4th Anniversary of the War On Iraq Time Capsule: March 15, 2003
| By Dave Harding, ProgressOhio - Mar 15th, 2007 at 10:38 am EDT |
On March 15, 2003 America's inevitable march to war continued. Consumer confidence, Bush's poll numbers and Tony Blair's standing abroad were down. The President's optimism and intransigence remained the same.
Bush digs in heels as consumer confidence dives.
As President Bush continues to resist entreaties from U.N. Security Council members to extend weapons inspections in Iraq, political experts told the Washington Post that Bush is under political pressure to finish the looming war quickly.
The administration continues to maintain that the desire for war is driven by concerns about the threat Iraqi President Saddam Hussein poses to the United States. But Republican and Democratic pollsters, economists and operatives said part of the urgency for Bush is tied to his political standing at home. They said the uncertainty related to the war is depressing consumer confidence and postponing the sort of robust economic recovery Bush will need to win reelection.
A Gallup poll this month showed Americans' confidence hit a seven-year low, with 36 percent satisfied with the country's direction and 61 percent dissatisfied.
It is a decline that began in December 2001. The ABC News-Money magazine's gauge of consumer confidence released this week showed that 23 percent of Americans thought the economy was in good shape, the fewest in more than nine years.
Two B-1 Bombers Employed In Iraq
In a notable escalation of the small-scale U.S. air war in Iraq, two Air Force B-1 bombers participated in an airstrike against two military sites in the western Iraqi desert yesterday. It marked the first time in more than four years that a heavy bomber has been used against Iraq.
The bombers hit two radar sites: One was a truck-mounted mobile anti-aircraft radar system, code-named "Flat Face," near the military air base in western Iraw; the other, operating near the Jordanian border, was a "Pluto" surveillance radar system.
The Pluto system is designed to detect low-flying aircraft out to about 65 miles, and so could detect U.S. military movements -- and especially helicopter flights -- in preparation for an attack.
Fed won't trim interest rates, despite slowdown
Despite recent gloomy economic news, Federal Reserve officials appear unlikely to cut interest rates when they meet Tuesday, according to analysts who follow the central bank closely.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and several of his colleagues believe the major factor holding back the economy is uncertainty about a war with Iraq. Such war fears have driven up world oil prices, curbed American consumers' buying power and made wary business executives less willing to hire workers or make new investments, the Fed officials believe.
At this point, with a final decision on war near, analysts said Fed policymakers will want to wait to see how the economy and financial markets react to the conflict before acting -- even though recent economic figures have generally been weak.
Yesterday, for example, the Fed reported that factory production fell 0.1 percent last month, on top of earlier reports showing drops in retail sales and the number of payroll jobs.
Bush Administration Prepares Vague, Postwar Plan
Senior Bush administration officials began to sketch their plans for a postwar Iraq, describing what the Washington Post called a "vaguely defined 'Iraqi Interim Authority' that would gradually take over responsibility for some government functions from the U.S. military. "
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice said the authority "would be a grouping of Iraqis who could exercise administrative and other authority on behalf of the Iraqi people as quickly as possible…. we are determined that almost from the very beginning, Iraqis will have their own future at hand. And they will be involved in their own future."
The exact role of the authority, when it would begin to take over government functions, and who would be part of it are still to be determined, according to other senior administration officials. But they did suggest that in running a postwar Iraqi economy, the U.S. plans to substitute U.S. dollars for the Iraqi currency that bears a likeness of President Saddam Hussein.
Rising Forces of Faith Prompt Fears in Iraq
From the Washington Post's Foreign Service:
Under the shadows of shimmering white crosses stretching like a rampart along his Baghdad neighborhood, Nabil Jamil fumbled his keys as if they were worry beads.
With the nostalgia that so dominates Iraq, he recalled the days in the 1970s when President Saddam Hussein's Baath Party kept religion out of political life, delivering a measure of space to the country's religious minorities. The veil was an uncommon sight in Baghdad back then, bars flourished in some neighborhoods and the government appealed to a secular Arab identity that it hoped would arch over the country's tapestry of faith and ethnicity.
