What a great headline and lede to this
story:
Aides Prodded Reluctant Bush on Iraq Trip
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - For a president fond of a tough-guy image, George W. Bush was uneasy when an aide casually asked him, "You want to go to Baghdad?"
Unfortunately the story gives few details of Bush's uneasiness and little evidence to suggest that he was uneasy. Oh sure, according to one of his most dishonest aides, Condi Rice, Bush was concerned that his visit would increase the danger faced by the troops in Iraq. But we know that's bullshit, because Bush is more than willing to challenge the Iraqi guerrillas attacking our troops to "bring it on," as long as his chickenhawk ass is at least six or eight time zones away from the line of fire.
However, by pointing out that Hillary Clinton and Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) are touring Baghdad today, this story leads to an interested question: why is Baghdad too unsafe for Bush but not for Hillary Clinton?
U.S. senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jack Reed spent about 10 hours in Baghdad on Friday and planned another day in Iraq on Saturday after overnighting out of the country. On Friday, Clinton traveled between the airport, coalition headquarters and another U.S. military base in a convoy of civilian SUVs with an escort of Humvees and Apache helicopters.
Why is it so inherently unsafe for Bush that he has to fly in under darkness without anyone except a handful of top aides and Secret Service and military personnel in the know, then hide out at the airport for a couple of hours with 600 troops, but Hillary Clinton and Jack Reed can drive around the city and meet with American troops, international officials and Iraqi leaders? Do the Iraqis who were supposed to greet out soldiers with cheers and flowers like Hillary Clinton better than George W. Bush? Or is Hillary just better able to defend herself?
Update [2003-11-29 0:48:12 by DHinMI]:
On the comment board yondertree speculated on the possibility that Bush's visit was planned in response the the visit of Hillary Clinton and Jack Reed. In fact, the Bush trip was planned after the White House was notified about the Clinton visit:
She also acknowledged that the missile attack earlier this month on a German DHL cargo plane had almost caused the White House to scrap Bush's visit, which was planned for weeks starting in mid-October...
Rice also denied that the White House -- which is famed for its attention to political detail -- made the trip to bolster Bush's chances to win a second term in November 2004.
"This originated out of the president and the policy side," said Rice, who stopped short of saying that political adviser Karl Rove did not know about the trip.
Bush's visit overshadowed a similar one a day later by Senator Hillary Clinton. A source familiar with the planning of her visit said the administration was informed in late September that she would go.
So now it looks like the reason Bush went to Iraq might have been because he was afraid he would be shown up by Hillary Clinton. And even then he would only skulk in and out after dark.
He's a craven coward.