Rumsfeld, Bush Deal With First Bad News Day (uhoh, this war is turning out to be an effing mess just like we warned them)
President Holds Impromptu Press Conference
By Terry M. Neal
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Sunday, March 23, 2003; 2:38 PM
washingtonpost.com
It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.
With the perils of war in Iraq becoming quickly evident, it appeared that the job of speaking to America and the world today about the progress of the attack would fall largely to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who came across like a tough, blunt grandfather breaking bad news to the kids.
While Rumsfeld and others had had warned of casualties, Americans awoke this morning to a series of negative news reports. Early dispatches included reports of American POWs being taken by Iraq, a friendly fire incident, and a U.S. soldier lobbing a grenade into the tent of one of his commanders. Quickly, it became apparent to the White House that President Bush needed to be out front. So administration officials, who just days ago were saying that the president would be staying mostly out of public view now that the war had begun, quickly scrapped that plan and made him available to reporters as he returned early from Camp David to the White House today.
Reporters typically gather outside when the president steps off of the helicopter when returning to the White House -- just in case. Nine times out of ten, he waves and walks away, while the din of swirling blades drowns out reporters' shouted questions. The first sign reporters had today that the president would be answering questions came when the pilots shut off the blades. Reporters and news crews quickly assembled for a rare, impromptu news conference.
"I am pleased with the progress that we are making in the early stages of the war to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction and to free the Iraqi people from the clutches of a brutal dictator," Bush said a little after 1 p.m. And he stressed that he expected American POWs to be treated humanely, just as Iraqi POWs are being treated.
Earlier, Rumsfeld's visage filled television screens, as he fielded questions from the networks' heavy hitters. In the now-classic Rumsfeld tone, the Secretary of Defense sought to quell public fears about a variety of topics, including reports of the first American prisoners of war being taken in Iraq and the potential complications caused by Turkish troops swooping down through northern Iraq potentially and adding troubling complications to American war plans.
Along the way, Rumsfeld -- who at turns was reassuring, combative and frank -- said the coalition still has no idea about the fate of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, and acknowledged that if he has survived, and had the desire to do so, he might be able to easily slip out of the country.
"There are -- we believe there are some American soldiers missing," Rumsfeld said in his first appearance of the day, on NBC's Meet the Press.
But more details began emerging through the morning, and by the time Rumsfeld appeared on CNN shortly after noon, the Arabic language Al Jazeera television network had aired images of the American POWs. CNN's Wolf Blitzer noted that the interview was being watched around the world, including Iraq, and asked the defense secretary what message he had for the Iraqi government officials holding the soldiers.
"That they treat those prisoners according to the Geneva Convention, just as we treat Iraqi prisoners according to the Geneva Convention," he said, nothing that the convention forbids governments from broadcasting images of POWs. "And further, I would say that they'd be well advised to put down their arms, follow the instructions that have been communicated, and act with honor and help liberate the Iraqi people from the vicious, repressive regime of Saddam Hussein. The outcome is clear."
Throughout at least three long appearances on morning news shows, Rumsfeld never wavered from that point -- that the outcome was clear -- and used the platform as a part of the larger U.S. military strategy of speaking directly to Iraqi soldiers about the inevitability of their demise if they seeek to resist the coalition forces by fighting for a dying regime.
The public relations strategy is interesting for a number of reasons. The Bush White House is generally thought of as one of the most disciplined administrations in modern history. And it achieves that discipline by tightly controlling information, carefully scripting messages and limiting the access of reporters. But the administration has agreed to unprecedented access to the military, with reporters "embedded" with virtually all of the general combat troops.
That access, combined with the continued expansion of round-the-clock, saturation news coverage, has created an environment closer to true, real-time news coverage than any war in history, even more so than the past two major conflicts in Kosovo and the 1991 Gulf War.
With the president holed up at Camp David meeting with Cabinet members and other national security team, Rumsfeld and to a lesser extent, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were thrust into the thick of it on Sunday, responding to news virtually as it happened.
For instance, on Meet the Press, host Tim Russert showed a video clip, apparently taken by an embedded news team with the 101st Airborne Division at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait, of a marine being carted away handcuffed moments after he allegedly lobbed a grenade into the tent of a commander.
"You know, it's interesting," Rumsfeld said after viewing the clip. "Here, we've permitted press people to be embedded, as they say, with the overwhelming majority of our elements -- air, land, and sea. And so what happens is, we see an image like that. Now, what occurred there, I don't know, and there's an investigation under way, and it's not for me as the secretary of defense to prejudge what took place." Russert followed up, asking whether there had been "been any judgment, determination made about the motive of that soldier?" Looking perturbed by what he considered a silly question, Rumsfeld responded, "Of course not. It just occurred."
After appearing on Meet the Press and CBS's Face the Nation, Rumsfeld took some time out to face the greater reportorial masses at a press conference, where he was asked, among other things, about the situation with Turkey. One reporter asked Rumsfeld what he thought about breaking news about the German government's efforts to keep Turkey out of Iraq.
"Was this step -- this diplomatic step a severe help for the American cause?" the reporter asked. "What do you think about the announcement to threaten Turkey?" Rumsfeld: "I've not seen the announcement."
Washington Post staff writer Mike Allen contributed to this report.
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