Strange document from Secretary of Defense:"Iraq floor debate prep book"

ABC
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2082838&page=1

By LIZ MARLANTES

June 15, 2006 -- Going into Thursday's Iraq debate in Congress, both sides had news points to bolster their arguments — for war supporters, it was recent the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the completion of the Iraqi cabinet; for war critics, the fact that U.S. deaths in Iraq today hit 2,500.

Both also went into the debate armed with political talking points. The most unusual came via a document sent out by Office of the Secretary of Defense to an assortment of congressional aides, as well as to the Iraqi Embassy and the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. The 74-page document is an exhaustive rebuttal of criticisms of the war and a defense of the administration's conduct of the war.

The document, labeled "Iraq floor debate prep book," was emailed on Wednesday afternoon to a handful of Democrats as well as Republicans — and was then abruptly recalled. Thursday afternoon, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) sent a letter to Rumsfeld complaining that his office had spent "taxpayer dollars to produce partisan political documents." Lautenberg also suggested that the document may have violated laws prohibiting the Executive Branch from using taxpayer dollars for lobbying and propaganda activities.

The Pentagon later said the document was produced by the National Security Council — but did not offer an explanation as to why it was sent out by the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Republicans on the Hill were not happy that the document was sent to Democrats — or that it was produced at all. "I've never seen anything like it," said one Republican aide, noting that the document went well beyond a Statement of Administration Policy. "I mean, a 74-page document — are you kidding me?" The aide added: "It did more harm than good for the Republican cause."

this seems more like pr than providing information to both sides in an unbiased manner and its used for partisan purposes

The Republican Cult has been producing these playbooks for years now. That's why the Repukes all sound like mindless drones.

What IS interesting is that it is getting some pretty good play in corporate media.

on all counts.

That way they don't have to read. They can just stay plugged in wherever they go. Turns you into a robot.

Hopefully I can track it down.
The article I read said it was released the Pentagon and the first thing I thought of was... This is not something that the Pentagon should release, this is a Republican propaganda tool.

"
The administration was so determined to get its message out that the Pentagon distributed a highly unusual 74-page "debate prep book" filled with ready-made answers for criticism of the war.

"We cannot cut and run," the Pentagon battle plan says at one point, anticipating Democratic calls for a troop withdrawal on a fixed timetable.
"

As it appears here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060616/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq

Dap

http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/fulbright/pentagon.htm , http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Pentagon_military/Pentagon_Propaganda_JWF.html

"The military public relations campaign is directed at all of the American people ("targets," they are called in the manuals, a nice military word adopted by Madison Avenue and readopted by military PR people in its new sense). The audience ranges from school children and teachers to ranchers and farmers, from union leaders to defense contractors, from Boy Scouts to American Legionnaires. The principal target of the military PR men, however, is the media....

...Very few Americans, I am convinced, have much cognizance of the extent of the military sell or its effects on heir lives through the molding of their opinions, the opinions (and votes on appropriations) of their representatives in the Congress, and the opinions of their presumed ombudsmen in the American press. ...

...Historically, there have been barriers in the United States against the military establishment's acquiring political influence. These barriers have been anchored in the country's non-military traditions, the principle of civilian supremacy, and the fact that until World War II we never tried to maintain a large permanent military force.
Today, however, as a result of thirty years of hot and cold war, the military has become an active participant in national policy processes. The influence of the Defense Department and its component parts in making national policy is not limited to Presidents, Secretaries o£ State, and the military and foreign policy committees of the Congress. This influence extends also to the "think tanks" and universities to which Defense parcels out lucrative research grants, to the corporations and labor unions which profit from Defense contracts, and (s preceding pages of this book have tried to demonstrate to public opinion...."

Gee, I miss the guy.