Nation & world briefing
Bush announces war in Iraq has ended
Diego Ibarguen
Knight Ridder Newspapers
SAN DIEGO (KRT) — Hours be
fore he declared Thursday that
major combat in Iraq is over, Pres
ident Bush celebrated by landing
in a Navy jet on the deck of a U.S.
aircraft carrier returning home
from war.
Glad in a green flight suit and
looking every bit the fighter pilot,
Bush sat next to the pilot in the
cockpit of a Navy S-3B “Viking”
jet on the 20-minute flight from
San Diego to the USS Abraham
Lincoln, 30 miles offshore. Paint
ed on the side of the plane were
the words “Navy One” and
“George W. Bush, Commander
in Chief.”
With news cameras broadcast
ing live, the president's plane
made two passes over the carrier
before roaring to a safe landing.
Its tail hook snagged the last of
four cables on the carrier’s deck,
jolting his plane from 150 mph
to a complete stop within about
400 feet.
The drama of Bush’s arrival and
his war-is-over message gave the
moment a red-white-and-blue
sheen of patriotic enthusiasm
that is destined to highlight politi
cal TV ads next year as Bush runs
for re-election. Perhaps only
Ronald Reagan’s tribute to the D
Day veteran “boys of Pointe du
Hoc” on the cliffs of Normandy in
1984 rivals this event in melding
patriotism and politics into a pho
to opportunity.
Later, in a primetime TV address
to the nation from the ship, Bush
essentially proclaimed victory in
Iraq, and a major step forward in
the broader war on terrorism.
“The liberation of Iraq is a crucial
advance in the campaign against
terror. We have removed a key ally
of al-Qaida, and cut off a source of
terrorist funding. And this much is
certain: No terrorist network will
gain weapons of mass destruction
from the Iraqi regime, because that
regime is no more,” Bush was to
say, according to prepared remarks
released in advance.
At the same time, the president
took pains to note that U.S. efforts
are not over.
“We have difficult work to do in
Iraq. We are bringing order to
parts of that country that remain
dangerous,” Bush said, according
to the speech. “The transition
from dictatorship to democracy
will take time, but it is worth every
effort. Our coalition will stay until
our work is done.”
If the content of Bush’s speech
was familiar, his aircraft carrier
landing was anything but; it was un
precedented for a president, and
Bush made the most of it.
Bush strutted off the plane hold
ing his flight helmet in the crook
of his left arm and wearing a
broad smile as cameras broadcast
his every move nationwide. He
shook hands, saluted sailors and
posed for photos with pilots on
the flight deck before taking a tour
of the carrier.
Asked whether he had flown the
plane, Bush, a former pilot in the
Texas Air National Guard, said,
“Yes, I flew it Yeah, of course, I
liked it.”
White House aides said security
was reviewed thoroughly before
the decision to let Bush make the
landing; the Lincoln has
had over 12,700 takeoff and ar
rested landings in the last nine
months without incident. “If it was
not safe, it would not be done,”
said White House spokesman
Ari Fleischer.
At least one Democrat bidding
to take Bush’s job in next year’s
election, Sen. John Kerry of Mass
achusetts, was unwilling to cede
the day to Bush. In a conference
call with political reporters, Kerry
contrasted Bush’s carrier imagery
with less dramatic scenes back
on shore.
“The president is going to an
aircraft carrier to give a speech
far out at sea with military sur
roundings while countless num
bers of Americans are frightened
about the economy here at
home,” Kerry said.
Knight Ridder Newspapers
correspondents Steven Thomma and
Jessica Guynn contributed to this report
from Washington. © 2003, Knight
Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
News briefs
U.S. files new charges
against Enron execs
WASHINGTON — The Justice De
partment expanded its prosecution of
Enron Corp. on Thursday, filing
dozens of new charges against the
failed energy giant’s onetime financial
wizard Andrew Fastow while also in
dicting his wife and top executives of
the company’s Internet division.
Fastow, Enron’s former chief finan
cial officer and chief architect of the
complex accounting schemes that led
to the company’s sudden collapse,
now faces 109 criminal counts on
charges ranging from tax and securi
ties fraud to money laundering and
insider trading. Fastow’s wife, Lea,
former assistant treasurer at Enron,
was charged in a six-count indict
ment alleging conspiracy to commit
wire fraud, money-laundering con
spiracy and tax evasion. Andrew and
Lea Fastow have pleaded innocent.
Nineteen people have now been
charged in connection with the un
raveling of Enron, the once high-fly
ing Wall Street darling that filed for
bankruptcy in December 2001 amid
charges of accounting tricks and in
flated profits. The company’s shares
plummeted, wiping out millions of
dollars in pensions for employees.
In its heyday, Enron’s political ac
tion committee donated large sums
of money to lawmakers in Washing
ton. In a sign of how widespread
their influence was, Attorney Gener
al John Ashcroft has recused himself
from the investigation, having ac
cepted Enron-related contributions
as a U.S. senator.
— Shannon McCaffrey,
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
House OKs increased
anti-AIDS spending
WASHINGTON — The House of
Representatives passed legislation
on Thursday that would triple cur
rent spending to $15 billion over five
years to combat the global epidemic
of HIV/AIDS in the developing world.
The measure passed by an over
whelming bipartisan vote, 375-41, de
spite controversial provisions added
by conservative Republicans to re
strict anti-AIDS counseling and em
phasize abstinence and monogamy as
the preferred methods of prevention.
The House voted 220-197 to require
that one-third of the money go to “ab
stinence-until-marriage” programs.
President Bush, who asked for the
big funding increase in his State of
the Union speech in January, lauded
the House for its speedy work.
Bush said he’d like to have the leg
islation enacted into law before he
visits Africa in June. More than 65
million people have been infected
with the deadly disease, and more
than 25 million have died. The vast
majority of people with AIDS live in
Africa. Millions of children have
been orphaned by it.
— Sumana Chatterjee,
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
Senate Democrats
succeed with filibuster
WASHINGTON — In a day that
showed the Senate at its most frac
tured and its most unified, Republi
cans failed on Thursday to break a
filibuster of Texas Supreme Court
Justice Priscilla Owen’s nomination
to a federal appeals court — just
hours before the Senate unanimous
ly granted a seat on that court to a
San Antonio judge.
Owen becomes the second appel
late nominee Democrats have thwart
ed, at least temporarily. Republicans
have lost four tries in three months to
force a confirmation vote on conserva
tive lawyer Miguel Estrada. The simul
taneous filibusters were a first for the
Senate, and lawmakers in both parties
lamented the continuation of a parti
san spiral that defies obvious solution.
Republicans, though, expressed
frustration at the attacks launched on
Owen and Estrada, and vowed to keep
trying to get them on the bench.
“A great injustice has been done
today,” said Texas Sen. Kay Bailey
Hutchison. “She deserves better
treatment and I will not rest until
she gets it.”
Democrats, for their part, basked
in their ability to block nominees
they call ideologues who would in
ject right-wing views into rulings.
— Todd J. Gillman,
The Dallas Morning News (KRT)
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