Copyright 2003 Chicago Tribune Company Chicago Tribune August 20, 2003 Wednesday Chicago Final Edition

HEADLINE: 2 bombings test Bush's agenda NOTES: Analysis BYLINE: By Bob Kemper, Tribune national correspondent.

CRAWFORD, Texas The bombings that killed and wounded scores of people Tuesday in Israel and Iraq dealt a deadly double blow to President Bush's already flagging efforts to bring peace and stability to the volatile Middle East. The truck bomb that devastated part of the United Nations compound in Baghdad instantly increased pressure on Bush at home and abroad to bolster the occupying military force in Iraq and to allow other nations to share the burden of securing and reconstructing the ruined country. Hours later, the suicide bomber who boarded a packed bus in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem imperiled anew the effort Bush is leading to establish peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Though apparently unrelated, two attacks of such a magnitude in a single day could complicate exponentially Bush's efforts to sell his vision of a democratic Middle East forged largely by the military and diplomatic might of the United States, the world's lone superpower. The president, vacationing at his ranch in Crawford denounced the bombings and declared that terrorists would not deter his administration from its goal of introducing democracy to an oil-rich but potentially explosive region considered vital to U.S. interests. "By attempting to spread chaos and fear, terrorists are testing our will," Bush said after the attack in Iraq. "Across the world, they are finding that our will cannot be shaken. We will persevere through every hardship. We will continue this war on terror until the killers are brought to justice. And we will prevail." Much of the international community already was skeptical about the Bush administration's case for the invasion of Iraq. And the divide between the United States and other nations only deepened when Bush refused to give the UN a greater say in postwar peacekeeping and reconstruction matters in Iraq--the price demanded by potential allies in exchange for their military assistance. Since May 1, the day Bush stood beneath a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished" and declared an end to major combat in Iraq, fatal attacks on U.S. soldiers have persisted, bombings have disrupted oil and water supplies, and the administration's policies in Iraq have come under closer scrutiny by the American public. Tuesday's truck bombing marked the single largest attack by anti-U.S. forces in Iraq, and its style and methods, like a bombing two weeks ago of the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, bore the signature of Al Qaeda-affiliated militant Islamic groups, although no group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. Critics of the Bush administration's decision to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein have long feared that an extended U.S. occupation of Iraq would provide an irresistible target for Islamic extremists.

More troops urged in Iraq Because the U.S. has assumed responsibility for the security of the entire country, and the UN headquarters was under the protection of U.S. forces, experts interpreted the bombing as a strike against Washington as much as the world body. Republican and Democratic lawmakers are calling on Bush to boost the size of the U.S. force in Iraq--a move Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld opposes--and to increase security across the country by encouraging greater international participation in the military coalition. "We may have misled the American people by telling them basically that it was over when the hardest part, the imposition of peace and democracy, still lay ahead of us," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on NBC's "Today Show," before the UN bombing. "We need to tell the American people how tough it's going to be," said McCain, who is part of a congressional delegation visiting Iraq. "We cannot afford to lose this. We need to do whatever is necessary."

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the bombing of the UN facility underscored the need for Bush to relinquish his near-total control there in exchange for additional military assistance from other countries. "It is a stark reminder that no progress on reconstruction can be made in Iraq without establishing security," Biden said in a statement. "And clearly, this is not just a problem for the U.S., but for the whole world." Bush's top lieutenants made it clear that even in the face of escalating violence, the administration sees no need to shift strategies in Iraq. "There will be ups and downs. There will be days like today, which are clearly tragic," Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, said. "But there is absolutely no question that the coalition intends to stay the course. And that is our message. It is a very clear message, and it's unwavering." The Bush administration still was emphasizing its determination to press ahead in Iraq when another suicide bomber blew apart a packed tandem bus in Jerusalem, abruptly halting progress on the "road map" peace initiative that Bush has been actively advancing in the region. The explosion virtually demolished an already strained cease-fire to which Islamic militants had agreed on June 29 and that was considered critical to any future progress in the peace talks. Two groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, both parties to the truce, claimed responsibility for the bus bombing.

Israel suspends all contacts Shortly after the bombing, Israel announced that it was suspending all contacts with the Palestinians. It also canceled plans to hand over to the Palestinians control of two West Bank towns, Jericho and Qalqilya--a turnover that the White House had been counting on as a significant, concrete advance in the step-by-step peace plan. In a statement released in Washington, the Bush administration called on the Palestinian Authority to crack down on terrorist groups the U.S. says are intent on derailing a peace plan whose ultimate goal is to create a separate Palestinian state. "We condemn this vicious act of terrorism," National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack said. "We call on the Palestinian Authority to dismantle networks." Tuesday's devastation marked a significant escalation of violence in the Middle East since U.S. forces took control of Baghdad four months ago. But it also reflected a strategy among terrorist groups to strike so-called soft targets that are not heavily protected by coalition forces. Experts on security issues said terrorists, particularly those active in Iraq, are taking advantage of the nation's instability to strike out at the United States. "The objective of the resistance is to destabilize the country and prevent the U.S. from bringing security and restoring essential services," said Vince Cannistraro, a former chief of counterterrorism at the CIA. "Softer targets have just as much propaganda value as striking at a U.S. military base," said Thomas Sanderson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Bush was playing golf early Tuesday morning when he learned of the attack in Iraq by phone from National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. He continued to play, getting periodic updates from aides, before deciding by the 11th hole to head back to his ranch. It was on the ranch, inside a hastily made-over helicopter hangar, that Bush exchanged his golf shirt for a blue blazer, dress shirt and red tie and read a five-minute statement denouncing the attack. He was at the ranch when news of the Israeli attack broke, but he made no further public appearances. While saying that the twin bombings would set back Bush's agenda in the Middle East, some outside experts said such attacks have to be expected in a region in which anti-American sentiment runs so high. "I don't think we can be deeply surprised by either attack," said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. However, he added, "I don't think incidents of this magnitude should be enough to provoke a strategic rethinking of what we are trying to accomplish in these two places. In many ways, it shows the difficulty of what we are trying to do."