Going down

Attempts to pressure the US media not to show the grisly pictures of Americans dead in Iraq failed to save Bush's popularity ratings from falling to an all time low, Khaled Dawoud reports from Washington

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Near the bodies of slain foreign security guards, Iraqis gather on a bridge over the Tigris River in Falluja and shout anti-US slogans. Two cars carrying foreign private security guards were attacked in Falluja by gunmen on 31 March. Residents say the cars' eight occupants, including four Americans, were killed and their vehicles set on fire. In sermons on Friday, clerics in the city denounced the mutilations, though not the killings

Only Americans had to wait for hours to see the grisly pictures of four private security guards killed and brutally mutilated by Iraqis in Falluja on 31 March. Shortly after the nationalities of the deceased were confirmed, White House Spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that "we hope everybody acts responsibly in their coverage" of this "despicable attack". The appeal was an echo of many similar warnings issued to the American media during the war against Iraq to act "patriotically" and appreciate that "this is a nation at war".

And while major US television networks were debating whether to show the now infamous pictures of two charred bodies hanging from a bridge, many Americans had no option but to search the Internet to find out why the White House had issued such an urgent appeal to gag the press.

Fox News Channel, whose motto is "fair and balanced" but nonetheless has a well-deserved reputation for being biased in favour of President George W Bush and the American right, did not even lead with news of the attack. Although five US soldiers were killed on the same day in a separate attack, also in Falluja, bringing the total number of US losses in Iraq for the day to 12, the lead story on Fox was the search for a young woman who disappeared from her family's home. CNN, MSNBC and ABC started by showing pictures of the burning vehicles in which the four security guards had been riding, and the mob chanting and cheering, without a glimpse of the four corpses.

Hours later, some networks began airing electronically blurred images of the two bodies hanging on the bridge and the one which was dragged in the streets in celebration of the killings. Only one popular news programme on ABC, Nightline, which airs at 11.30pm US Eastern Time, quickly showed the bodies hanging on the bridge. The New York Times, which has been publicly opposing Bush's policy on Iraq, carried it on the front page the next day. In any case, the public's morbid fascination with the pictures quickly faded, as did comparisons made by commentators between Falluja in 2004 and Somalia in 1993, when coverage of slain American marines being dragged through the streets quickly turned public opinion against the US presence there and forced former President Bill Clinton to recall American troops.

The Somalia syndrome is clearly what President Bush wants to avoid in a tough election year where Iraq might prove to be one of his greatest vulnerabilities. In a speech given at an election fund- raiser the same day, Bush did not even refer to the Falluja attack, only reiterating his commitment not to "cut and run" from Iraq, saying that the US "will never be intimidated by thugs and killers". Since he declared the end of "major military operations" with the banner "mission accomplished" in the background on a US aircraft carrier 1 May, opponents of President Bush have criticised him for not attending any of the funerals of the 613 US soldiers killed in action to date in Iraq. The US media is not allowed to film the coffins of slain soldiers returning to US soil at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Meanwhile, figures on the number wounded remain contested, with the Pentagon sticking to over 6,000, while press reports suggest nearly 20,000.

For the Bush administration, coverage of the death toll is unpatriotic. In repeated speeches, the man who dubbed himself a "war president" has referred to a famous interview given by Osama Bin Laden in which he described US soldiers as "cowards", citing the lesson learned from Somalia. In the same breath, Bush vows this experience will not be repeated; that he will remain committed to the cause of democratising Iraq. Bush advisers are fully aware that any sign of weakness could only harm his chances of winning re-election in November, given that Bush is championing as his trump card his ability to fight terror and make Americans safer.

For Democrats Bush "is the problem, not the solution". Iraq is "George Bush's Vietnam, and this country needs a new president," said veteran Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy in an attack of unprecedented bluntness on Monday.

Kennedy, who is supporting fellow Massachusetts Senator John Kerry in his presidential campaign, said that truth has become the biggest casualty of the Bush administration that has misled the public about the war, the economy, health care and education.

"As a result, this president has now created the largest credibility gap since Richard Nixon," Kennedy said in a speech at the Brookings Institution, the influential think-tank. "He has broken the basic bond of trust with the American people."

Kennedy's heated speech came one day after Senator Richard Lugar, the respected Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, joined former Secretary of State Madeline Albright in calling upon Bush to consider increasing the number of US troops in Iraq and extend the 30 June deadline to hand over sovereignty to Iraqis. Many observers, and even officials speaking off the record, concede that this deadline had become largely symbolic, and only served Bush's electoral goals in terms of being able to claim success in Iraq.

In light of the deteriorating security situation, Lugar warned of an imminent civil war in Iraq. "They're [the US troops] at a point in which clearly they can't control the situation. You have the militia that has not been disarmed, and if in fact the worst situation comes, the militia begin to fight each other, that is, civil war." Senator Joseph Biden, senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, meanwhile, asked Bush to convene a summit with European countries, including those which opposed the war, and to turn over authority to a United Nations high commissioner to be in charge of Iraq's political transition and restoration of sovereignty.

But to the Bush administration, to speak of extending the 30 June deadline or increasing US troops to provide security instead of depending on so-called "private security companies" or mercenaries from all over the world, would be an admission of defeat. On Monday, Pentagon sources confirmed reports that the senior commander of the US troops in the Middle East, General John Abu Zeid, asked for the preparation of plans to increase the number of US troops in Iraq in case the security situation continued to deteriorate. However, the same sources insisted that was simply a contingency plan, and did not imply that matters were getting out of control.

In statements to reporters on Monday, Bush again insisted he was committed to the 30 June deadline. Although he did repeat an earlier, widely criticised, claim that increasing attacks in Iraq were a sign of success as they indicated that "enemies of freedom" were desperate, Bush told reporters: "My judgement is that the closer we come to the deadline, the more likely these people will challenge our will. In other words, it provides a convenient excuse to attack." He added, "we've got to stay the course, and we will stay the course. The message to the Iraqi citizens is that they don't have to fear that America will turn and run."

However, his machismo in the face of rising casualties did not seem to help President Bush in opinion polls. Although a majority of Americans, 57 per cent, continue to support his decision to use military force in Iraq, only 40 per cent now approve of the way he is handling Iraq, while 53 per cent disapprove. That's down from 60 per cent who approved of his policy in mid-January, according to the poll by the Pew Research Centre.

Bush's overall job approval is at 43 per cent, a record low for his presidency, down from 56 per cent in mid-January. In the new poll, 47 per cent disapproved of Bush's job performance. Bush's job approval soared to 90 per cent after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and remained above 70 per cent for almost a year after that.