Military in Iraq spreading bios of visiting Congress Reps, noting statements against or for the war

[BurtWorm]

I guess they want to be sure that "demoralizing" statements against the war really do demoralize. :eyes:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/30/AR2007083001848.html?nav=rss_politics

Rap Sheets
Lawmakers Describe 'Being Slimed in the Green Zone'

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 31, 2007; Page A13

The sheets of paper seemed to be everywhere the lawmakers went in the Green Zone, distributed to Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military of no particular rank. So when Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) asked a soldier last weekend just what he was holding, the congressman was taken aback to find out.

In the soldier's hand was a thumbnail biography, distributed before each of the congressmen's meetings in Baghdad, which let meeting participants such as that soldier know where each of the lawmakers stands on the war. "Moran on Iraq policy," read one section, going on to cite some the congressman's most incendiary statements, such as, "This has been the worst foreign policy fiasco in American history."


The bio of Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif.) -- "TAU (rhymes with 'now')-sher," the bio helpfully relates -- was no less pointed, even if she once supported the war and has taken heat from liberal Bay Area constituents who remain wary of her position. "Our forces are caught in the middle of an escalating sectarian conflict in Iraq, with no end in sight," the bio quotes.

"This is beyond parsing. This is being slimed in the Green Zone," Tauscher said of her bio.

More than two dozen House members and senators have used the August recess to travel to Iraq in the hope of getting a firsthand view of the war ahead of commanding Gen. David H. Petraeus's progress report in two weeks on Capitol Hill. But it appears that the trips have been as much about Iraqi and U.S. officials sizing up Congress as the members of Congress sizing up the war.

Brief, choreographed and carefully controlled, the codels (short for congressional delegations) often have showed only what the Pentagon and the Bush administration have wanted the lawmakers to see. At one point, as Moran, Tauscher and Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.) were heading to lunch in the fortified Green Zone, an American urgently tried to get their attention, apparently to voice concerns about the war effort, the participants said. Security whisked the man away before he could make his point.

Tauscher called it "the Green Zone fog."

...

[BurtWorm]

1. kick

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. "This is being slimed in the Green Zone"

I don't think it is being slimed - I think it is being targetted.

All it would take is a single soldier who is pushed over the edge, thinking that these congress critters have betrayed him, personally. Public officials have security issues in their home towns - where they are not surrounded by well-armed individuals who may have a grudge.

Is this a deliberate attempt to keep anti-war congresspersons away from the war zone?

[BurtWorm]

3. It's obviously a deliberate attempt to make it less comfortable for critics.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Bingo

He who controls the past... you know the rest

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. I see it as equivalent to posting names, photos and addresses

of abortion clinic workers on the web - make them afraid to keep doing what they are doing and, with luck, someone will be nuts enough to see it as their duty to god and country to take them out.

This is scary shit.

[slater71]

6. A congressmen could have stopped that person from being taken away.

I would think that if a congressmen saw someone being whisked away and not allowed to speak, they could have stopped it. I mean all they would have said is "stop let the man speak." I would be pretty sure that a congressman would out rank some MP taking someone away if they were told to stop by them.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. Maybe, because of the flyers, the congresspersons didn't know

if that person was a threat or just someone who wanted to talk.

Which is, of course, the purpose of the flyers.