WASHINGTON – The first hint of what would become one of George W. Bush’s best days in the White House began about 3:15 p.m. EST Saturday with a phone call to the president at the Camp David retreat.
On the line was Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who began the conversation with a warning that first reports aren’t always accurate. According to White House spokesman Scott McClellan, Bush interjected: “This sounds like it’s going to be good news.”
It was. Rumsfeld told the president that U.S. forces in Iraq believed they had finally bagged Saddam Hussein. And 14 hours later, at 5:14 a.m. EST Sunday, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice telephoned a just-awakening Bush – now back at the White House – to say that Hussein’s capture was confirmed.
By midday, after a round of phone calls to foreign allies and congressional leaders, Bush was in the Cabinet Room of the White House speaking on national television: “In the history of Iraq, a dark and painful era is over.”
In his brief remarks, an unsmiling president delivered two messages: an upbeat one to the Iraqi people, and a second, more cautionary one, to the American public.
Bush told Iraqis it was no longer necessary to hedge their bets out of concern that Hussein might make a comeback. “You will not have to fear the rule of Saddam Hussein ever again,” he said. “All Iraqis who take the side of freedom have taken the winning side.”
Hussein now faces the “justice he denied to millions,” Bush said.
But to Americans Bush sounded a warning. “The capture of Saddam Hussein does not mean the end of violence in Iraq,” he said. “We still face terrorists who would rather go on killing the innocent than accept the rise of liberty in the heart of the Middle East.”
Bush carefully avoided any show of celebration during the three-minute speech. His private mood was perhaps best reflected by his call list: Prime Ministers Tony Blair of Britain, Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, Jose Maria Aznar of Spain and John Howard of Australia, all of whom had supported Bush’s decision to go to war.
There were no calls to the leaders of France, Germany and Russia, who had opposed the war.
Despite Bush’s low-key public reaction, there was no doubt that Hussein’s capture represented a major advance for him as he embarks on his re-election campaign. His Democratic rivals, who have made a major issue of his handling of Iraq, could only offer congratulations coupled with pleas that Bush use the moment to seek broader international support.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
