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Bush should beware the Mogadishu effect - Election could turn on horrifying images from Iraq
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| Contributor | Gerald Farinas |
| Last Edited | Gerald Farinas Mar 31, 2004 09:13pm |
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| Category | Commentary |
| News Date | Wednesday, March 31, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Bush should beware the Mogadishu effect - Election could turn on horrifying images from Iraq
Newsweek & MSNBC
Call it the Mogadishu effect: nightmarish, beastly images of humiliating death so far beyond the pale of the Western idea of war that they shake American politics to the core. Will the pictures from Fallujah have the same impact that the ones from Somalia had a decade ago? Bill Clinton flinched a decade ago. Will George Bush?
Here's why I ask: I've never thought that the Clarke-Condi battle would decide the presidential election. It's Iraq that will matter. The fundamental question: whether the invasion and occupation of that country has made America safer — or less so. Bush's approval ratings for handling "terrorism and homeland security" are dropping — from a recent high of 70 percent in January to 65 in February to 55 percent last week. But most of that was before Clarke's 15 minutes of fame, and the overall decline has little to do with the former anti-terrorism official's prime-time assault. Rather, the cause of the president's decline is the drumbeat of bad news out of Iraq, which continues to provide images that defy the White House story line. |
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