The Propaganda President: Bush and the Troops: Chreographed in Advance
Gandalf Grey
Deb Riechmann, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - It was billed as a conversation with U.S. troops, but the
questions President Bush asked on a teleconference call Thursday were
choreographed to match his goals for the war in Iraq and Saturday's vote on
a new Iraqi constitution.
"This is an important time," Allison Barber, deputy assistant defense
secretary, said, coaching the soldiers before Bush arrived. "The president
is looking forward to having just a conversation with you."
Barber said the president was interested in three topics: the overall
security situation in Iraq, security preparations for the weekend vote and
efforts to train Iraqi troops.
As she spoke in Washington, a live shot of 10 soldiers from the Army's 42nd
Infantry Division and one Iraqi soldier was beamed into the Eisenhower
Executive Office Building from Tikrit - the birthplace of former Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein.
"I'm going to ask somebody to grab those two water bottles against the wall
and move them out of the camera shot for me," Barber said.
A brief rehearsal ensued.
"OK, so let's just walk through this," Barber said. "Captain Kennedy, you
answer the first question and you hand the mike to whom?"
"Captain Smith," Kennedy said.
"Captain. Smith? You take the mike and you hand it to whom?" she asked.
"Captain Kennedy," the soldier replied.
And so it went.
"If the question comes up about partnering - how often do we train with the
Iraqi military - who does he go to?" Barber asked.
"That's going to go to Captain Pratt," one of the soldiers said.
"And then if we're going to talk a little bit about the folks in Tikrit -
the hometown - and how they're handling the political process, who are we
going to give that to?" she asked.
Before he took questions, Bush thanked the soldiers for serving and
reassured them that the U.S. would not pull out of Iraq until the mission
was complete.
"So long as I'm the president, we're never going to back down, we're never
going to give in, we'll never accept anything less than total victory," Bush
said.
The president told them twice that the American people were behind them.
"You've got tremendous support here at home," Bush said.
Less than 40 percent in an AP-Ipsos poll taken in October said they approved
of the way Bush was handling Iraq. Just over half of the public now say the
Iraq war was a mistake.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Thursday's event was
coordinated with the Defense Department but that the troops were expressing
their own thoughts. With satellite feeds, coordination often is needed to
overcome technological challenges, such as delays, he said.
"I think all they were doing was talking to the troops and letting them know
what to expect," he said, adding that the president wanted to talk with
troops on the ground who have firsthand knowledge about the situation.
The soldiers all gave Bush an upbeat view of the situation.
The president also got praise from the Iraqi soldier who was part of the
chat.
"Thank you very much for everything," he gushed. "I like you."
On preparations for the vote, 1st Lt. Gregg Murphy of Tennessee said: "Sir,
we are prepared to do whatever it takes to make this thing a success. ...
Back in January, when we were preparing for that election, we had to lead
the way. We set up the coordination, we made the plan. We're really happy to
see, during the preparation for this one, sir, they're doing everything."
On the training of Iraqi security forces, Master Sgt. Corine Lombardo from
Scotia, N.Y., said to Bush: "I can tell you over the past 10 months, we've
seen a tremendous increase in the capabilities and the confidences of our
Iraqi security force partners. ... Over the next month, we anticipate seeing
at least one-third of those Iraqi forces conducting independent operations."
Lombardo told the president that she was in New York City on Nov. 11, 2001,
when Bush attended an event recognizing soldiers for their recovery and
rescue efforts at Ground Zero. She said the troops began the fight against
terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and were proud to
continue it in Iraq.
"I thought you looked familiar," Bush said, and then joked: "I probably look
familiar to you, too."
Paul Rieckhoff, director of the New York-based Operation Truth, an advocacy
group for U.S. veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, denounced the event as a
"carefully scripted publicity stunt." Five of the 10 U.S. troops involved
were officers, he said.
"If he wants the real opinions of the troops, he can't do it in a nationally
televised teleconference," Rieckhoff said. "He needs to be talking to the
boots on the ground and that's not a bunch of captains."
Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press.
From Associated Press:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051013/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_iraq_10
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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
--Thomas Jefferson