http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/6333The Truth Spin: Honesty is the best (foreign) policy.
by Allan Uthman | Mar 25 2007
http://buffalobeast.com/114/the_truth_spin.htm
TO: Vice President Richard Cheney
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
CC: Donald Rumsfeld
FROM: Senior members, Pentagon Special Public Relations Review Committee
SUBJECT: Initial recommendations
Sirs:
Last year we were commissioned by the Vice President’s office to research and analyze alternative strategies to better manage domestic public relations with regard to the war in Iraq specifically, and more generally the global war on terrorism. While our report is not yet complete, we write to present our preliminary findings and our primary policy recommendation, which will surely be met with some controversy.
As you know, we are waging a military campaign in Iraq to secure major fossil fuel deposits in anticipation of increased global demand for dwindling energy reserves. In anticipation of this, it was deemed necessary to create a more marketable pretext for invasion (WMD, liberating Iraqis from dictatorial oppression) to secure the approval of the media, thereby the voting public, and thereby congress. This public relations effort was quite successful in facilitating said invasion and enjoyed continued success for some time afterward. But, as is painfully obvious, public perceptions have shifted, and a large majority now opposes continued engagement and regrets the invasion.
In hindsight, this shift was in some ways unavoidable: in publicly setting fanciful goals for the invasion, such as finding large caches of dangerous weapons, establishing freedom and security for the Iraqi people and the rebuilding of national infrastructure, the fulfillment of which were not necessary to, and in some cases ran counter to the real policy goal of energy security, we, in a sense, set up plebian war supporters for disappointment. While image maintenance projects such as elections shored up public support in the short term, the lack of any “progress” toward those so-called goals ultimately translates into a failed effort in the eyes of the common citizen.
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