There are new media forces already marshalling the weapon of choice...the KEYBOARD.
Here's a good place to start...
Link to it...disseminate it...promote it
Posted on 01/31/2008 4:11:54 AM PST by SJackson
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The Surrender Lobby's Tet Offensive |
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By Andrew Walden
FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, January 31, 2008
A year ago, Iraq was racked by horrific violence and on the brink of civil war. Now, levels of violence and civilians and military casualties are significantly reduced and hope has been rekindled in many Iraqi communities.
– General David Petraeus, letter to the troops December 28, 2007.
It has been a bad year for al-Qaeda in Iraq, and the Jihadis’ allies in America are feeling their pain. Speaking to The Politico January 17, John Isaacs, executive director of the misnamed Council for a Livable World, explained: “last year was not productive. Our expectations were dashed.”
The year 2007 began promisingly for the Democrats, who had taken control of the House and Senate after faking out voters with a squad of seemingly pro-military candidates. The “new” Democrats immediately showed their true colors, installing Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a pro-surrender member of the socialist “Progressive Caucus,” as Speaker of the House.
By May, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-MA, was pledging, “Those of us who oppose this war will be back again and again and again and again until this war has ended.” But it didn’t work out that way. The surge defeated all of them. Voting over 40 times to cut funds or set a date for U.S. surrender in Iraq, Congressional Democrats failed every time.
Said Issacs: “At the end of the year, Congress went out with a whole bunch more votes on Iraq with the same result. Some of the [news] stories were saying that members of Congress were getting tired of it.”
Issacs describes an early January meeting of about 20 George-Soros-funded anti-Iraqi liberation groups such as MoveOn.org and Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, which according to The Politico, burned through about $12 million opposing the war last year.
The Politico’s headline: “Anti-war groups retreat on funding fight.” And a retreat it is. Issacs told The Politico:
We got our heads together and decided to go a different way. The consensus was not to keep beating our heads against the wall trying to block every funding bill — not because we don’t agree with it, but because we don’t have the votes.
But this is no time for Americans to rest. In 1974, the U.S. had succeeded in positioning the South Vietnamese to defend themselves against Communism, and most U.S. troops had been withdrawn from Southeast Asia. It was only then that Congressional Democrats were able to finally cut off funding to the South with the December 1974 “Foreign Assistance Act.” By April 30, 1975, Saigon had fallen and the bloodletting in Cambodia and Vietnam began. This year, Congress failed to follow that example.
In this election year, the legislative-media propaganda effort will be focused on electing more Democrats. They will posture as supporters of the troops, as did the newly elected Democrats from the class of 2006. One theme will be the stress placed on soldiers being deployed “endlessly” to Iraq and Afghanistan. Moira Mack, a spokeswoman for AAEI, told The Politico:
There was a lot of agreement that this is really the way that we can best get our message across about endless war versus end-the-war and draw clear distinctions between anti-war Democrats and pro-war Republicans.
The purely partisan nature of so-called anti-war groups led to some high-profile defections in 2007. On May 28, Cindy Sheehan posted what she called her “resignation letter as the 'face' of the American anti-war movement,” in which she explained:
…since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such ‘liberal blogs’ as the Democratic Underground. Being called an ‘attention whore’ and being told ‘good riddance’ are some of the more milder rebukes…I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party…when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the ‘left’ started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used.
Sheehan was not the only one. Anti-war Iraq veteran John Bruhns left Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, and on November 19 wrote a column for the Philadelphia Daily News entitled, “The Anti-War Phonies” in which he lamented:
We threatened Republicans with “political extinction” if they didn't change their votes on Iraq. It was a partisan tactic that got us nowhere fast.
He explained:
I aligned myself with some high-profile lobbying organizations...I traded my convictions for “special interest” groups who sometimes seem to be in place simply to smear those who disagree with their political agenda. But the agenda is not anti-war. The war is used by these organizations as ammunition against political foes - primarily Republicans...
There ARE anti-war resolutions still floating out there that call for a real end to the war, but the groups I worked for wouldn't spend one dime to promote legislation considered out of the mainstream of the Democratic Party.
Any genuine anti-war message was filtered through media consultants who provide politically correct “talking points” to veterans for them to carry out a phony message that is beneficial to the campaign.
Bruhns is now focusing on calling for reinstatement of the draft on the theory that it would cause an increase in opposition to the liberation of Iraq. A draft could expand the military and reduce the stress on existing soldiers and Marines, but this position is one which would not help Democrats win elections.
