Okay, let's review. Last week, the White House was ready with a statement from the President as soon as Hussein was executed -- even though the President was asleep.
Yet, today, after it's clear the execution was a disaster, the White House is trying to create some distance. See, the Bush Administration are the heroes here. Their people were really trying to postpone the execution. One more time, the White House is in full spin mode over Iraq:
The American decision to confirm that they had opposed the quick execution came after days of silence from the American Embassy and the United States military command in Baghdad, which appeared to have been shocked, like so many others, by the unofficial video recording that showed the bedlam at the gallows.See, the White House needs to prevent "a fresh surge of criticism" over Iraq while the President is planning a fresh surge of troops in Iraq. This latest debacle interferes with Bush's major escalation of his war.
With some Iraqi politicians raising fresh demands for Mr. Maliki’s dismissal, the Americans, in offering to have a senior official discuss the matter in a telephone interview with The New York Times, appeared keen to protect the Bush administration from a fresh surge of criticism for its handling of events in Iraq.
The official said that among American officials in Iraq who had tried to stop Mr. Maliki from rushing Mr. Hussein to the gallows, the reaction to the scenes of abuse had been one of dismay.
“Well, yes, when I think of the behavior of the people who were there, I’m disappointed and distressed, that’s true,” the official who spoke in the telephone interview said. He had been one of the Americans who intervened with Mr. Maliki on Friday night,
How the hell did George Bush let Saddam Hussein become a martyr?
