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Shade It Black: Death and After in Iraq

Shade It Black: Death and After in Iraq

By Jessica Goodell, John Hearn

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Private Boehner Memo on Iraq Surfaces

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Posted on Jun 14, 2006

Think Progress got ahold of Majority Leader John Boehner?s confidential strategy memo for Thursday?s congressional debate on the Iraq war. Think Progress says the memo aims to “exploit,” “attack” and “create a false choice.”


Think Progress:

On Thursday, the House of Representatives will hold a debate on the Iraq war. Media reports say Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) ?hopes to match the serious, dignified tone of deliberation that preceded the Gulf war, in 1991.?

ThinkProgress has obtained a ?Confidential Messaging Memo? from Boehner instructing his caucus to conduct a very different kind of deliberation. Here?s a quick summary:

  1. Exploit 9/11. The two page memo mentions 9/11 seven times. It describes debating Iraq in the context of 9/11 as ?imperative.?

  2. Attack opponents ad hominem. The memo describes those who opposes President Bush?s policies in Iraq as ?sheepish,? ?weak,? and ?prone to waver endlessly.?

  3. Create a false choice. The memo says the decision is between supporting President Bush?s policies and hoping terrorist threats will ?fade away on their own.?

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By Hilding Lindquist, June 14, 2006 at 6:16 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Ah yes, the project for the new american century ... is taking on a lower-case caste ...

9/11: Tying 9/11 to Iraq is bizarre. Anybody uttering that fallacy should be met with laughter, not a solemn attempt at balancing the argument. It should go like this:

People should simply be asked, “Do you believe Iraq was involved in any way in the 9/11 attack?” Whenever anyone answers anything besides a clear, “No”... you know you are not talking to a rational person, period.

Ad hominem attacks: The response I like the best is, “Are you really THAT stupid? Or are you just trying to see if I am?” ... again followed with gales of laughter. I mean, my god, Karl Rove accusing the Democrats of only being for cutting and running when we all know Reagan pulled out of Lebonon after the Marine barracks debacle. If it weren’t for sucking up to the dumb rich kid, Karl would be laughed off the podium. (Now THAT’S a true ad hominem attack!)

The false choice: I have a counter choice. Why does Bush support policies that either give Iran the upper hand in Iraq or bring us to the brink of Armageddon in the Middle East? (Is it because he believes God is on our side?)

You know, my getting old enough and getting enough experience with people and Bush starts getting scarier and scarier.

Bush is the stereotypical person who actually believes the lies that have been fed him because his subordinates are telling him what he wants to hear and he is too dumb to figure it out. And he has never NOT had his chestnuts pulled out of the fire by smart men and women surrounding him. This is a recipe for a disaster of monumental proportions when that person is put in charge of anything, let alone the most powerful nation in history ... and then gets fed this unimpeded exectuive authority crap.

I mean, the shere idiocy of Bush saying he wants to meet a person face to face and look him in the eye to determine his character. He’s never had to buy a car for which he didn’t have all the money at the time of purchase, has he?

I can see why they’ve kept him sheltered all his life ... turn this man lose on his own and there is hell to pay.

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