Just as they blocked aid to South Vietnam and Cambodia in 1974, Democrats are now seeking to obstruct any efforts to extend long term U.S. support to the Iraqi government. According to The Politico:
During [the January 15th] presidential debate, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) referenced the kind of legislation that the anti-war crowd will be backing when she asked Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) if he would co-sponsor a bill to prevent the president from entering into any long-term agreements with the Iraqi government without consulting Congress.
Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said Obama will ‘support all common-sense efforts to ensure that President Bush does not tie the hands of future presidents through agreements with the Iraqi government.’
In December, Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) sent a strongly worded letter to Bush asking for information about what types of agreements the president planned to enter into and urging that he consult with Congress first. It was signed by Clinton and Democratic Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. (Pa.), Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.), Carl Levin (Mich.) and Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.).
Webb and Casey are Democratic senators who first won election in 2006 by posturing as conservative supporters of the troops.
While attempting to posture as supporters of the troops, they will also slander the troops. On March 13-16, “Iraq Veterans Against the War” plans to reenact the John Kerry-Jane Fonda charade by holding its own “Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan” in Washington, D.C. According to IVAW their alleged veterans will be joined by “Iraqi and Afghan survivors.”
However, the original Winter Soldier hearings, the basis of Kerry's memorable testimony before the U.S. Senate, were long ago exposed as a fraud. Vietnam Veterans outraged at John Kerry’s 1971 Winter Soldier lies formed in 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in order to expose Kerry before the voting public. Investigator Scott Swett explains:
Records available in the National Archives show that the House Committee on Armed Services directed the Department of Defense to conduct a “prompt review” of the Winter Soldier Investigation testimony in April 1971. Army investigators determined that 46 of the allegations, if true, would qualify as war crimes, and opened a case file for each. Three individuals could not be identified. The other 43 cases were resolved as follows: 25 individuals making the allegations “refused to provide factual data,” 13 more provided information to investigators that “did not support the allegations,” and the final 5 could not be located.
But how many stories from this March will be verifiable? Already one IVAW member, Jesse Adam MacBeath was exposed as a fraud. ABC News explains: “Macbeth's story of killing men and women as they left a Baghdad mosque included claims that he was a U.S. Army Ranger and had received the Purple Heart for injuries suffered in combat in Iraq. His interview was translated into Arabic and distributed in the Middle East, said the U.S. attorney.” MacBeath is now serving time for illegally applying for VA benefits. Others have also been exposed.
Less than two months before the big atrocity show, IVAW’s website explains: “If you would like to submit your testimony to Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan, contact the Winter Soldier testimony/verification team at wintersoldier@ivaw.org. This team will be responsible for collecting and verifying the authenticity of the testimony. We need combat veterans to join our verification team.”
But as part of a “Winter Soldier preview tour, IVAW member Mike Blake told an audience January 19 at the “Different Drummer Café” in Watertown, NY: “The killing of innocent civilians is policy. It's unit policy and it's Army policy. It's not official policy, but it's what's happens on the ground everyday. It's what unit commanders individually encourage.” Really? Where? When? Who participated? Who were the victims? And most importantly: Where is the detailed report of even a single atrocity which investigators can follow up on? Just as it was 37 years ago, all of the details are missing and reporters seem uneager to ask for specifics.
While leftist activists search for American atrocities abroad, the New York Times is trying to invent them at home. The Times has begun a series entitled “War Torn,” purporting that returning Iraq war veterans suffering Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are committing numerous violent crimes. The multi-part series may continue at least until March, helping to set the stage for Winter Soldier II. Their first example is Matthew Sepi who returned from Iraq and in the summer of 2005 shot two armed gang members in a Las Vegas alley. Charges were dropped after police determined that the gang members were armed and had fired. Sepi should get a medal for helping reduce crime in Las Vegas. Instead the New York Times uses his story in an effort to paint veterans as mentally unstable.
Meanwhile back at the Times they write:
Town by town nationwide, headlines have been telling similar stories. Lakewood, Wash.: ‘Family Blames Iraq After Son Kills Wife.’ Pierre, S.D.: ‘Soldier Charged With Murder Testifies About Postwar Stress.’ Colorado Springs, Colo.: ‘Iraq War Vets Suspected in Two Slayings, Crime Ring.’
Individually, these are stories of local crimes. Taken together, they paint the patchwork picture of a quiet phenomenon, tracing a cross-country trail of death and heartbreak.
