Bumper stickers, bin Laden, and more Bait and Switch

In case you missed it there has been some breaking notable news, regarding how GWOT was conducted, here you go.

Daily Mail UK

by DAVID GARDNER — Nov 1, 2007

The notes underlined Rumsfeld’s determination to ‘keep elevating the threat’ linking Iran to Iraq and of his interest in developing ‘bumper sticker statements’ to rally support for an increasingly unpopular war.

Rumsfeld wrote as many as 20 to 60 memos a day during his controversial tenure.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=491165&in_page_
id=1811
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(It would be easy to have missed this since the Corporate Media has mostly ignored it.)

For more Post-it Notes from the Desk of Donald Rumsfeld, read on …

Washington Post

From the Desk of Donald Rumsfeld

By Robin Wright — Nov 1, 2007

In a 2004 memo on the deteriorating situation in Iraq, Rumsfeld concluded that the challenges there are “not unusual.” Pessimistic news reports — “our publics risk falling prey to the argument that all is lost” — simply result from the wrong standards being applied, he wrote in one of the memos obtained by The Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/31/AR2007103103095.html?hpid=topnews
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Rumsfeld DID indeed use “Bumper sticker statements” to rally support for the Iraq war. It seems John Edwards was Right afterall! Imagine that!

Earlier this year, Edwards caught flack for weeks on end for one line in a very comprehensive speech — for calling GWOT a “bumper sticker” sloganeering effort.

Hmmmh … seems that Edwards DOES INDEED have very good instincts about these matters.

Associated Press Writer — May 23 2007

Edwards: Move Past ‘War on Terror’

By BETH FOUHY

Edwards called the war on terror a “bumper sticker” slogan Bush had used to justify everything from abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison to the invasion of Iraq.

“We need a post-Bush, post-9/11, post-Iraq military that is mission focused on protecting Americans from 21st century threats, not misused for discredited ideological purposes“

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=d8pa5vm80&show_article=1
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Giuliani wasted no time to cherry pick the Edwards CFR Speech, to paint all Democrats with his “weak on Terror brush”:

Stumping in New Hampshire, Giuliani seized on Edwards to make his argument that Democrats were “not facing reality.”

“The Democrats – or at least some of them – are in denial,” Giuliani told a crowd in Keane, N.H.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/2007/05/24/2007-05-24_rudy_and_edwards_wage_their_own_war.

html
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Giuliani, and other right-wing chicken-hawks, like O‘ Reilly and Tucker, have been de-riding Edwards’ “machismo” ever since. Perhaps they should look in a mirror.

Perhaps they should critique the strategic mismanagement, conducted by their own Party for over 5 years, with next to nothing to show for it. (A policy of mismanagement, the GOP wants to perpetuate indefinitely too, it seems — given their bellicose campaign hype.)

NBC News — Sept. 26, 2007

Bin Laden may have just escaped U.S. forces
August mission in Tora Bora almost snared ‘high value target’

By Justin Balding, Adam Ciralsky, Jim Miklaszewski and Robert Windrem

A little more than a month ago, with the anniversary of Sept. 11 approaching and fears of a new al Qaeda attack rising, some U.S. intelligence and military analysts thought they had found one of the world’s two most wanted men just where they last saw them six years ago.
…
What happened this time? Military officials admit there were unidentified “planning and coordination problems” even before it got to execution, “primarily between the operators and the generals who give the go-orders” added an intelligence official. … There was “a lack of responsiveness to the intelligence and a lack of aggressiveness.”
…
But the bigger part of the picture is the question of allocation of resources from Afghanistan to Iraq. All Delta Force and “dark side” Rangers were moved to Iraq, said a special operations officer involved in the Afghanistan operation.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21000298/
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Bin Laden escapes again in August 2007, because “a lack of aggressiveness” and the “allocation of resources from Afghanistan to Iraq” — Unbelievable!

Is this Administration STILL using the “War on terror as a ‘bumper sticker’ slogan … to justify everything”, as Edwards has astutely noted? Perhaps having a “bogey man” out there, to rail against in the upcoming Campaign, may explain the “lack of aggressiveness” to take out bin Laden?

War is serious business, it should “be focused on protecting Americans”, and NOT mis-managed to meet some political agenda or other “ideological purposes”, as the GOP is all too eager to do.

John Edwards was Right about the “Bumper Sticker” focus regarding Iraq. What else is Edwards was Right about?

Maybe it’s finally time for Edwards to get some Prime time coverage, of his many in depth Policies, for a change? (When choosing our prospective CEO, Americans really deserve some real Interviews!)

