Sept. 11 Attacks Likely to Shape Bush Campaign
reuters.com
Sun January 04, 2004 11:36 AM ET
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - George W. Bush's presidency was meandering along until the Sept. 11 attacks gave it a purpose, and his vigorous response drew world praise that fell apart over his invasion of Iraq.
Two wars after the attacks, Bush, 57, entered his re-election campaign facing a closely divided electorate, hopeful that signs of economic growth and his record in the war on terror would convince Americans to give him a second four-year term in November 2004.
Yet, he is leaving little to chance. His campaign plans to raise $170 million to defeat a Democratic rival. When asked how he would spend this staggering sum, he said, "Just watch!"
The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks created the most dramatic moments of the Bush presidency and put an everlasting mark on Bush, who walked and talked with a Texas swagger that belies his family's patrician East Coast roots.
Bush took office in January 2001 after a bitter, 36-day recount battle in Florida that was ultimately decided in his favor by the U.S. Supreme Court, even though Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote.
Americans, having seen Bush in action, were not all that impressed. He pushed through a big tax cut as promised but otherwise appeared to be coasting.
Caught out of town when the attacks brought down the World Trade Center twin towers and tore a gash from the Pentagon, killing about 3,000 people, Bush drew criticism for his initial, tentative response when he vowed "to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act."
He then took a circuitous route back to Washington aboard Air Force One while Vice President Dick Cheney was making decisions in an underground bunker.
It was not until Sept. 14 that the American people and the rest of the world would see another side to Bush, when he visited the smoking ruins of the twin towers in Manhattan, stepped up on a crumpled fire engine and addressed cheering police, firefighters and rescuers.
"I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon," he said.
GOOD VERSUS EVIL
The attacks were condemned around the world. On Oct. 7, 2001, Bush ordered U.S. forces into Afghanistan to dislodge the Taliban militia from control and to destroy the al Qaeda network blamed for the attacks.
Bush divided the world into those who were with the United States in its quest to destroy terrorism and those who were not, revealing the good-versus-evil worldview that has won him both ardent admirers and bitter enemies.
A devoted Christian who holds prayer meetings at the White House, Bush stressed the war on terrorism was not a war on Islam, although he angered Muslims by initially describing the coming U.S. response to the attacks as a "crusade."
A new sense of mission quickly transformed U.S. foreign policy, with Bush labeling Iraq, Iran and North Korea an "axis of evil" and announcing a pre-emptive strategy that would attack foes before they could become a threat.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden escaped a U.S.-British dragnet in Afghanistan and remains at large.
The attacks battered a U.S. economy already sagging from the bursting of the stock market bubble at the end of the eight-year Clinton administration.
As Bush entered 2004, job growth had so far failed to catch up with other leading economic indicators showing positive activity, and he faced the possibility of having more jobs lost on his watch than the much-reviled Herbert Hoover.
With the situation in Afghanistan seemingly under control, Bush turned his attention to the suspected threat posed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in late 2002, triggering a confrontation that would erode the international goodwill following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Bush argued the situation was urgent, that Iraq posed a grave and gathering danger and must be dealt with, in the context of what happened on Sept. 11. He built his case on intelligence that Iraq possessed dangerous weapons and was prepared to use them.
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised," he told Americans on March 17, 2003.
Another cause for enmity between Bush and Saddam was Saddam's 1993 assassination attempt against Bush's father, George Bush, who as president led a large coalition against Iraq over its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Saddam was someone "who tried to kill my dad," Bush once said.
U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq in March and by May 1 Bush felt confident enough of victory to don a flight suit, climb into the cockpit of a military jet and land aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier where, with a "Mission Accomplished" banner behind him, he declared major combat operations over in Iraq.
That turned out to be premature and U.S.-led forces soon faced a guerrilla insurgency that has killed scores of U.S. and allied troops. Many more have been wounded.
Bush drew fire for the administration's lack of preparation for the postwar era and for mounting casualties. Also, no solid evidence had been found of the weapons of mass destruction over which the war was fought.
IN FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS
Bush was the first presidential son since John Quincy Adams in 1825 to follow his father's footsteps into the White House.
For his first 45 years, Bush was not seen as presidential timber. Until elected governor of Texas in 1994, Bush was known as the undistinguished son of his distinguished father.
As governor, Bush proved to be cautious and pragmatic, willing to reach across party lines to build alliances with Democrats. He also benefited from an economic expansion that benefited Texas as well as the rest of the nation.
The eldest son of George and Barbara Bush, George Walker Bush was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1946. The family moved to Midland, an oil town in West Texas, in 1950.
After gaining a bachelor's degree from Yale, where he was a boisterous president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, Bush worked at several jobs, distinguishing himself in none.
He avoided service in Vietnam by enlisting in 1968 as a pilot in the Texas National Guard.
Bush gained an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1975. Two years later, he married Laura Welch, a librarian who became a steadying influence on him and an ally in his battle to quit alcohol. The couple have twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara. |
