Hard Sell on Iraq: "'Americans must not forget the lessons of Sept. 11,' said Mr. Bush, in a reprise of his administration's compulsion to somehow link Iraq to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. 'A stable and democratic and hopeful Iraq will no longer be a breeding ground for terror, tyranny and aggression.'
The timing of the president's comments was unfortunate. Even as he was speaking, reports were coming in about a series of tragic occurrences. A pair of suicide bombers killed eight Iraqis and themselves in an attack at a police station in Baghdad. An American soldier was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his convoy in an area northeast of Baghdad. And an intelligence agent assigned to the Spanish Embassy in Baghdad was chased from his home wearing just his undershorts before being shot to death in cold blood in the street.
Despite the carnage, the American administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, did his best for the public relations initiative. He is optimistic, he said. Things are going better than anyone could have predicted, he said.
Selling a misguided war is a lot like selling cigarettes. You can never tell the tragic truth about your product. "
- posted by geoff @ #