September 7, 2007

John Edwards: A New Strategy Against Terrorism

Pace University, New York, NY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rwa1PxBpzs
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John Edwards:

As president, I will launch a comprehensive new counterterrorism policy that will be defined by two principles

Strength and Cooperation.

The centerpiece of this policy will be a new multilateral organization called the Counterterrorism and Intelligence Treaty Organization (CITO).

CITO will create connections between a wide range of nations on terrorism and intelligence, including countries on all continents, including Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. New connections between previously separate nations will be forged, creating new possibilities.

And they will be able to take action, through international teams of intelligence and national security professionals who will launch targeted missions to root out and shut down terrorist cells.

The new organization will also create a historic new coalition. Those nations who join will, by working together, show the world the power of cooperation.

Those nations who join will also be required to commit to tough criteria about the steps they will take to root out extremists, particularly those who cross borders. Those nations who refuse to join will be called out before the world.
…
There is no more urgent task than preventing terrorists from acquiring a nuclear weapon or another weapon of mass destruction. And we will all be better off when the world is free of nuclear weapons.

Diplomacy is key to progress against nuclear weapons. The recent agreement with North Korea to shut down their nuclear programs in exchange for the release of frozen assets is long overdue, but encouraging. It is telling that the few successes of the Bush Administration come from the diplomacy it has derided.

As president, I will create a Global Nuclear Compact to strengthen the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would support peaceful nuclear programs, improve security for existing stocks of nuclear materials, and ensure more frequent verification that materials are not being diverted and facilities are not being misused. And I will lead an international effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Our chemical plants are also targets for terrorists. A successful attack on any of these targets would be devastating. Because of industry pressure, new watered-down security rules imposed by the Bush Administration may actually weaken security at many chemical plants. I support implementing tough new safety standards at plants vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
…

Finally, we must achieve energy independence. If we reduce our reliance on oil from instable parts of the world, Middle Eastern regimes will finally diversify their economies and modernize their societies. And fighting global climate change will reduce global disruptions that could lead to tends of millions of refugees and create massive new breeding grounds for desperation and radicalism.

http://johnedwards.com/news/speeches/a-new-strategy-against-terrorism/
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John Edwards has been treating the problem of terrorism seriously all along. Maybe it’s about time this multi-dimensional problem of terrorism is treated with some multi-dimensional solutions, eh?

May 23, 2007

Senator John Edwards Addresses the Council on Foreign Relations

Edwards’ CFR Speech

It is now clear that George Bush’s misnamed “war on terror” [GWOT] has backfired — and is now part of the problem.

The war on terror is a slogan designed only for politics, not a strategy to make America safe.

It’s a bumper sticker, not a plan. It has damaged our alliances and weakened our standing in the world.

As a political “frame,” it’s been used to justify everything from the Iraq War to Guantanamo to illegal spying on the American people.

It’s even been used by this White House as a partisan weapon to bludgeon their political opponents. Whether by manipulating threat levels leading up to elections, or by deeming opponents “weak on terror,” they have shown no hesitation whatsoever about using fear to divide.

But the worst thing about this slogan is that it hasn’t worked. The so-called “war” has created even more terrorism — as we have seen so tragically in Iraq. The State Department itself recently released a study showing that worldwide terrorism has increased 25% in 2006, including a 40% surge in civilian fatalities.

By framing this as a “war,” we have walked right into the trap that terrorists have set — that we are engaged in some kind of clash of civilizations and a war against Islam.

http://www.cfr.org/publication/13432/senator_john_edwards_addresses_the_council_on_foreign_relations

.html
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Video of Edwards’ CFR Speech

http://www.cfr.org/publication/13380/campaign_2008_series_with_john_edwards_webcast.html?breadcrumb=

%2Feducators%2Fmultimedia
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Maybe it is time for some “Humanity at the Helm” again in this country?

We’ve tried the “Cowboy Diplomacy” and acting like a “Bully on the Block” — AND those strategies have only made the problem of terrorism worse, and at the price of our real Security and civil liberties, too!

bin Laden still at large, due to incompetence and mis-allocation resources, by the current Administration. No thanks to their Media enablers, who don’t seem to much care about those who actually struck America on 9/11.

As long as they can convince Americans that “Iran is the New Iraq”, it will remain “business as usual” for Corporate America. But Justice and the real Security are cast aside in the process.

“Bait and Switch” usually only one works once, for that average “mark” — let’s hope Americans have wised up, and can somehow avoid being sold next shiny “bill of goods” called “War in Iran”!

Fool us once shame on you, Fool us again, shame on America.