re: re:yidsrus: to the anti-war brigade.... Simple philosophy to...

re: re:yidsrus: to the anti-war brigade.... Simple philosophy to invert the truth and exaggerate.

Bush spin doctor is recalled in bid to control news
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
21 March 2003


George Bush has recalled Karen Hughes, his longtime close political adviser, to help shape his administration's tightly controlled communications strategy for the war against Iraq.

The decision is being seen as further proof of how an administration that is secretive and virtually leak-proof even in normal times is circling the wagons even closer. A typical example was yesterday's stern warning to journalists by Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, not to divulge information that might help the enemy.

That message is that President Saddam, not Mr Bush, is responsible for the war; that it is a war to disarm a country which is "a grave danger to the world", as Mr Bush declared on Wednesday; that President Saddam is armed to the teeth with chemical and biological weapons (and soon, according to Vice-President Dick Cheney, nuclear weapons as well); and that the "liberation" of Iraq will shine as a beacon of hope throughout the Middle East.

The mantra is repeated daily by Ari Fleischer, Mr Bush's notably uncommunicative spokesman. But Washington has been caught bending the truth already, most notably over Saddam Hussein's links with al-Qa'ida, and the forged document purporting to show that Iraq had bought uranium from Niger. Similar doubts surround American claims yesterday that oil fields near Basra had been set on fire, an allegation disputed by eyewitnesses.

Above all though, the return to the colours of Ms Hughes, a veteran of the Bush campaigns of 1994, 1998 and 2000, is evidence of how thoughts are already beginning to turn to 2004 – though no Bush aide would admit as much. President Bush's chances of a second term hinge on the war – not so much on its ultimate outcome, but on how quickly and with how few casualties, both Iraqi and American, that objective is achieved.