U.S. spokesmen stumble through verbal minefield

If the U.S. assault against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban were strictly a war of words, we might be in worse trouble than we’d like. Since President Bush vowed to “whip terrorism,” we have been forced to backpedal verbally on an alarming number of occasions as events unfold. Here is a brief look at what’s turning into a seven-course meal of crow:

Bluster: On Sept. 14, the President describes his anti-terrorist campaign as a “crusade” against “a new kind of evil.”

Backpedal: On Sept. 18, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer retracts Bush’s use of the word crusade. “To the degree that the word has any connotations that would upset any of our partners, or anybody else in the world, the president would regret if anything like that was conveyed. But the purpose of his conveying it is in the traditional English sense of the word. It’s a broad cause.” To the Muslim world, crusade conjures images of European Christians in medieval times warring on the heathen Middle East, a message that endangered Bush’s goal of an Islamic coalition to back our military operation.

Bluster: On Sept. 19, The Pentagon names its Afghanistan initiative “Operation Infinite Justice.”

Backpedal: On Sept. 25, The Pentagon renames its Afghanistan initiative “Operation Enduring Freedom,” recognizing that Muslims feel that “infinite” justice can only be meted out by Allah.

Bluster: On Sept. 18, Bush -- who after all is the son of the president who told Americans “Read my lips, no new taxes “ -- vows that Osama bin Laden will be delivered “dead or alive.”

Backpedal: On Oct. 24, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in a USA Today interview reverses field, saying that capturing bin Laden might not happen: “It’s a big world. There are lots of countries. He’s got a lot of money, he’s got a lot of people who support him, and I just don’t know whether we’ll be successful.”

Backpedal: On Oct. 25, at the next day’s press conference, Rumsfeld backpedals on the backpedaling: “I think we’re going to get him. How about that?”

Bluster: On Oct. 14, the commander of the USS Enterprise says, “We’re sort of in a cleanup mode right now.” The same day U.S. intelligence reports more than a thousand defectors have joined the Northern Alliance, and there is a debate in Washington about the makeup of the government that would soon replace the Taliban regime in Kabul.

Backpedal: On Oct. 24, Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, deputy director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says he is surprised by the vigor of the Taliban resistance; predicts it will take “a long, long battle” to overcome the regime.

Bluster: On Sept. 28, Bush pushes the cowboy button he so likes to press. He says, “Make no mistake about it. We’re in hot pursuit of terrorists.”

Backpedal: On Oct. 26, apparently chastened, he pushes the Job button, when he says, “The American people are going to have to be patient.”

Bluster: On Oct. 22, Rumsfeld gets cavalier about the Afghan bombing. “We’re not running out of targets. Afghanistan is,” he says.

Backpedal: In an Oct. 23 address at Whiteman Air Force base, where Stealth bombers are about to depart on missions to Afghanistan, Rumsfeld amends himself with this: “Your mission is difficult. Our enemies live in caves and shadows. These folks are pros. They’re clever.”

Bluster: On Oct. 22, Rumsfeld confidently declares that Taliban reports of an Afghan hospital being hit by our bombers are false. Says he: “We have absolutely no evidence at all that would suggest that is correct. I’m sure it’s not.”

Backpedal: On Oct. 23, after a United Nations worker corroborates the Taliban claim, Pentagon chief spokeswoman Victoria Clarke confirms that an Afghan military hospital has been hit. “We have no idea of the casualties,” she says.

Bluster: On Oct. 13, after the first outbreaks of anthrax appear in Florida and New York, but before poisoned letters start turning up in Washington, D.C., Bush says in a radio address, “I understand that many Americans are feeling uneasy, but all Americans should be assured: We are taking strong precautions, we are vigilant, we are determined.”

More bluster: On Oct. 18, after 31 cases of anthrax exposure are discovered on Capitol Hill but no one moves to systematically test Washington postal workers, Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge declares: “The American people can have confidence that their government is working around the clock to protect them.” And Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Senate’s only physician, observes, “Things are under control. The system is working.”

Backpedal: On Oct. 22, after two Washington postal workers die from anthrax, Postmaster General John Potter orders testing and says: “We are all dealing with new experiences, we’re all dealing with new situations.” On Oct. 26, after more cases surface, Ridge says, “We don’t have all the answers.”

Bluster: On Oct. 16, when U.S. warplanes mistakenly bomb a Red Cross warehouse facility in Kabul, the Pentagon says it “did not know the Red Cross was using one or more of the warehouses.”

Backpedal: On Oct. 25, when it is learned that U.S. warplanes have again bombed the same site, Rumsfeld says: “There are instances where there are unintended consequences of this conflict and ordinance ends up where it should not.”

Remains to be seen: On Oct. 28, after CIA-supported Afghan rebel Abdul Haq is killed by the Taliban without receiving the protection he was reportedly promised, after U.S. bombs reportedly kill 13 more Afghan civilians, including children, and after Pakistani radicals seem to be pouring into Afghanistan to help the Taliban, Rumsfeld declares: “It’s not a quagmire.”`