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Heading Towards September 11
// George Bush Sends a Letter to Bin Laden as Republicans Begin Pre-Election PR Campaign
On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, US President George Bush had a new definitive take on the war on terror. According to the White House, the administration, in a decisive turning point in the war, has dealt al-Qaeda a crippling blow. The President's public relations campaign is targeted at countering increasingly sharp criticism from the Democrats and the dissatisfaction expressed by Americans at the progress of the war on terror. The main goal of the Republicans' counteroffensive is the safe-guarding of their majority in the House of Representatives in the upcoming congressional elections in November. Dmitry Sidorov, Kommersant's correspondent in Washington, has the details.
On Tuesday morning, journalists in the American capital discovered in their e-mail the bylaws of the international terrorist organization al-Qaeda, as well as a text of conversations between Osama bin Laden, the organization's leader, and Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Attached to these "seditious documents," which were also received by Kommersant's correspondent, was a letter from the White House. The letter explained that these materials would later be analyzed in a speech by President Bush before members of the Military Officers association of America.
The text released on Tuesday of the President's speech abounds in references to the "primary sources of terrorism," a focus that sets this speech apart from President Bush's numerous previous speeches and public announcements addressing the problem of terrorism. In a lengthy discourse on the genesis of modern terrorism, Mr. Bush called today's terrorists the "heirs of fascists, Nazis, and communists," for the first time seeking to equate the war on terror with the struggle in WWII against totalitarian regimes. Having reminded the American veterans of that war that the struggle with international terrorism will be a long battle, Bush, with his characteristic optimism, promised that an American victory is inevitable. The main conclusion of Bush's speech, meant as a summing-up of the work done in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was "America has become better protected against terrorism."
That same day, President Bush promulgated a revamped doctrine that was first introduced in the "War on Terror" in 2003. In practice, his latest retooling contains little that is new, with the exception of the thesis that al-Qaeda has weakened significantly over the last few years. However, the organization has managed to spread its ideology across the globe, where it has been taken up by other terrorist groups that otherwise have little in common with each other. It is these organizations, says Bush, that now present the greatest threat to the United States and to the rest of the Western world.
Bush's speech before members of the Military Officers Association and the unveiling of his revamped doctrine were accompanied by energetic attempts by the administration to demonstrate the groundlessness of the accusations being leveled by the Democrats. On Tuesday members of the press were invited to the White House for discussions with White House press secretary Tony Snow and Frances Townsend, assistant to the President for homeland security and counterterrorism. While Ms. Townsend was concerned with directing the attention of the press to the principle tenets of Bush's speech, Mr. Snow seemed to be charged with repudiating a letter from congressional Democratic minority leaders that was sent to the White House on Monday, as well as protecting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld from new attacks by the Democrats.
In their letter, ten leading representatives of the Democratic minority in Congress suggested to President Bush that he begin the withdrawal of troops from Iraq before the end of this year, use the American military presence in the country to prepare Iraqi forces for the war on terror, actively work with the government of Iraq to disarm militant groups, and create an international confederation to support political normalization in Iraq. The White House's answer to these suggestions, which was given by Tony Snow, was brisk: "The administration has already long been working on three of the four points mentioned," he said, indirectly accusing the Democrats of plagiarism and of failing to provide their own real plan for the normalization of Iraq.
It took Mr. Snow little time to set the journalists straight on the matter of the possible removal of Mr. Rumsfeld from the position of Defense Secretary. "That won't happen. Making a scapegoat out of Mr. Rumsfeld for political reasons probably isn't a bad idea, but strategically it would be a big mistake," he said.
The President's latest PR campaign, launched to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorists attacks, is also preparation for the November congressional elections. As has already been often commented upon, the loss of the Republican majority in even one of the two chambers of Congress would be the beginning of the end for the current administration. If they get a majority in either the House or the Senate, the Democrats will be in a position to block legislative initiatives from the Bush White House. As sources close to the White House told Kommersant, the Bush administration is paying close attention to the changing mood of voters across America. The most recent polls augured an ill wind for the Republicans. In the results of a poll by CNN released on Tuesday, the majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the course of events in their country: 29% said that things in the US are going "badly," and 25% said that things are going "very badly." In contrast, only 37% shared the opinion that everything is "normal," and only 9% considered the situation in America to be "good."
In the difficult political situation facing the Republicans, PR managers in the White House have fallen back on the tried and true strategy that has yet to fail the Bush administration and the Republican Party: a reminder of the ongoing war on terror.
Dmitry Sidorov
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 07, 2006
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