Inside Politics

‘Imam Bush’

“Perhaps the biggest story left unreported in the West is the extraordinary exuberance about the Iraqi election, set for January 30, among Iraqi Shias,” Stephen Schwartz writes at www.TechCentralStation.com.

“I know about this because I spend a great deal of time talking to Iraqi Shia religious leaders, some of whom commute back and forth between Iraq and the U.S. The effervescence among them must be experienced to be believed,” said Mr. Schwartz, author of “The Two Faces of Islam: Saudi Fundamentalism and Its Role In Terrorism,” and a consultant on domestic and international affairs in Washington.

“One prominent Shia in the U.S. told me, ‘I call the president Imam Bush.’ [In Shia Islam, the imams are the chief religious guides throughout the history of the sect.] ‘He is a believer in God, he is just, and I believe he will keep his promise to hold a fair election on January 30,’ my interlocutor said. ‘He liberated Karbala and Najaf [the Shia holy cities]. He has done more for Shias than anybody else in history.’ ”

Media onslaught

“The mainstream media is abuzz, making their strongest drive yet to depose Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. But a critical look at who’s talking and how their argument is framed shows a lack of new data from those theorizing Rumsfeld should step down,” Eric Pfeiffer writes at National Review Online (Nationalreview.com).

“While Democratic assaults against Rumsfeld and the Iraq-war effort are not new, the media is smitten at the prospect of GOP officials taking similar jabs at the Pentagon’s leadership. Leading the charge are Sens. John McCain and Chuck Hagel,” Mr. Pfeiffer noted.

“It was McCain who first made a splash two weeks ago on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ announcing his lack of confidence in Rumsfeld. To no one’s surprise, the media ran with the story while McCain reciprocated, giving a number of interviews to print and television outlets. However, this past week when McCain issued the same statement, it was again treated as a breaking-news story. Meanwhile, Hagel continued his shadow-McCain approach, announcing on ‘Face the Nation’ this Sunday that he too lacked confidence in Rumsfeld’s leadership.

“However, two facts must be observed in weighing the credence of their claims. First, both McCain and Hagel have openly begun their campaigns to succeed President Bush in 2008. Positioning themselves as moderate critics of the administration allocates them credibility in the eyes of the mainstream press and provides greater access to the media coverage a potential presidential candidate needs. Second, their criticisms of Rumsfeld and Hagel’s opposition to the war effort are nothing new. Hagel went so far as to deride the entire administration for the deaths of soldiers in Iraq, stating, ‘I think it’s very reflective of how out of touch this crowd is,’” Mr. Pfeiffer writes.

“Maine Sen. Susan Collins, fresh from her intelligence-reform victory over Rumsfeld, has been criticizing the war since it first became fashionable with the meteoric rise of the 9/11 Commission. And Trent Lott, an otherwise solid player in the war effort, has no love lost for an administration that allowed for, and some would argue advocated, his defrocking as Senate majority leader,” said Mr. Pfeiffer, a senior writer for National Journal’s Hotline.

Meanwhile, the press has all but ignored the votes of confidence Mr. Rumsfeld has received from a string of Republican senators, Mr. Pfeiffer said.

Trickle-up news

The truth is trickling out on the true state of affairs concerning the armoring of U.S. vehicles in Iraq, the Media Research Center reports.

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