establishment of a democratic government under a new constitution. ''This is not the time to fall back,'' al-Jaafari concurred at a joint news conference at the White House.
Except for a few self-serving moderate Democrats, like Joe Biden, no one in the Democratic party, and certainly not the party as a group, is talking about Iraq with a clear voice of opposition to the Administrations current policies, never mind discussing the consequences of yielding to the illegal manipulations of Bush and the neo-cons who went to war based on lies. Where are the senators who should be pushing for hearings on the Downing Street Memos, and who should be relentlessly pursuing the manifold illegal actions of this Administration prior to going to the U.N.? News conferences like the one today, remarks like Rove’s, and Cheney’s rare appearance in a MSM interview, albeit with a supplicant like Blitzer, will succeed in deflecting the DSM’s and all of the relevant documentation of the illegal selling of this war unless the Democrats bring this to the forefront immediately.
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