Bush launches PR salvo on Iraq

[radfringe]

Operation: Lipstick on a pig

Bush launches PR salvo on Iraq

President takes 'good news' and his $87bn budget plea direct to smalltown America

Paul Harris, New York
Sunday October 12, 2003
The Observer

President George Bush yesterday launched the latest salvo in a a White House public relations offensive to convince Americans that things are going well in Iraq.
In his weekly radio address to the nation, Bush said Iraq was 'making progress' despite a steady stream of bad news on front pages.

Bush and top administration officials are trying to reach out directly to public opinion and break through 'the filter' of a mainstream media that they accuse of concentrating on casualty figures and Iraqi resistance.

Bush said Iraq was a country where the markets are busy, shelves are full of previously banned goods, oil is flowing and a vibrant independent media has replaced Saddam's state-controlled papers and television stations.

---snip---

Despite the aggressive spin, the administration faces an uphill battle to convince an American public growing increasingly sceptical of the reasons for war and increasingly angry at the costs.

The situation on the ground in Iraq is an awkward mosaic of political and economic progress with deadly violence and high crime. Electricity is now flowing through the entire country and schools have reopened. But hostility towards American troops is growing with scores of attacks each week.

On Friday a spasm of violence shook Baghdad and saw two US soldiers killed in a Shia suburb, a Spanish military attache shot in his home and a car bomb detonated in a police station, killing 10 people.

Yesterday an explosion ripped open an oil pipeline north west of Kirkuk. 'There was an explosion, sabotage,' said Ghazi al-Talibani, a worker for the North Oil company, which operates the pipeline and oilfields around the northern Iraqi city.

Meanwhile, US soldiers stormed three houses near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and detained four suspects, two believed to be linked to the ousted leader's special security force

[Noordam]

1. Yesterday things going GREAT,, today Hotel car bombed.

Oh well......

[Guaranteed]

2. Good luck, buddy.

Did I say "good luck"? I'm sorry, I meant "Fuck you," Bush.

[truthisfreedom]

3. there's only two words that make any sense of this: Mission Accomplished.

Mission Accomplished.

the first word implies that there was a plan.

the second implies that someone who knows what's going on was at the helm.

we are soooo lucky to have such a wonderful schmuck with a plan at the helm. so lucky that we might actually lose to russia in a new york minute, erasing "ronnie's" gains.

[MaineDem]

4. Does anyone listen to the weekly radio address?

I just wonder.

[radfringe]

5. I try to

but I keep getting sick

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. Place some plastic over your radio...

That keeps the dials from getting all gummed-up when your belly roils.

[Guaranteed]

6. We may not hear about all the "good things" going on in Iraq...

....but we don't hear about the 15 attacks per day on average against our troops either. So Bush can just shut the hell up.

[alcuno]

7. They don't get it. We don't CARE about the good things going on.

I was talking to my mom, who voted for Bush, and she said the same thing. It's nice that there are schools open in Iraq, but she really doesn't care that much.

The American people did not support going there to liberate and help Iraqis, so why should they care about it now?

[Guaranteed]

11. Good point.

The administration used it as an intellectual rationale to act like assholes. Republicans used it all the time in coffeehouse debates. But (and this was my usual response to their argument) the truth was that they didn't really give a shit about the Iraqi people. Whether or not the administration fends off attacks by anti-war people with the Iraqis' "liberation," no one really cares. If people don't care that thousands of innocent Iraqis were killed during the war, why should they care if they have clean water or not?
Whether it's good rationale or not, Americans (particularly pro-war Americans) just don't feel the "love" for the Iraqis.

[kodi]

8. ahem........"Peace is at hand."

for those of us who remember.

[tinnypriv]

9. Amazing how the media acknowledges that they're subject to a PR offensive

It won't stop them reporting the lies as being attributed to "high government officials", will it? :eyes:

[Nottingham]

12. He's going to need more Flags for this PR!

Millions of flags waving! Get that Patriotism going and star singing
America!

and its going to be have to be sung over & over again! :bounce:

[gulliver]

13. Bush not admitting he screwed up.

I'm glad this article points out the problems with the Bush line that things are going well in Iraq. But that's beside the point. No matter how well things go in Iraq, we need to keep our eye on the ball.

