Tomorrow, bush is scheduled to make a ‘significant speech’ on the war on terrorism, placing Iraq at the nexus.(we can all speculate about correlations with potential pending indictments). My request here may throw some folks of guard- I encourage anyone who has establish rapport with main stream media to email their contacts to request they consider the context of the wh rationale. Several MSM outlets have run stories re: the percentage of ‘foreign insurgents’ involved in Iraq-estimated to max at 10%. Here’s one example from the Boston Globe: http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/07/17/study_cites_seeds_of_terror_in_iraq/
To no surprise the analysis in this article holds the bush admin accountable for creating the conditions for allowing this particular element(foreign insurgents) to take hold-of course all of this occurred post ‘mission accomplished’. Horrific outcome is an understatement. Yet it’s highly likely that the bush admin has every intention to co-opt the tragic outcome of their blundering strategy and will attempt to couch it as a purposeful outcome. As many of you know the recently retired General Odom (a very mainstream and respected career military officer) referred to the bush admin invasion as, paraphrased here but close- The most significant blunder strategically/tactically in U.S. history.
I watched the bush/Miers press conference yesterday 10/4 and thought the wh press corp asked tougher questions than they have in a very long time-so maybe enough of an opening for the press to be emboldened to cover the 10/6 speech from a reality based perspective based on facts-and do the job they need to do. I wish no one needed to do this but the reality is given the corporatization of media we need to encourage MSM when/where we can. I’m in WA state-considered high-tech and only 52% of households are accessing internet-at minimum 48% of households rely on main stream media to keep informed.
Bottomline- to the greatest extent possible, for those that have them- in the very early A.M. 10/6 use established media relationships to convey the context and the imperative that the the time has passed to give the bush administration a pass on Iraq. If you don’t have them -do what you do best.
Here’s some background from the white house web page:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/10/20051005-4.html
“Tomorrow the President will be giving a significant speech on the war on terrorism. We recently just marked the four-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11th. It is a reminder that we remain engaged in a global war on terrorism, and this is a major speech that the President will be giving on the war on terrorism. The event is being sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy. That will be the audience he will be speaking to here in Washington, D.C.
I expect that the President will talk in unprecedented detail about the nature of the enemy we face. The terrorists have a vision of the world that is opposite of our vision of freedom. You have heard the President talk about that. This is a sophisticated and determined enemy. They are killers who have a hateful, murderous ideology that is based on evil beliefs and goals. They have a clear strategy that seeks to exploit a religion to serve their violent, oppressive vision. And the President will talk about their strategy and their vision in greater detail than he has before.
He will also talk about our comprehensive strategy for defeating the lethal and determined enemy we face. He’ll talk about the strategy we have for staying on the offensive and spreading freedom. He will also talk about the stakes involved in the war on terrorism. Stakes are very high. He will talk about the high stakes that are involved in Iraq, and put Iraq in the context of the broader war on terrorism.
The speech is aimed at educating the American people and raising awareness about the enemy we face and the stakes involved. I expect he’ll talk about the terrorist network of al Qaeda and associates, and how that network has evolved since the attacks of September 11th.”
