A new right-wing front group for the White House, calling itself “Freedom’s Watch”, launched a month-long, $15 million media campaign to pressure Congress for continued support of Mr. Bush’s debacle in Iraq (The Washington Post, 8/21/07). The group is composed of former aides and supporters of President Bush and is headed by former White House Press Secretary and professional liar Ari Fleischer.
The ads, scheduled to run in twenty states, contain fear mongering statements such as: They attacked us and they will again; They won’t stop in Iraq; It will mean more attacks in America; and We’ve already had one 9/11, we don’t need another.
While it is true that we don’t need another 9/11, the rest of these statements are contradicted by the consensus view of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, as expressed in the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released earlier this summer.
“[The NIE report] is a stark and unambiguous repudiation of the Bush administration’s counterterrorism strategy and its contention that the war in Iraq has made us safer. Indeed, the report suggests that it’s just the opposite -- that the war in Iraq has fueled a growing hatred of America, spread Islamic extremism, and spawned an expanding crop of newly inspired jihadists around the globe. And it eviscerates the Bushies’ bedrock notion that we are fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here. It turns out that the odds of us having to fight them over here have greatly increased precisely because we are fighting them over there.”-- Arianna Huffington, 7/21/07
If you’re wondering why anybody would spent $15 million to prolong an unpopular, unwinnable war, Socrates explained it 24 centuries ago:
“All wars are fought for money.”
Well-connected people and companies are making windfall profits in Iraq--most of which come right out of the pockets of American taxpayers, and this will continue as long as they can keep our troops there. Over 3750 have already died for the war profiteers. That’s enough--that’s more than enough.
Call your Senators and Representative (202-225-3121) and tell them it is time to end the war and bring our troops home.
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