Is He or Isn't He?

Straight Talk From the White House

Comments (0) By James Ridgeway Tuesday, Mar 25 2003

The bells and whistles on Bush's propaganda machine are ringing and tooting all over the place to make us feel good about the war. First we get to see a free fireworks display as our boys bomb Baghdad night after night. However, we are barely allowed to see the Iraqi TV shots of dead Americans and U.S. P.O.W.'s because it might make us sick of war.

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Mondo Washington this week:

Is He or Isn't He? Straight Talk From the White House

The Humanitarian Aid Crisis What Gives? Not the U.S.

Iraq's Drinking Problem Fresh Worries

Who Will Replace Our Old European Allies? Inside the New U.S. Coalition

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We have been told time and again that we're going to have a regime change in Iraq, if possible by decapitating Saddam and avoiding wide-scale bloodshed. Just as the war opened, we got to see this Darth Vader rallying his people on TV from a bunker. Next we are informed President Bush almost killed the guy when our intelligence caught Saddam in a hideout along with his two vicious boys. Bush drops a whopper on them. Oh boy! Saddam is dead. But just as we start feeling relieved and happy about his demise, there he is on TV again. Not to worry: Our super-smart intelligence agents say it's not him. The very fact they're using a double means he must be dead. Thank God! A few hours later the dead Saddam appears on TV in another pep talk, this time in the midst of battle.

Additional reporting: Phoebe St John, Joanna Khenkine, and Mosi Secret