Glumly, Jamil said he fears less and less of that tolerance remains.
On the eve of an expected war, religious sentiment is overshadowing the secularism that once defined Iraq. Through speeches, symbols and slogans, Hussein's government has increasingly turned to Islam in its search for legitimacy, playing down the Arab nationalism that once served as its ideology.
The forces of faith, Jamil said, are a wild card in the future of an apprehensive country, shaping the fears of what might come after a war.
"To be honest, this is our biggest worry from the attack that is coming," he said, sitting with his wife at the St. George Greek Catholic Church in the neighborhood of Karrada. "Our fear is that whatever comes next will not be tolerant."
New Poll Shows Divisions and Doubt Over War
As war looms, Americans are split and largely ambivalent about President Bush's plans to launch a preemptive invasion off Iraq without international support, according to a Zogby International poll.
A slight and growing majority backs the president's policy, but a substantial minority remains uneasy or intensely opposed.
Republican white, male Gen Xers tend to be the most gung-ho for the president's plans. Senior citizens are more wary.
The youngest adults -- those of average soldier age, from 18 to 24, who were once among the president's strongest backers -- now appear evenly divided.
Those approaching middle age are most inclined to follow the president into war.
The Poll found that the president's policy is backed by 89 percent of Republican men but only 34 percent of Democratic women. Whites favored it by 63 percent; non-whites by 35 percent.
Brit's want "Bush's Poodle'' Kept on a Leash
Tony Blair has been called "Bush's poodle" for supporting the war, but he might be headed to the pound less he saves himself.
An editorial in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called Blair's " devotion to the cause is as fanatical as that of the founders of the curious policy of America the Bully.''
The editorial noted, "Blair has the support of just 19 percent of the British people for military action against Saddam Hussein, a third of his party voted against him in Parliament, and one member of his Cabinet is threatening to resign and another is said to be "considering his position."
Blair's reputation for being rational is on the chopping block, too. He was the Laborite who persuaded the party to be the voice of moderation and reason. But his fealty to the policy of America-right-or-wrong has led to transports about the need for action and declarations that Britain would go after Hussein if the United States didn't.''
Visit War and Remembrance
Bush digs in heels as consumer confidence dives.
As President Bush continues to resist entreaties from U.N. Security Council members to extend weapons inspections in Iraq, political experts told the Washington Post that Bush is under political pressure to finish the looming war quickly.
The administration continues to maintain that the desire for war is driven by concerns about the threat Iraqi President Saddam Hussein poses to the United States. But Republican and Democratic pollsters, economists and operatives said part of the urgency for Bush is tied to his political standing at home. They said the uncertainty related to the war is depressing consumer confidence and postponing the sort of robust economic recovery Bush will need to win reelection.
A Gallup poll this month showed Americans' confidence hit a seven-year low, with 36 percent satisfied with the country's direction and 61 percent dissatisfied.
It is a decline that began in December 2001. The ABC News-Money magazine's gauge of consumer confidence released this week showed that 23 percent of Americans thought the economy was in good shape, the fewest in more than nine years.
Two B-1 Bombers Employed In Iraq
In a notable escalation of the small-scale U.S. air war in Iraq, two Air Force B-1 bombers participated in an airstrike against two military sites in the western Iraqi desert yesterday. It marked the first time in more than four years that a heavy bomber has been used against Iraq.
The bombers hit two radar sites: One was a truck-mounted mobile anti-aircraft radar system, code-named "Flat Face," near the military air base in western Iraw; the other, operating near the Jordanian border, was a "Pluto" surveillance radar system.
The Pluto system is designed to detect low-flying aircraft out to about 65 miles, and so could detect U.S. military movements -- and especially helicopter flights -- in preparation for an attack.
Fed won't trim interest rates, despite slowdown
Despite recent gloomy economic news, Federal Reserve officials appear unlikely to cut interest rates when they meet Tuesday, according to analysts who follow the central bank closely.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and several of his colleagues believe the major factor holding back the economy is uncertainty about a war with Iraq. Such war fears have driven up world oil prices, curbed American consumers' buying power and made wary business executives less willing to hire workers or make new investments, the Fed officials believe.
