Login Here
Somebody help me out here.
Looking at this story, is there any way to spin this, other than to think that the Bush Junta is trying to incite the troops in Iraq to frag visiting Democratic members of Congress -- or at the very least not be as motivated to keep them safe during their visits?
The sheets of paper seemed to be everywhere the lawmakers went in the Green Zone, distributed to Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military of no particular rank. So when Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) asked a soldier last weekend just what he was holding, the congressman was taken aback to find out.
In the soldier's hand was a thumbnail biography, distributed before each of the congressmen's meetings in Baghdad, which let meeting participants such as that soldier know where each of the lawmakers stands on the war. "Moran on Iraq policy," read one section, going on to cite some the congressman's most incendiary statements, such as, "This has been the worst foreign policy fiasco in American history."
The bio of Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif.) -- "TAU (rhymes with 'now')-sher," the bio helpfully relates -- was no less pointed, even if she once supported the war and has taken heat from liberal Bay Area constituents who remain wary of her position. "Our forces are caught in the middle of an escalating sectarian conflict in Iraq, with no end in sight," the bio quotes.
"This is beyond parsing. This is being slimed in the Green Zone," Tauscher said of her bio.
This is beyond slime. In my opinion, this is incitement to murder -- or, at the very least, to dereliction of duty. I really can't see how this can be parsed or spun any other way, considering the tight control that Bush and his minions exercise on the Pentagon -- to the point where they didn't even bother to tell Bob Gates, their alleged Defense Secretary, that they were going to ask for another $50 billion last week.
The Bush Junta's total-control mindset extends to forbidding troop access to progressive web sites like ThinkProgress, even as FOX News and the National Review -- to name two conservative sites -- are allowed. There's no way that those charming little leaflets in the Green Zone weren't approved, if not actually drafted and created, by Team Bush operatives.
UPDATE: And sure enough, we find out from ThinkProgress that the Pentagon (specifically, the Strategic Effects office, or STRATEFF) has 'fessed up to creating these bogus and dangerously misleading smear "bios". And get this:
ThinkProgress spoke with one of the delegation’s military escorts, Maj. Toby Patterson, who said that he didn’t know who made the bios or why they were created in the first place. He added that his office, the Marine Corps liaison for the U.S. House of Representatives, usually just uses lawmakers’ readily-available bios off of congressionalquarterly.com.
Why would Bush's Pentagon do this? Why suddenly break with established procedure to create and use bios that "cherry-pick the representatives’ 'most incendiary' statements"?
Sorry, I still can't think of any good, or innocent, reasons to do this.
Share This 
Spotlight
Hiya!
3
Zed 2
Hey, Nori
Dos?
cinqo?
Hi Phoenix Woman!
siete?
PW: Sounds like incitement to murder to me.
on the other hand..maybe the “troops” will be happy to hear members of congress speak out against this ridiculous use of American service personnel.
I’m lost here. I am with you on the military’s shutting down soldier’s access to progressive (or even ordinary websites). But you’ve lost me on the frag business. Seems a bit risky given what is likely to happen to our government in 15 months, and I wouldn’t want to be the officer whose sig is on any of that paper.
It doesn’t make sense. I think more likely a rethug operation.
Besides here
Where’s the Outrage?
Josh at TPM seemed to think this story could end up being very serious business. To me, it seems like business as usual for this admin, but maybe getting publicly caught by living Congresscritters will give it legs.
PW, thanks for shining a light on the Bushrmacht
Why are we flying them over there when the pentagon could easily power point persuade them over here?
Our troops are brainwashing our congresscritters.
In my opinion, this is incitement to murder — or, at the very least, to dereliction of duty. I really can’t see how this can be parsed or spun any other way,…
Well - it *could* be an indication that these members need to get the super-duper propaganda sales job - or that these members can be ignored altogether as lost causes…
Wow.. did I just read that?
I bet the troops were glad to see that some of the reps thought that the war is a mess.
Knut Wicksell @ 10
The problem is that the Bushies have politicized every aspect of government, to the point where it’s honestly hard to tell where the government ends and the Bushies begin.
We’re talking about people that when looking for CPA hires placed ideology over competence every damn time.
GordonM @ 12
It’s magical thinking that this wil cause problems.
OT?..Is Ellen Tauscher getting a primary challenge in ‘08? What is her position on the Iranian war?
I find it hard to believe that the “near death” experience in’06 change her.
Knut Wicksell @ 10
It was done by our government who set up the trips.
