November – December 2002.   Plenty of funny business behind the scenes, and the president publicly insistent on the need for war in statements at every venue. Every occasion becomes a forum in the campaign for war with Iraq. The atmosphere cools down somewhat, with the D.C. snipers arrested, the elections past and the holidays approaching, but the push for war continues.

Nov. 1-12, 2002:

Nov. 1, 2002 – “Don’t Go Wobbly,” Charles Krauthammer’s column for the week, again calls for war against Iraq rather than going through the U.N.:

“And why does the president, who is pledged to disarming Hussein one way or the other, allow Powell even to discuss a scheme that is guaranteed to leave Saddam Hussein's weapons in place?” (Washington Post A35)

Nov. 7, 2002 – Bush meets with reporters after a GOP majority is returned to Congress in the November elections:

“And, Steve, the resolution is a disarmament resolution; that's what it is. It's a statement of intent to, once and for all, disarm Saddam Hussein. He's a threat. He's a threat to the country, he's a threat to people in his neighborhood. He's a real threat. And it's now time for the world to come together and disarm him. And when this resolution passes, I will -- we'll be able to say that the United Nations has recognized the threat, and now we're going to work together to disarm him.  

       And he must be cooperative in the disarmament. So the job of inspectors is to determine his level of cooperation, see. He has got to be the agent of disarming; he's got to agree that what we're doing is what he said he we do. And just like the United Nations has agreed that it is important to disarm him, for the sake of peace, and so the next step will be to put an inspection regime in there to -- after all the declarations and after all the preamble to inspections, that he's got to show the world he's disarming. And that's where we'll be next.”

As ever, Bush emphasizes the “threat” represented by Saddam but camouflages the Iraq war aim as “disarming” and “inspections.”

The congressional elections, in spite of campaigns based heavily on war and terrorism, do not heavily increase the GOP majority in Congress; Texas’ delegation, for example, comes in at 17 Democrats and 15 Republicans. However, both houses of the Texas state legislature go Republican for the first time since Reconstruction, and Tom DeLay (R-TX) becomes the new Majority Leader in Congress, setting the scene for the later operation to redistrict Texas between census years, see later.

Nov. 8, 2002 -- The United Nations Security Council approves Resolution 1441 by a 15 to 0 vote. Bush makes a pleased statement in the Rose Garden:

“THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. With the resolution just passed, the United Nations Security Council has met important responsibilities, upheld its principles and given clear and fair notice that Saddam Hussein must fully disclose and destroy his weapons of mass destruction. He must submit to any and all methods to verify his compliance. His cooperation must be prompt and unconditional, or he will face the severest consequences.

The world has now come together to say that the outlaw regime in Iraq will not be permitted to build or possess chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.”

Nov. 9, 2002 – Bush discusses Iraq (for a change) in his weekly radio address to the nation:

“The resolution presents the Iraqi regime with a test, a final test. Iraq must now, without delay or negotiations, give up its weapons of mass destruction, welcome full inspections and fundamentally change the approach it has taken for more than a decade. The regime must allow immediate and unrestricted access to every site, every document and every person identified by inspectors. Iraq can be certain that the old game of cheat-and-retreat, tolerated at other times, will no longer be tolerated.

          Any act of delay or defiance will be an additional breach of Iraq's international obligations, and a clear signal that the Iraqi regime has once again abandoned the path of voluntary compliance. If Iraq fails to fully comply with the U.N. resolution, the United States, in coalition with other nations, will disarm Saddam Hussein.”

Nov. 11, 2002 -- Al Nashiri, allegedly the mastermind of the U.S.S. Cole attack, is captured in the U.A.E. and reportedly is taken to Al Jafr prison in Jordan, a CIA interrogation center allegedly connected with torture and other abuses where about 100 detainees have been processed, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Officials consider Abd al Rahim al Nashiri such a big fish that they wait three weeks after his capture to release his name, according to US News & World Report.