The “quiet phenomenon” is a media campaign against Iraq vets. They want the public to believe that military service destroys the mind. But Iraq and Afghanistan vets are far less likely to be involved in violent crime than their age-group peers whose minds have been destroyed by the glorification of drugs and crime in the leftist entertainment media and by the designed-to-fail leftist-controlled pubic schools. (Bloggers at Winds of Change break down the stats.)
But the Times isn’t interested in statistics: in their second installment, they focus on the story of Marine Lance Cpl. Walter Rollo Smith who came back from Iraq suffering PTSD, and in 2006 killed his wife Nicole Marie Spiers. Spiers’ father, John Spiers tells the Times: “When they mention Nicole, it’s like an aside. I feel like a lot of people are using her death as something against the war.”
Mr. Speirs is right. And someday, Tinseltown may use her life as an attack on the war. Hollywood is producing movies portraying U.S. soldiers as bloodthirsty killers and psychopaths—every one of which flopped last year. But bloggers at Hot Air explain Hollywood also has its eyes focused on March: “Not satisfied with its string of war flops and smears of the U.S. military in Iraq, from In the Valley of Elah, to Redacted, in March Hollywood will serve up Stop-Loss. Starring Ryan Phillipe, Stop-Loss tells the story of a soldier who is retained in the military on his last day of service and told he’s being shipped back to Iraq. But watch the trailer. Not content just to preach against one clause that’s in every single military volunteer’s contract, the film suggests that the soldier and his unit committed war crimes in Iraq. It promotes re-instating the draft. It states flatly that desertion is more honorable than service.”
To counter leftist lies, Veterans for Freedom will be promoting a 16-state “National Heroes Tour” of Iraq, and Afghanistan vets. Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) explains: “Vets For Freedom has emerged as one of the most influential and authoritative voices in the debate over the war in Iraq.” VFF co-founders include one Medal of Honor Nominee, and several recipients of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
Millions of Americans are already hip to the cynical and politically partisan media game being played with the lives of people living in America and Iraq. It won’t take three-and-a-half decades to investigate the Winter Soldier Project this time.
An excellent article and one to be disseminated
Thanks.
Ping for later read.
An excellent article and one to be disseminated
While leftist activists search for American atrocities abroad, the New York Times is trying to invent them at home. The Times has begun a series entitled “War Torn,” purporting that returning Iraq war veterans suffering Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are committing numerous violent crimes. The multi-part series may continue at least until March, helping to set the stage for Winter Soldier II. Their first example is Matthew Sepi who returned from Iraq and in the summer of 2005 shot two armed gang members in a Las Vegas alley. Charges were dropped after police determined that the gang members were armed and had fired. Sepi should get a medal for helping reduce crime in Las Vegas. Instead the New York Times uses his story in an effort to paint veterans as mentally unstable.
A timely and appropriate title if I ever saw one.
It was forty years ago this morning when we awoke and found the Viet Cong had not pulled back at first light as they usually did after nighttime terrorist activities. This puzzled us, as we knew that they knew that we knew if they stayed around after the sun came up we would kill them, and we did. But the Democrats and their fellow traitors in the MSN called it a communist victory and the rest is, as they say, history.
The New York Times is a treasonous rag.
Yes it is, Race. Thanks for the ping. Thanks for posting, SJackson.
Speaking to The Politico January 17, John Isaacs, executive director of the misnamed Council for a Livable World, explained: “last year was not productive.
Another hidden-agenda collective paying homage to the taqiyya-talkin' anti-truth, anti-freedom, anti-life, control-your-life, 'rat Crime Syndicate.
The lie is the weapon used most often by the criminal. Witness politics in America. Witness what is going on in the world. Witness history.
pabianice
RVN 1970-1971
The “Enemy Within” operates openly and without fear of consequence...
THAT is what has to change...
Ping to an excellent article on the Left’s new war crimes propaganda attack on our military.
Speaking of Tet, 40 years ago this morning I was lying behind an M-60 waiting for half of Asia to come screaming over the berm.
They didn’t, but damned if we didn’t have fun the next few months. I wake up at 0130 this morning every year.
Michael Frazier
BTTT
There are new media forces already marshalling the weapon of choice...the KEYBOARD.
Here's a good place to start...
Link to it...disseminate it...promote it
Thanks Race!
Bump for later read
Excellent article!
Thanks for posting!
Excellent article.
You might want to ping the military FReepers.
Semper Fi,
Kelly
bump for later
Thanks for the ping!
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