SnarKassandra @ 17
Yeah. And according to the rest of the article above, some of them have managed to sneak past the Bush Junta handlers and tell them so.
It’s the old “who will rid me of this troublesome priest?”
probably just an experiment to see if a soldier would snap and take up the suggestion. hmmm not this time, they’ll try again.
disgustingly easy to imagine how hate radio and the reich-wing media would spin such a horrible occurence.
if only there was an opposition party in this country… can’t the (D)’s see how they are set up and demonized?
wake up and smell what the regime is cooking…
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/
referencing
http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1272/135/
But it isn’t demonized. It’s true! The congress people against this war should be proud that they want to bring the troops home and proud they can see the spin and not the propganda!
GordonM @ 12
That’s why I’m talking about it here tonight. Can you imagine the hue and cry that would have been raised in the media had this been done by the Clinton-Era DoJ to visiting GOP congresscritters touring Bosnia or Yugoslavia or Kosovo? There would have been Congressional hearing and it would have been all over TV; when they weren’t hyperventilating over the blue dress or trashing Wen Ho Lee, they’d be drooling over this.
Thanks PW for your important albeit chilling report. The invincible ignorance of this administration knows no bounds. Just drives me crackers the spineless democratic leadership continue to turn the other cheek. What will it take for them to snap out of it before the Bush Cheney criminal cartel carpet bombs Persia in all our names?
Wow — this is a truly shocking story. But will it get any traction? I doubt it.
In a little bit President Shit-for-brains will be on C-Span visiting the troops in Iraq. Just guessing here: it will be sanitized.
But see here:
Elliott @ 21
Yup. And the Bushies love to stage-manage anything having to do with Iraq. Even if they didn’t create the flyers themselves — which I find hard to believe — they certainly knew and approved of them, or else they wouldn’t have allowed them to be distributed in the Green Zone.
Is it impeachment yet?
Why even go visit. Might as well see a performance in Disney.. they’d be more real…
BigMitch @ 27
Good for the pilot, for risking his career that way. I fear that he’s going to find himself put in harm’s way as retribution.
Behavior like PW posted above is the reason for guys like Ted Nugent to call for killing sitting senators and maybe a military nut to go as far as downing an airplane with Dems aboard, instead of just scaring them. A Blackwater employee could actually do it and not have to answer for the crime, right?
In the good ole days, you would have the FBI at your door in 20 minutes, right?
Phoenix Woman @ 31
He’s a frickin Cobra pilot, his ass is in harms was everytime he takes off
I think the troops want to come home. Maybe this backfires.
Makes me wish even more that Jerry McNerney would have answered numerous pleas for more detailed information on what happened to him in Iraq last month. Clearly it played a role in his firmly narrow stance.
pw this is one excellant piece, written the way our issues NEED to be written
incitement to murder
that is EXACTLY what the bush administration was doing, that is EXACTLY the way this discussion needs to be framed and the democats HAVE GOT to start talking like this
we need to take the high road, we need to get INDIGNANT and we need to CHARGE these people with the crimes they commit each and EVERY time
they commit these crimes
get these neo fascists on the defensive, get them telling US we are over reacting and then jump down their throat
once again pw, excellant piece and spotlighted
This has Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner’s fingerprints all over it. He’s the new top military PR guy in Iraq replacing Maj. Gen. William Caldwell. Before that he was at the White House on the National Security Council staff as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Iraq. He is a straight propagandist and just makes things up. This sounds exactly like something he would do.
Goodnite all.
IMHO this doesn’t mean diddly. None of these people are going anywhere near the shit.
ccmask @ 39
goodnight cc, rest assured
raven,
Each time I took off in a helicopter, I gave my life over to the pilot, the co-pilot and the door gunners.
Eureka Springs @ 36
Better a narrow stance than a wide one. Just ask Larry Craig.
raven @ 40
What shit?
This is fairly radical stuff. Pure Rove and or Cheney.
SnarKassandra @ 17
Well, but I’m sure the troops in the Green Zone are a special breed. For Iraq, it’s a cushy job, so they’ve probably done something to deserve the reward.
raven @ 34
Eureka Springs @ 36
Did Jerry ever come back to FDL to answer some of the questions he neglected during the real-time chat? I know the pace was too frantic at the time, but I haven’t seen any follow-up, if he has. Just askin’…
Eureka Springs @ 43
Oh, I forgot, the current phrase is “in harms way” . I’m so sick of that bullshit phrase.
ccmask @ 33
Better the FBI than the DHS goons we have today; wearing black tac gear and riding around in black SUVs.
raven @ 49
But it is a pretty good movie…
Well, but I’m sure the troops in the Green Zone are a special breed. For Iraq, it’s a cushy job, so they’ve probably done something to deserve the reward.