Did we get what we thought we were buying? Was it worth the immense cost? Are we and the rest of the world more secure now?

We can't let the Bushies make this about improving the quality of life for some Iraqis. It was not about that before the war. Where was Bush the great Iraqi humanitarian before the war started to look like a big mistake for America?

[young_at_heart]

14. Black is white........war is peace.......etc. etc.

They are so used to having successes with PR and spin that it hasn't occured to them that not all of us will be lemmings.

[BenDavid]

15. A Recap of PR..

On day 1, Condi Rice spoke and 4 U S soldiers were killed. On day 2, Whistle Ass spoke and 1 U S soldier killed with 9 Iraqis in a suicide bombing. On day 3, Cheney spoke, and 2 U S soldiers killed, and today, Day 4, suicide bombing 6 Iraqis killed and over 30 injured. Some damn great PR going on here. As long as U S soldiers are being killed and over 40 attacks a day on U S soldiers, I do not care to hear whether or not there was a soccer field opened.

[radfringe]

16. Whistleass is in bigger trouble than he thinks

consider this scenario:

-We invade Iraq based on lies
-Iraq is in a mess
-Iraq is the terrorist magnet
-Taliban is reorganizing in Afghanistan and the fighting continues
-No WMD's found in Iraq
-Saddam is still missing
-Bin-laden is still missing
-A "new improved" approach to Iraq is announced every couple of weeks
-No substantial coalition aid/forces to help in Iraq
-The UN has basically turned it's back on us
-In-Fighting amongst Rumsfeld, Rice and Powell
-Speeches/press conferences by Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, Whistleass
and Cheney all saying different and conflicting things
-Leakers lurking with Ashcroft doing the investigation
-Still no substantial and visible job growth and with the exception
of the stock market performance in the past couple of months -
the economy is still in the toilet and the Whistleass solution is
for MORE taxcuts

so I ask you - does this sound like something a bit of "flag waving" will "fix"?

For probably, the first time in the Whistleass mis-Administration - the Whistleass has to really "take charge" and he's falling on his ass

[Pale_Rider]

17. Form letters from the Front part of the PR ...

... campaign aiming to win the hearts and souls of Americans for the war efforts.

Many soldiers, same letter
Newspapers around U.S. get identical missives from Iraq
http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20031011/frontpage/121390_Printer.shtml

WASHINGTON -- Letters from hometown soldiers describing their successes rebuilding Iraq have been appearing in newspapers across the country as U.S. public opinion on the mission sours.
And all the letters are the same.

A Gannett News Service search found identical letters from different soldiers with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, also known as "The Rock," in 11 newspapers, including Snohomish, Wash.

The Olympian received two identical letters signed by different hometown soldiers: Spc. Joshua Ackler and Spc. Alex Marois, who is now a sergeant. The paper declined to run either because of a policy not to publish form letters.

The five-paragraph letter talks about the soldiers' efforts to re-establish police and fire departments, and build water and sewer plants in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, where the unit is based.

"The quality of life and security for the citizens has been largely restored, and we are a large part of why that has happened," the letter reads.

[underpants]

19. "Astroturf letters" from an injured soldier without his knowledge

Nice. I saw CreekDog's thread on this. Notice two of the soldiers' letters made their way to West Virginia papers, an election battleground state.

[radfringe]

18. UN and the Whistleass (WA)

just a couple thoughts about the UN and the Whistleass (WA)

in by-passing/snubbing the UN and invading Iraq anyways, I think we pretty much agree that WA screwed up

When WA gave the speech at the UN recently, it was a bust, and judging from the amount of aid pouring in I think the UN has said "you wanted to go it alone, you got it"

WA's first mistake was bypassing the UN and invading anyways. I think that painted WA into a corner and short of getting down on his knees, no matter what he said at the UN the result would have been the same.

He couldn't "humble" himself and beg for forgiveness and help - this would have "weakened" us in the eyes of the world. Taking the tact he did in the recent speech did nothing more than to confirm the impression of arrogance and insincerity

We are pretty much stuck with "going it alone" as long as WA has his butt planted in the oval orafice. Should WA be reSelected, we will have to bear all the human and financial costs alone.

I think our only hope of getting substantial international assistance is if WA is sent back to Crawford, permanently.