Advertising the War

Freedom's Watch, a right wing group headed by former Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, is bankrolling a $15 million, five-week advertising campaign putting pressure on lawmakers whose backing of President Bush's Iraq war strategy may be wavering.

...The ads will run in 20 states and will urge viewers to ask their member of Congress to stand by Bush's plan. Organizers of the effort would not identify the targeted lawmakers, but a review of the initial TV ad placements — done by a group opposed to the war — shows most of them are in Republican congressional districts.

Take a look at this ad. Iraq war veteran John Kriesel lost both legs in a blast near Fallujah. When asked, Fleischer didn't even know the name of the soldier who appears in his ad.

This is the height of insanity: advertisements selling the Iraq War in swing states attempting to persuade the local constituancies to pressure their Congressional leaders into siding with Herr Bush's failed war policy. Reminds me of propaganda movies like this:

Looking at Mr. Kriesel, I understand his great sacrifice and his anger against those who attacked us. It's just a shame that Herr Bush and his cronies decided to sidetrack us into a war for oil, profit and power and therefore pulled out of Afghanistan before the job was done.

They speak of supporting the troops, but delay in providing them the tools they need to make them safe. Bush authorizes a commission on veteran's care and fixing Walter Reed hospital, but then puts the Dole-Shalala Commission recommendations on the backburner. And they have absolutely no problem with using the military as a backdrop for their latest photo ops while opposing a Democratic effort to restore full educational benefits for returning veterans.

But using war heroes, families of fallen soldiers and images of planes running into the World Trade Center Towers to further disinform the misguided public into connecting Iraq with 9/11 -- using that as pro-war advertising is just beyond my comprehension and makes me sick.