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<<Bush Pleased but W.House Says U.S. Still at War
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By Patricia Wilson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House called scenes of joyful Iraqis welcoming U.S. troops in Baghdad on Wednesday and toppling a huge statue of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) an historic moment but warned Americans against "leaping too far ahead."
As the pictures played out on television screens in the executive mansion, President Bush (news - web sites) kept a low profile and the watchword was caution.
"At this given moment in time ... we are still in the midst of a shooting war," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said.
There was no sign of celebration. Fleischer said he did not know if Bush had yet seen the pictures of jubilant crowds swarming into Baghdad streets, looting and defacing images of the Iraqi president, but that he had been briefed about them.
The president, who has no planned public appearances on Wednesday, stuck to his announced schedule of discussing the war and domestic issues over breakfast with congressional leaders. They left without speaking to reporters.
Later, Bush met President Rudolf Schuster of Slovakia, whose country has sent non-combat troops specializing in chemical warfare decontamination to Iraq (news - web sites).
Aides in the White House press office watched spellbound as Iraqis toppled a giant statue of Saddam Hussein in the heart of Baghdad and dragged its head through the streets.
"Clearly the scenes that people are watching on television now are heartening signs of military progress and mankind's taste for freedom and the Iraq people's yearning to be free," Fleischer said. "It's an historic moment."
Bush's rationale for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq had shifted perceptibly in recent weeks from disarmament to liberation. He spoke more and more of the brutalities of the Saddam regime and less and less about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. There have been no confirmed findings of banned arms so far.
'POWERFUL TESTAMENT'
"Freedom's taste is unquenchable," Fleischer told reporters. "I mean, this is a powerful testament to mankind's desire to live free and that includes, of course, the Iraqi people, as the president always said it would."
But he said Bush also wanted to make the point that what Americans were seeing on television in parts of Baghdad "is only that, one section of Baghdad" and that other sections and other places remained risky for U.S. armed forces.
"I want to urge caution on leaping too far ahead. There are still cities in Iraq that are under regime control and what you are watching on television is only that which the lens can see at that given moment," Fleischer said.
A senior U.S. official said Bush was heartened by continuing good military reports from the field but he added, "As well as things have gone, this is still a military mission and therefore lives are still at stake."
Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, told ABC's "Good Morning America" program, "It's clear that the end is very much in sight and today I think Americans should be very proud of their leadership, of their technology, but most of all the men and women in the military."
The senior official also warned Iraq's neighbors against harboring Saddam or his top aides.
Asked about reports that efforts were under way to smuggle a badly wounded Saddam and his son Uday into Syria, he said: "No go. He had his opportunity to leave the country and he didn't take it."
"We don't know if he's alive or dead," the official added.
A CIA (news - web sites) official said it was not known whether Saddam and his sons had survived an attack on Monday in which a B-1 bomber dropped four 2,000-pound (900-kg) bombs on a building in the Baghdad district of Mansur. |
