Propoganda 101

We have just marked the third anniversary of the war in Iraq. This symbolic date naturally has caused most of the country to refocus on the war as the main topic of national conversation. In preparation for this, and with support for the war consistently plummeting, the Bush Administration has stepped up their efforts to talk about Iraq and to try to convince Americans to stick with their plan. To do so they’ve brought out their old playbook.

Yesterday on Meet The Press it was General George Casey’s turn to spew The White House’s talking points about The Iraq War. A couple weeks ago it was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Peter Pace, making an appearance on Meet The Press where he explained that the war was “going very, very well.” But, General Casey wasn’t on Meet The Press merely to be positive about the war. There was some increased military activity by the U.S. recently in Iraq, and he was also there to put the administration’s spin on this activity.

Within the first 2 minutes of the interview General Casey twice referred to ongoing military operations in Iraq as a fight against al-Qaida. I was almost embarrassed for him that the administration put him up to this - that they couldn’t even give him anything more subtle and manipulative, that they resorted to such simple propaganda tactics.

Here’s how the interview started:

TIM RUSSERT: General, good morning and welcome. What can you tell us about Operation Swarmer?

GEN. GEORGE CASEY: Well, good morning, Tim. Operation Swarmer is one of a series of ongoing operations that we have to keep the pressure on al-Qaida and to keep foreign fighters and Iraqis that are supporting them from forming safe havens in lesser inhabited areas of Iraq. This operation was put together with the Iraqi security forces; it continues to this day. They’ve had pretty good success there in terms of weapons caches that they’ve found and people that they’ve, they’ve detained. So again, one of a continuing series of operations that we will continue to run here to keep the pressure on al-Qaida.

That’s right - according to the general, apparently our main focus in Iraq is a fight against al-Qaida. These talking points could’ve been written by a college freshman halfway through his first public relations course. This shouldn’t even fool most of the right wing base; only the die hard Kool-Aid drinkers could buy that. And, only Tim Russert could let this slide without challenging the statement. Is the administration so weary and beat-up lately that they’re not even able to do what they do best – twist and manipulate the truth. We all know the administration has consistently tried to link Iraq to 9/11 and al-Qaida, and to the war on terror; but this kind of word manipulation is just shameful.

At least the Meet The Press viewers were treated to some honest talk in the 2nd segment. John Murtha delivered a much more accurate and believable assessment of Iraq. And to contradict the ridiculous notion that we’re there to fight al-Qaida, Murtha set the record straight. The figures he gave are that there are less than 1,000 foreign fighters in Iraq, that 95% of the insurgency is made up of Iraqi civilians. Murtha has been one of the only politicians speaking the truth to the people.

And, if you’re wondering who to believe, consider that Murtha has been telling us for months that there are only 750 – 1,000 foreign fighters in Iraq and no Republican, nor anyone in the administration or in the military has disputed those figures. Instead, they play these games like substituting the word al-Qaida for Insurgency to try to spin the war in their favor and increase support because they know America is in full support of taking on al-Qaida. That way they’re not technically lying by stating facts that are easily refutable. They just ignore the facts that Murtha provides and present their own version of events which is light on facts and heavy on spin.