Sorry kiddo, it doesn’t work that way.
Ummmm.
Where does anybody read incitement to murder?? Frag??
Am I missing something here? That is a pretty harsh insinuation.
msmolly, Sadly, no. In fairness the comment section on that thread closed shortly after he left.. However I am sure the power dogs would have been more than happy to post any additional input he wanted to add. *crickets*
raven @ 49
so am I raven
raven @ 40
I see it as more crossing a line. The military is supposed to keep its nose out of politics and this goes right into it. As I said above, this stinks of Bergner.
Hey — watching the six oclock news, and there I was!
Cool. They interviewed me as a man on the street, in favor of an initiative to get big money out of politics.
bg @ 35
I wasn’t seeing a lot of genuine smiles in that picture of Bush with the soldiers.
raven @ 49
And we know the President wouldn’t even fly into the Baghdad airport today… since congress critters were fired at last week upon their departure. But of course the MSM says that’s because it’s all so safe now.
dakine01 @ 51
I was watched it again last week. except for the incredible inaccuracies it is pretty good. The Marines never made a parachute assault in WWII and even John Wayne couldn’t throw a note wrapped in a weighted scarf from a C-47 at 5,000 feet to within 20 feet of troops on the ground. Pat Neal was great though.
How are you doing today, Raven? Is everything OK where you are?
LS @ 53
Whew, I’m glad I didn’t have to say that.
raven @ 52
I didn’t mean “militarily”.
raven @ 63
Whew, coming from you, I feel relieved…*g*
Do I hear Cicero?
In my opinion, this is incitement to murder — or, at the very least, to dereliction of duty.
So is anyone really surprised? This is from the criminal cabal that created 9/11.
IT WAS AN INSIDE JOB!
raven @ 60
And since when has a John Wayne movie relied upon historical accuracies?
Phoenix Woman @ 61
Yea, it’s cooled off in Georgia and with the new semester in full swing we are trying to come to some peace with the personal challenges we have had this spring and summer. Death has a way of making you appreciate life I guess.
thanks
Like every other tentacle of the Executive Branch, the US military has been turned into an extension of the Republican Party, to the greatest degree possible.
What other possible rationale could there be for having Rush Limbaugh on Armed Forced Radio?
woah. woah. WOAH.
Let’s take off our tinfoil hats for a minute and think about this. “Incitement to murder?” Iraq isn’t Jonestown, and I would say that any member of the US military that was prompted/instructed to kill a member of Congress would promptly blow the frickin’ whistle.
RonD @ 69
Rush his in a class with Tokyo Rose
kirk murphy @ 65
No, that’s just the sound of chickpeas.
dakine01 @ 67
That film has a very interesting mix of fact and fiction. The names of the islands are changed but many of the situations are based on fact. The Yamoto really did have the US Taffy III trapped in the Battle of Samar and broke it off but it was destroyers, not PT boats that attacked the Japanese. It was the greatest victory in American Naval history and it was basically ignored because Halsey fucked up so bad.
Mmmmm…curry wafting through the air…ahhhh….
RonD @ 69
And for not allowing Ed Schultz on Armed Forces Radio?
LS @ 64
Rut ro, gettin a bad rep on the lake!
Blender @ 70
The implication is for the whack job/true believer who would take the task upon himself/herself without being “ordered” to do so.
IIRC, The pentagon has it’s own news service now plus long arms of PR firms on its payroll.
Isn’t this about as wrong and dangerous as private paid militia?
raven @ 77
;> Luv ya man!
BigMitch @ 75
exactly right
it is all one big network special
i am hoping that the planned attack on visiting d’s backfires when soldiers who know they speak the truth have their eyes opened
dakine01 @ 77
Yea but that’s always possible, notes or not.
Eureka Springs @ 78
now that you mention it, yes.
there’s no end to their creepy programs
LS @ 80
ditto
raven @ 81
True, the notes can just be perceived as the final go-ahead authority.
Recall that the most serious incident of this kind in the Iraq war was the Muslim trooper in the 101st that shot up the joint in Kuwait.
littlebear @ 66
oh tut-tut-tut, that is Beyond the Bounds of Permissible Thought, decent people can’t think that and carry on their business as usual.
Desipte compiling the horrendous crimes the Cheney cabal commits day in, day out, there are two things they are assumed to be telling the plain truth about;
1) the number of U.S. military casualties.
