80th in continuing blog series on the administration push to war. As April wears on, the dismantling of self-governance in Iraq proceeds, U.S. casualties continue, and Iraqi WMD and Saddam Hussein are not found, although Iraqi oil is. U.S. oil companies continue to obtain millions of barrels of Iraqi crude. Meanwhile, politics at home get somewhat dicier for the administration, which coordinates with its political allies in Texas to head off at the pass any problems stemming from a democratic election.
April 12-20, 2003:

 
 
Apr. 12, 2003 -- Ten suspects in the U.S.S. Cole bombing escape from prison in Yemen. The escape is said to be a major blow to the Cole investigation. Escapees include Jamal Ahmed Badawi, who allegedly bought the dinghy packed with explosives that was used to attack the Cole.

 

Apr. 14, 2003 – Bush issues a video message to U.S. military and their families:

“Our forces have been given a clear mission -- to end a regime that threatened its neighbors and the world with weapons of mass destruction, and to free a people that had suffered far too long. American and coalition forces are treating innocent civilians with kindness, delivering urgently needed food and medicine, and acting in the highest traditions of the United States military. Our whole nation is proud of the honorable conduct of our military, and I am proud to be your Commander-in-Chief.”

 
Humanitarian aims or no, the WMD are clearly still missing. Meanwhile, far away in Austin, Texas, the GOP majority in the Texas legislature, which can read the demographic and political writing on the wall, is building its effort to get a redistricting between census years to elect a Republican majority in Texas’ U.S. House delegation.

 

Apr. 15, 2003 – Bush discusses Iraq in a White House Rose Garden appearance:

“This government is acting to protect the American people from the threats of a new era. In Iraq, the regime of Saddam Hussein is no more. (Applause.) A month ago -- one month ago -- that country was a prison to its people, a haven for terrorists, an arsenal of weapons that endangered the world. Today, the world is safer. The terrorists have lost an ally. The Iraqi people are regaining control of their own destiny. These are good days in the history of freedom. (Applause.)”

 

Apr. 16, 2003 – Bush gives a speech at a Boeing factory in St. Louis, Missouri:

“And the other big task for this nation is to overcome any threats to our country, wherever they gather. Each of you has had a part of preparing this nation to meet the dangers of our time. Today, half a world away, America is leading this great coalition of free nations to end a brutal regime and to remove a threat to our society. We've applied the new powers of technology -- like the F-18s -- to strike an enemy force with speed and incredible precision. Our work is not done; the difficulties have not passed; but the regime of Saddam Hussein has passed into history. (Applause.”

 

Apr. 16, 2003 – Another Judith Miller article on vanishing Iraqi WMD appears in the New York Times:

“An American team hunting for unconventional Iraqi weapons at an ammunition manufacturing and storage plant near Karbala have discovered some suspicious items, but appeared to have come away yet again without the "smoking gun" proving that Iraq made chemical, biological or nuclear materials here.” (B1)

 
Same day – Charles Krauthammer, neocon commentator, longtime war booster and PNAC signatory, claims, “The only people who think this wasn't a victory are Upper Westside liberals, and a few people here in Washington.” (Inside Washington, on ABC WUSA-TV)

 

Apr. 20, 2003 – Bush delivers remarks to press on a visit to Ft. Hood, Texas:

“Q Mr. President, what is the latest that you have on the status of Saddam Hussein? And if he is not killed or captured --

THE PRESIDENT: That Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. That's for certain. He was in power, and now he is not. And, therefore, the Iraqi people's lives will be much better off. But other than that, I don't -- Stretch, we'll just have to see.

Q -- sir, any kind of a threat if he is not killed or captured?

THE PRESIDENT: If he is alive, I would suggest he not pop his head up.

Q Sir, do you expect to return more to a domestic agenda now that the war is winding down?”

 
Again, it is remarkable how little the administration seems to care about Saddam Hussein once the invasion has been achieved. It is almost as though Saddam were not worth mentioning. The inescapable inference, in hindsight, is that he has by this time served his purpose. Of course, it is also possible that he has already been killed in the initial invasion, as early reports suggested.

 
Like the White House and the Office of the Vice President, none of the neocon writers who have boosted the war place any particular emphasis on Saddam Hussein at this point.