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PRESIDENT George W Bush -- on a campaign trail -- told cheering supporters in Iowa that the lessons he learnt from the 9/11 occurance had induced him to dislodge Saddam Hossain from power in Iraq, never to allow any threat against America to fester or to allow the allies to dissuade him from employing force to quash the threats. He was emphatic in restating that he would never turn over America's national security decision to the leaders of other countries.
He beseeched his supporters to give him four more years at the White House to put the finishing touches to the job he had begun after 9/11. He promised the people that the next four years will be peaceful. He has been repeating the words peace and peaceful over and over again in his stump (ordinary speeches delivered at the election rallies) speeches. He said no one wants to go down in history as a war president. I want to be a peace president, he said.
Bush who has routinely taken rest in his Texas ranch in the month of August in the past few years he has been in the White House would not do so this year.He would instead barnstorm the country enlisting support for his re-election. He has planned a month long offensive which will be a blend of the criticism of his Democratic Party opponent and unveiling of plans in the coming four years. Bush, campaign team is shifting the accent to assuage the fear of the Republicans about the propspect of president Bush and the concern expressed about the hard-edged and expensive campaign waged over past six months which has not inflicted as much damage on Democratic Party as was expected. George W Bush's approval rating, at this point of time in an election year, which has been a reliable indicator of an incumbent’s chances for reelection, has dipped down to less than 50 per cent. The Republicans are loudly saying this has put the president in the danger zone.
The next few days could be uncomfortable for the president. The federal commission investigating 9/11 attacks would put the blame on the Bush White House. The commission will place its report on Thursday. John Kerry on the other hand will get a good press as he would formally accept his party's nomination to be held in Boston at the end of the month. A professor at the Georgetown University said of Bush: "He is in a heap of problems. I dont think the economy is really surging enough to put him back and the public has a negative view about Iraq". Some polls are showing that the Republicans are losing their advantage on national security issues. President Bush is of course stating that America is much safer now than before.
The Kerry campaign team suffered a minor setback as Samual R. Berger, national security adviser to president Clinton resigned who was closely associated with the Democratic Party campaign team accepting responsibility for removing classified documents on terrorism from a secure government reading room. Berger who was seen as the secretary of state in a Kerry White House admitted removing papers but said it was an honest mistake. The decision came after Berger faced withering criticism from the Republicans. The Republicans also take solace from the fact the federal commission would hold president Clinton more responsible than George Bush for failing to prevent the terrorist attacks on the soil of America. Clinton was president for eight years while the 9/11 attacks took place during the eighth month of Bush presidency. The report would however show that the Clinton and Bush administrations made serious errors in dealing with the threat of Al-Qaeda and that president Bush and his team did not give adequate attention to the warngings of the attack by the intelligence agencies.
The commission's suggestion for the creation of a cabinet level position of the national security director has been met with skepticism at the Congress. The officials at the CIA have opposed the idea. The White House is however open to review the recommendations. Many feel nothing substantive will take place by creating a new post excepting adding a new layer to the bueacracy. Across the Atlantic, Tony Blair, British prime minister and the staunchest US ally, his defended decision to wage war against Iraq. Blair said there was little doubt and it was absolutely clear that Saddam Hossain was preparing to build and stockpile illicit WMD. The allegations of Iraq possessing WMD and links with Al-Qaeda -- two major premises for invading Iraq by Anglo-American alliance -- have not yet been established. The leader of the conservative opposition accused Blair of not being straight with the British people and of ' serial ignorance'.
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