Even the most ardent supporters of this clusterfuck will have a hard time defending this.
Or maybe not.
Let's set aside for a moment that I think those juggernauts to the war zone on the taxpayer dime are a ridiculous waste of money, security and time and should be ceased immediately. The bottom line is that idiotic Senators and Representatives are going to keep traipsing in and out of Iraq to take in Dog-and-Pony Shows™ until a congresscritter dies over there.
But the Kabuki doesn't stop with the performance for the critters and the camera - oh no, baby.
The Psy-Ops heathens are also manipulating the perceptions of the lawmakers that the Iraqis and the American forces walk away from the meetings holding. (CENTCOM, of course, disavows all knowledge of the smear and manipulation campaign.)
War supporters get their official bios pulled off the House and Senate websites. War critics....not so much.
Representative James Moran (D-VA) was one whose record and bio were cherry-picked:
The sheets of paper seemed to be everywhere the lawmakers went in the Green Zone, distributed to Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military of no particular rank. So when Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) asked a soldier last weekend just what he was holding, the congressman was taken aback to find out.
In the soldier's hand was a thumbnail biography, distributed before each of the congressmen's meetings in Baghdad, which let meeting participants such as that soldier know where each of the lawmakers stands on the war. "Moran on Iraq policy," read one section, going on to cite some the congressman's most incendiary statements, such as, "This has been the worst foreign policy fiasco in American history."
The bio of Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif.) -- "TAU (rhymes with 'now')-sher," the bio helpfully relates -- was no less pointed, even if she once supported the war and has taken heat from liberal Bay Area constituents who remain wary of her position. "Our forces are caught in the middle of an escalating sectarian conflict in Iraq, with no end in sight," the bio quotes.
"This is beyond parsing. This is being slimed in the Green Zone," Tauscher said of her bio.
Tauscher is right to be pissed - her record was distorted and manipulated. And that is putting it kindly. On Tauschers info sheet, under "latest Iraq vote" it was noted that she had voted in favor of legislation requiring a withdrawal from Iraq to start within 120 days of the bills enactment. And she did indeed vote that way - last May, during the battle over the supplemental funding bill. But on August 2nd, she voted for her own bill, which mandates that G.I.'s receive as much dwell-time as they spend in the war zone before they can be returned to battle.
They conveniently left out that bit , as it would likely have been a bit too popular with the soldiers she was meeting with.
Somewhere, Goebbels is smiling.