2) the events of 9/11, that made it all possible.
I don’t know why this is, but so it goes…
BigMitch @ 75
Exactly. It’s not about protecting the troops from propaganda-it’s about promoting a particular ideology.
It will always be inexplicable to me why Bill Clinton, for most of his term, allowed Rush, the foremost demagogue and most successful propagandist in America, to stay on AFR, when every day was nothing but non-stop character assassina*ion of Clinton himself.
The mind reels.
raven @ 85
right before it started, right?
RonD @ 87
We would get and article 15 for having a peace sign bumper sticker on post back it the day!
Elliott @ 88
Yea, I think they were staging, everyone was waiting for the big gas attack at that time.
Pat Tillman?
Eureka Springs @ 78
Yes, even back in the first Gulf War the Pentagon had the media on a tight leash and put out a lot of essentially propaganda. The difference with this is that it represents a politicization of the military in ways reminiscent of the DOJ scandals. It goes beyond the usual dog and pony show in targeting specific politicians in a political way.
RonD @ 87
Because unlike BushCo, Clinton did understand the rights of free speech and that folks are allowed to have differing views.
Besides, with the Newt and Co in charge of Congress during the Clinton years, do you really think that was a battle he would have wanted to force? On top of all the other daily battles he was facing? And just imagine the wing-nut outcries of censorship should he have attempted it.
LS @ 54
LS, think about it:
Right as Democratic Congresscritters show up for a tour of the Green Zone (which while safer than the rest of Baghdad isn’t a walk in the part — it’s routinely shelled and everyone at the US embassy-fortress wears flak vests and helmets at all times), leaflets are sent around that are designed to show how these legislators are allegedly “anti-troop” because they dared oppose Bush somehow.
Why distribute such slanted and inflammatory material to the troops? Remember, websites like ThinkProgress are banned whereas FOX News and conservative propaganda are readily accessible; this wasn’t some lone nut out to slime a few visiting legislators — this was an official production.
What is the point in essentially trying to convince the troops responsible for the security of the visitors they’re guarding that these same visitors allegedly hate them and what they stand for?
Can anyone honestly see anything innocent in this?
If someone really wanted dead congress-critters, they’d be dead. No need for this kind of indirect approach.
raven @ 89
My stint in the USAF was more tolerant than that, but it was post-Nam…If you didn’t insist on forcing them to notice, you could get away with quite a lot…but if you forced them, they would drop a hammer on you.
The needs of the Air Force will control.
sporkovat @ 86
Morgan Reynolds, a distinguished economist that was part of the original monkey palace team in 2000 now goes around the country telling the truth about 9/11.
Don’t let anyone fool you - it is the official story that is a “crazy theory.” It makes no sense and any number of its parts can be readily disproved - remember - IF ANY OF THE OFFICIAL STORY IS FALSE, THEN THE WHOLE THING IS FALSE.
Morgan worked with all the folks in this administration and he came to know them as psychopathical liars that were capable of unthinkable crimes - including creating a “northwoods” style operation to rally support for the chimp after a stolen election and allow their criminal agenda to loot the federal treasury for the sake of the military-industrial complex (of which oil is a major component).
Hugh @ 92
With a small amount of tin foil one could easily imagine another folder/piece of paper with FISA gathered information on a congressman. It is exactly where one would use it, imo.
They didn’t tell Gates! That’s amazing. If the Dems were together, even slightly, there would be TV adverts now on this.
Phoenix Woman @ 94
Innocent by the perps, no, but we are giving no to credit to the service people.
fern @ 95
they still need deniability.
they are testing, seeing what can be got away with.
amazingly, the (D) party lets them get away with everything, so they keep pushing the envelope.
Sorry that I’m late to the thread, but, I wouldn’t construe it as dereliction of duty or fragging, I look at it as a sleazy attempt at propaganda! What seems to be missing in the discourse is the fact the servicemen do think on their own, witness, the heckling Shrub received today! If I was handed one of those leaflets I’d make it my mission to talk to either of them! Sorry, my $.02!!!
Hugh @ 38
It would take more than just him, of course. He’s got to have a staff of colonels, majors, and captains.
And all of them may have forgotten something: The consent of the US Senate is required for them to advance in rank.
Spreading misstatements and lies about the people who have your career in their hands is rarely a good idea. Somehow, I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this. I’m sure that Sen Levin and his committee will have some pointed questions.
raven @ 85
Actually, it was initiated by a Fragmentation grenade being heaved into the tent…!!!