Putting our Money Where Our Mouth Is

Help Give Bush the Recognition He Deserves

Why is fundraising such a staple of modern American politics? Why does Bush appear at these fundraisers? How is the GOP compiling its war chest for 2006? Look no further than here, a Washington Post article today by Mike Allen entitled, Hard Cash is Main Course for GOP Fundraiser.

The Obvious Question number 1 is: Who has this kind of money to give, and why would they give it? The answer is, "Rich people," and the reason they give is to buy policies that favor the rich.

The Second Question is: "How are the rich favored by this administration?"  The answer is, "Tax cuts, relaxation of environmental laws, and deregulation."  But those answers don't cut to the heart of the rotten core of greed and influence-peddling that is speeding this country to catastrophe.

No.  The Big Answer is, "Defense Spending."  So much of the budget of the War on Terror is contracted out to enrich private enterprises with taxpayers' money.  The billions spent on "Homeland Security" haven't made us any safer (we weren't unsafe to begin with, anyway.)  Look at the mess they've made of our $200 billion in Iraq.

Under this administration and this Congress, the Pentagon is the ultimate campaign slush fund.  Pentagon policy and funding have taken over trade, industry, security, transportation, politics, communications, media, and foreign relations.

The Washington Post published an article on Sunday by Renae Merle entitled, Pentagon Funds Diplomacy Effort, Contracts Aim to Improve Foreign Opinion of United States.  The director of the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element of the U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Col. James A. Treadwell, wants to use "cutting-edge media" to reach foreign audiences.  Merle writes that the goal is to repair some of the US's post-Iraq image problems abroad.

The article also states,

In 2002, the Pentagon abandoned its Office of Stratetic Influence after reports surfaced, which the Pentagon denied, that it would disseminate inaccurate information to foreign media.

Colonel Treadwell wants the foreign perception of this effort to be different, and I guess that's why they've opted for "cutting-edge."  They're willing to pay more for a better, more creative product.  Still, Treadwell insists,

I have never approved a product that was a lie, [or] that was intended to decieve.

Apparently, in spite of global warming, the warfare the Pentagon is waging, in partnership with expensive private contractors, is getting colder and colder.

Scoop published a piece by Gar Smith yesterday, entitled, America's Minstry of Propaganda Exposed.  This piece refers to a summary report by  Col. Sam Gardiner USAF (Ret.), enumerating

50 stories about the Iraq war that were faked by government propaganda artists in a covert campaign to "market" the military invasion of Iraq.

 The news stories were run through Rumsfeld's Office of Strategic Influence, according to Gardiner.  This is the office that was shut down in 2003, because of intense criticism, after the US invasion of Iraq was a fait accomplit.  

Gar Smith, in his piece, goes back to the first Gulf War to describe Rendon Associates founder, John Rendon, who helped popularize the liberation of Kuwait for the American public.  No mention is made of the story of the disincubated infants, however.

In 2001 Karen Hughes was responsible for launching the White House Coalition Information Center and their campaign to popularize the liberation of Afghan Women.  Among CIC's other greatest hits, according to Smith, were the linkage between 9/11 and Saddam, and especially the al Qaeda/Iraqi anthrax suspicion.  

In both the US and the UK, "intelligence sources" provided a steady diet of unsourced allegations to the media to suggest that Iraq and Al Qaeda terroists were behind the deadly mailing of anthrax-laden letters.

 Of course, this should have splashed into the media along with a tsunami of coverage on the Downing Street Memo, but it didn't.

There was supposed to be a transcript of a radio interview by Col. Gardiner on KTRS in St. Louis, but it has been deleted.  He has also supposedly been a regular commentator on BBC radio, the News Hour with Jim Lehrer and NPR.

Money can't buy truth.  And if you go to the SRCC President's dinner for $5,000, you may not hear even one whispered syllable of the truth spoken about Iraq.  But that won't stop the rich and their Republican operatives from rolling out an ersatz story line, as big as the Twin Towers and as spell-binding as a blitz krieg.

Oh, and don't worry if you missed the headlines.  There'll be more. Soon.