inignoct wrote:
] Wether or not the war was just or ultimately
] positive, selling it to the citizens of america on false
] premises is a problem.

Yes, it is, but I see this as a separate issue, that is probably too complex to discuss in this context. Almost everything the government does is spun. Presenting the arguement that spin shouldn't happen is really to question the nature of a mass media driven representative democracy. (Which I would do.)

If we all agree that the stated reasons for Iraq weren't the real motivations, and we're all prepared to sit down and have a discussion about the real reasons we went to war with Iraq, which have been available long before the war, then lets do it. I want to do it. I have questions I feel are unanswered.

I don't see us doing it. What we're doing is saying that the stated reasons were wrong (which has always been obvious) and then claiming that we need to get out, and we shouldn't have been there, without stepping back and having the conversation about the actual reasons we went there. Usually, favorite conspiracy theory X about oil, personal issues in the bush family, or whatnot is inserted instead of the actual geo-political strategic issues and we rail against that instead.

This whole process is meaningless and political. Albright's essay in Forgein Affairs last summer about our relationship with Europe was the closest thing that I've seen to an actually geo-political response to the Bush strategy. And I agree with her for the most part. Unfortunately thats a niche journal that only nerds read. The mainstream political discourse has totally missed the reality of the situation. Its all bullshit.

] Reminding the country that people
] died, and continue to die, as a result, is entirely
] reasonable. -k]

Many of the points you are make in your post are valid. The problem comes when you tie them back into this picture. This wasn't an intellectual appeal. I'm not offended by left wing discorse about dead American Soldiers, the reasons for the war, the responsibility for the war, etc... Nor am I offended by right wing discussion of the exact same subjects.

This was not an intellectual appeal. It had nothing to do with any of that. This is on par with the Bush ads which included pictures of 9/11. It is a purely emotional appeal. It seeks to associate pain and suffering with Bush, personally. It defies all reason, thought, or discourse, and reaches straight for the most base kind of emotions. It is intended to produce hate. That is why it is offensive.

RE: Bush photomosaic of American dead in Iraq