News Analysis: Joy of capture muted at end
By Jeff Zeleny
Published: December 29, 2006
CRAWFORD, Tex.: The capture of Saddam Hussein three years ago was a jubilant moment for the White House, hailed by President Bush in a televised address from the Cabinet Room. The execution of Hussein, though, seemed hardly to inspire the same sentiment.
Since his arrest on Dec. 13, 2003, Hussein has gradually faded from view, save for his courtroom outbursts and writings from prison. The growing chaos and violence in Iraq has steadily overshadowed the torturous rule of Hussein, who for more than two decades held a unique place in the politics and psyche of the United States, a symbol of the manifestation of evil in the Middle East.
Now, what could have been a triumphal bookend to the American invasion of Iraq has instead been dampened by the grim reality of conditions on the ground there. Hussein's hanging means that the ousted leader has been held accountable for his misdeeds, fulfilling the American war aim most cited by the White House after Iraq's weapons of mass destruction proved nonexistent.
But that war is now edging toward its fifth year, and the sectarian violence that has surged independent of any old Sunni or Baathist allegiances to Hussein has raised questions about what change, if any, his death might bring.
"Saddam's face has been on this process from the beginning and here goes that face," said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin. "But in many respects, he's a bit player now."
Even as a bit player, though, the specter of Hussein remained intimately entwined with Bush and his father, George H. W. Bush. Two years after the Persian Gulf war, Hussein ordered an assassination attempt on the elder Bush, an act of spite that the 43rd president would never forget.
"There's no doubt his hatred is mainly directed at us," the current president said, speaking to a Republican fund-raising crowd in Houston on Sept. 26, 2002. "This is the man who tried to kill my dad."
For his part, Hussein referred to the younger Bush as "son of the viper." He delivered a famous snub of the 41st president, constructing a mosaic of the elder Bush's face on the floor of the Rashid Hotel, perfectly positioned to be repeatedly stepped on. After the American troops reached Baghdad, they crushed the mosaic.
When Hussein was captured, the president said: "Good riddance, the world is better off without you." But he dismissed suggestions that a family grudge played a role in shaping his Iraq policy or influenced his decision to go to war. "My personal views," he said, "aren't important in this matter."
But Buchanan, a longtime observer of the Bush political family in Texas, said that these were no ordinary archenemies and that setting aside personal views entirely seemed impossible.
"I think the president will see this as justice done and may well feel some sense of vindication, in part because of the attempt on his father's life," he said. "It's definitely part of the drama."
Here in Crawford, where the president is spending the week between Christmas and New Year's, aides planned for how the White House would respond to Hussein's execution. They quickly ruled out the idea of putting the president in front of television cameras, fearful of sending a message that Bush was crowing or that the United States was orchestrating the execution, which officially was carried out by the Iraqi government.
But a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy, also acknowledged that the challenges in Iraq contributed to the president's decision to simply issue a brief written statement after the execution. The White House concluded that even a development as dramatic as Hussein's hanging could not be used to renew support for the war.
"Americans have already taken that into account," said Frank Newport, the editor in chief of the Gallup Poll. "The benefits of deposing Saddam Hussein are far exceeded by the cost of the war."
Indeed, a Gallup poll taken Dec. 8 to 10 showed that 64 percent of Americans said the costs of the war outweighed the benefits. Only 33 percent disagreed, saying the benefits — including the ouster of Hussein — outweighed the costs.
It is a striking change in thinking, Newport said, considering that since the first Gulf war a wide majority of Americans have supported the removal of Hussein. It was a chief reason, he said, that polls showed that more than 60 percent of Americans initially supported the war in Iraq.
