From Holden:
Today the Washington Post tells us that the Pentagon and the U.S. Agency for International Development are pulling out all the stops to help Bush lie about conditions in Iraq:
The Bush administration, battling negative perceptions of the Iraq war, is sending Iraqi Americans to deliver what the Pentagon calls “good news” about Iraq to U.S. military bases, and has curtailed distribution of reports showing increasing violence in that country.
The unusual public-relations effort by the Pentagon and the U.S. Agency for International Development comes as details have emerged showing the U.S. government and a representative of President Bush’s reelection campaign had been heavily involved in drafting the speech given to Congress last week by interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Combined, they indicate that the federal government is working assiduously to improve Americans’ opinions about the Iraq conflict — a key element of Bush’s reelection message.
USAID said this week that it will restrict distribution of reports by contractor Kroll Security International showing that the number of daily attacks by insurgents in Iraq has increased. On Monday, a day after The Washington Post published a front-page story saying that “the Kroll reports suggest a broad and intensifying campaign of insurgent violence,” a USAID official sent an e-mail to congressional aides stating: “This is the last Kroll report to come in. After the WPost story, they shut it down in order to regroup. I’ll let you know when it restarts.”
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s office has sent commanders of U.S. military facilities a five-page memorandum titled “Guidance to Commanders.” The Pentagon, the memo says, is sponsoring a group of Iraqi Americans and former officials from the Coalition Provisional Authority to speak at military bases throughout the United States starting Friday to provide “a first-hand account” of events in Iraq. The Iraqi Americans and the CPA officials worked on establishing the interim Iraqi government. The Iraqi Americans “feel strongly that the benefits of the coalition efforts have not been fully reported,” the memo says.
And, as I deduced on in Tuesday’s Obsession with the Gaggle the U.S. Embassy in Iraq as well as former CPA liar and current Bush campaign shill Dan Senor wrote Allawi’s speech before Congress:
[A]dministration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the prime minister was coached and aided by the U.S. government, its allies and friends of the administration. Among them was Dan Senor, former spokesman for the CPA who has more recently represented the Bush campaign in media appearances. Senor, who has denied writing the speech, sent Allawi recommended phrases. He also helped Allawi rehearse in New York last week, officials said. Senor declined to comment.
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and British Foreign Service officials also helped Allawi with the text and delivery of his remarks, said administration officials who were involved.
The Pentagon, USAID, and the US Embassy in Iraq should not be working for the Bush campaign. Yet another issue for our friends the Johns.
Unfortunately for the Bushboy, reality is not a member of his campaign:
Insurgents escalated the violence in Iraq Thursday morning as separate bombing incidents killed dozens of people, including three American soldiers.
The most lethal attack appeared to be directed at troops and security forces near a government-sponsored ceremony marking the reopening of a Baghdad water treatment plant. Although details remained sketchy, Iraqi police told wire services that more than 30 people died in two successive blasts.
Separately, a car bomb killed one U.S. soldier and two Iraqi police at a checkpoint near Abu Ghraib on Thursday morning. Three American soldiers and 10 police were wounded in the Abu Ghraib attack, which also damaged a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, according to a statement by the U.S. military.
The Reuters news agency quoted a doctor at Abu Ghraib hospital saying that a total of around 60 people were wounded.