March 21, 2003
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BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
As reported in the Washington Post, the White House is quite peeved that video of Bush getting groomed and acting jolly was broadcast prior to his "we're bombing Iraq" announcement:
The White House is vowing a strong retaliatory response after the BBC aired live video of President Bush getting his hair coiffed in the Oval Office as he squirmed in his chair and practiced on the teleprompter minutes before Wednesday night's speech announcing the launch of military operations against Saddam Hussein. (See: Link)
Many BuzzFlash Readers have asked us where they can see these videos. You can download videos of that broadcast from the globalfreepress web site at the URL below:
http://news.globalfreepress.com/images/wonk/VariousMovies2/
[Update 2, 3/22/02: The URL to the globalfreepress folder with the videos is now password-protected. If you know of other sources for these videos, especially the Dutch broadcast of Bush's pre-war announcement that includes additional footage of Bush showing a jovial and devil-may-care attitude, please let BuzzFlash know so we can update this page. Thanks.]
[Link Update: BuzzFlash Readers have been having difficulty accessing the above link, we imagine due to the traffic. You may find more luck trying it again later in the evening or over the weekend, or you can visit the The Smoking Gun for a shorter version of the footage: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/gbhair1.html.]
As reported by Knight Ridder Newspapers (See: Link), "Minutes before the speech, an internal television monitor showed the president pumping his fist. "Feels good," he said." Although BuzzFlash could not accurately point to that moment, something else about the broadcast bothered us.
When you watch the videos, think about the fact that Bush is about to tell the world that he's sending our soldiers to possibly die, but definitely to kill innocent people in Iraq as our military bombs and shoots its way to Saddam. Think about that and contrast that with Bush's jovial, playful attitude, seen unfiltered in the Dutch broadcast (digitized in the 11.3M "BushGroomed2.mpg"):
Hey, Bush, it sure is funny thinking about all those innocent Iraqi women and children who are going to die painful and horrible deaths because of your bombs, isn't it? Just downright slap-happy funny. We bet you haven't had this much fun since you mocked Karla Faye Tucker's plea for clemency (See: Link) and executed at least 135 people while Governor of Texas (See: Link | Link 2).
And then the show really begins and Bush puts on his face of concern and tempered anxiety. What a farce. What a shameful, despicable farce. Every moment fabricated.
And now, back to the war coverage.
BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
