WP: Attack Shows the Limits of U.S. Control

[kskiska]

Wednesday, August 20, 2003; Page A01

President Bush declared yesterday that "the civilized world will not be intimidated" by the bombers who destroyed the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. He said the U.S. administration would persevere in Iraq even as the difficulties in securing the country appeared greater than ever.

Asserting that Iraq is on an "irreversible course" toward peace, Bush denounced the attackers as terrorists who "have again shown their contempt for the innocent. They showed their fear of progress and their hatred of peace." They will not, he said, determine Iraq's future.

Yet the deadly attack, which killed at least 17 people, including chief U.N. representative Sergio Vieira de Mello, illustrated the limits of U.S. control over Iraq at a moment when U.S. forces are increasingly threatened and the administration has no quick way to deliver safety to diplomats, foreign workers or Iraqis.

It was one of the most troubling days for the White House since Saddam Hussein's government fell four months ago. First came the explosion that tore into the U.N. offices. It was followed within hours by a suicide bus bombing in Jerusalem that killed at least 18 and raised fresh obstacles to Bush's ambition to bring peace to the Middle East.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17367-2003Aug19.html

[opihimoimoi]

1. Clearly the Bush Gang has little clue as how to proceed.

All they have done no matter where is to stir the Hornets Nests(Yellow Jackets kine). Lately, they have added Fire Ants and Killer Bee nests too.

Its one big mess and its not gonna go away anytime soon. Bush is in a fix. He cannot move. He stays, the biys die, he moves out, he lose face.

Bad Boys Bad Boys, whatcha gonna do?

In this case, sempuku might be considered but don betcha life on it.

[QuietStorm]

2. they do seem at a loss considering this was such a piece a cake

at the start with the boys home by the fourth of july. Can't say there will be any hope of the US being "paper tigers" again and just bringing the boys on home. Is there? Nope can't say there is.

should have never started out with that word crusade. Looks like they got much more than they asked for. Time to check back on Saudia Arabia in the news see if anything new has come up regarding the Saudi's reigning on ALQ. At an interesting bit of counter play we got going on.

[maggrwaggr]

3. it was those pictures of Saddam as Elvis that did it

I guess that really DID piss him off

[diamond14]

4. the spin from the chimp-cabal is making my head hurt...how can

shrub even suggest that this will make the UN more determined to stay in Iraq, and other countries more determined to join the USA...

IMHO, it seems that NOBODY wants to help us in this mess...

Kofi Annan got duped by shrub into believing that the situation was SAFE for UN diplomats...we'll hear today from Kofi what the UN will do now...I'm thinking Kofi might suggest that UN will wait until shrub can stabilize the situation, and it could be a LONG, LONG wait...

can't imagine that anyone will be MORE anxious to help us and get their young guys blown up, instead of ours...those idiots in Crawford have been sitting in the hot sun too long, drinking and drugging too much...the USA is going to be even more alone in this boondoogle...