Bush and Cheney Thinks War (or American Elections) Can Be Won with Propaganda

I remember when I was a kid we always laughed when we came across examples of Soviet propaganda. It was so lame you wondered how anyone took it seriously. Well, there are times when Bush and Cheney seem to believe their own propaganda. Here's Tom Lasseter of the McClatchy Washinton Bureau:

"The American policy has failed both in terms of politics and security, but the big problem is that they will not confess or admit that," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of parliament. "They are telling the American public that the situation in Iraq will be improved, they want to encourage positive public opinion (in the U.S.), but the Iraqi citizens are seeing something different. They know the real situation."

Othman charges that top American officials spend most of their time in the heavily guarded Green Zone in Baghdad and at large military bases across the country, and don't know what's happening in the neighborhoods and provinces beyond.

(snip)

Some U.S. soldiers in Iraq reluctantly agree.

"As an intelligence officer ... I have had the chance to move around Baghdad on mounted and dismounted patrols and see the city and violence from the ground," wrote one American military officer in Iraq. "I think that the greatest problem that we deal (besides the insurgents and militia) with is that our leadership has no real comprehension of the ground truth. I wish that I could offer a solution, but I can't. When I have briefed General Officers, I have given them my perspective and assessment of the situation. Many have been surprised at what I have to say, but I suspect that in the end nothing will or has changed."

McClatchy is withholding the officer's name to protect him from possible retaliation by his superiors or political appointees in the Pentagon for communicating with the news media without authorization.

American officials and Iraqi officials appointed by them continue to orchestrate ceremonies, news conferences and speeches that suggest that things are getting better.

Let me point out that the first speaker is a Kurd and the Kurds have been our closest allies in Iraq. The reality is that even our friends can't get through to our leadership that we have a problem. And if you can't recognize that there's a problem, you can't fix it.

One of the reasons America became a great nation is simply because of our pragmatism. When the Erie Canal was built in the early 19th century, we didn't know how to build such a canal. But we learned as we went along. We recognized the problems, thought clearly about them and worked them through. It was a major accomplishment for that era. There is very little pragmatism in the White House or Republican Congress these days. Not in our foreign policy. And not in our domestic policies. It is embarrassing and a fiasco.