At this point, with a final decision on war near, analysts said Fed policymakers will want to wait to see how the economy and financial markets react to the conflict before acting -- even though recent economic figures have generally been weak.
Yesterday, for example, the Fed reported that factory production fell 0.1 percent last month, on top of earlier reports showing drops in retail sales and the number of payroll jobs.
Bush Administration Prepares Vague, Postwar Plan
Senior Bush administration officials began to sketch their plans for a postwar Iraq, describing what the Washington Post called a "vaguely defined 'Iraqi Interim Authority' that would gradually take over responsibility for some government functions from the U.S. military. "
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice said the authority "would be a grouping of Iraqis who could exercise administrative and other authority on behalf of the Iraqi people as quickly as possible…. we are determined that almost from the very beginning, Iraqis will have their own future at hand. And they will be involved in their own future."
The exact role of the authority, when it would begin to take over government functions, and who would be part of it are still to be determined, according to other senior administration officials. But they did suggest that in running a postwar Iraqi economy, the U.S. plans to substitute U.S. dollars for the Iraqi currency that bears a likeness of President Saddam Hussein.
Rising Forces of Faith Prompt Fears in Iraq
From the Washington Post's Foreign Service:
Under the shadows of shimmering white crosses stretching like a rampart along his Baghdad neighborhood, Nabil Jamil fumbled his keys as if they were worry beads.
With the nostalgia that so dominates Iraq, he recalled the days in the 1970s when President Saddam Hussein's Baath Party kept religion out of political life, delivering a measure of space to the country's religious minorities. The veil was an uncommon sight in Baghdad back then, bars flourished in some neighborhoods and the government appealed to a secular Arab identity that it hoped would arch over the country's tapestry of faith and ethnicity.
Glumly, Jamil said he fears less and less of that tolerance remains.
On the eve of an expected war, religious sentiment is overshadowing the secularism that once defined Iraq. Through speeches, symbols and slogans, Hussein's government has increasingly turned to Islam in its search for legitimacy, playing down the Arab nationalism that once served as its ideology.
The forces of faith, Jamil said, are a wild card in the future of an apprehensive country, shaping the fears of what might come after a war.
"To be honest, this is our biggest worry from the attack that is coming," he said, sitting with his wife at the St. George Greek Catholic Church in the neighborhood of Karrada. "Our fear is that whatever comes next will not be tolerant."
New Poll Shows Divisions and Doubt Over War
As war looms, Americans are split and largely ambivalent about President Bush's plans to launch a preemptive invasion off Iraq without international support, according to a Zogby International poll.
A slight and growing majority backs the president's policy, but a substantial minority remains uneasy or intensely opposed.
Republican white, male Gen Xers tend to be the most gung-ho for the president's plans. Senior citizens are more wary.
The youngest adults -- those of average soldier age, from 18 to 24, who were once among the president's strongest backers -- now appear evenly divided.
Those approaching middle age are most inclined to follow the president into war.
The Poll found that the president's policy is backed by 89 percent of Republican men but only 34 percent of Democratic women. Whites favored it by 63 percent; non-whites by 35 percent.
Brit's want "Bush's Poodle'' Kept on a Leash
Tony Blair has been called "Bush's poodle" for supporting the war, but he might be headed to the pound less he saves himself.
An editorial in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called Blair's " devotion to the cause is as fanatical as that of the founders of the curious policy of America the Bully.''
The editorial noted, "Blair has the support of just 19 percent of the British people for military action against Saddam Hussein, a third of his party voted against him in Parliament, and one member of his Cabinet is threatening to resign and another is said to be "considering his position."
Blair's reputation for being rational is on the chopping block, too. He was the Laborite who persuaded the party to be the voice of moderation and reason. But his fealty to the policy of America-right-or-wrong has led to transports about the need for action and declarations that Britain would go after Hussein if the United States didn't.''
Visit War and Remembrance
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