{"id":428,"date":"2006-08-23T20:47:33","date_gmt":"2006-08-24T01:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/2006\/08\/23\/428\/"},"modified":"2006-08-23T21:21:05","modified_gmt":"2006-08-24T02:21:05","slug":"428","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/2006\/08\/23\/428\/","title":{"rendered":"the Achilles Heel…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Bush: "The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East. They were –"<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

At this point, Bush was asked what Iraq had to do with 911.<\/p>\n

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Bush: "Nothing!" <\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

This absurd exchange in his recent press conference may just seem like fuddy-duddy Bush stumbling as usual, but that’s not the case. It was something much more ominous. Says Swopa on Firedoglake<\/strong><\/font>: <\/p>\n

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Iraq Versus the “War on Terror”:
How Democrats Can Separate the Issues, and Win Both<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

During the first flush of the Democratic "No, really, we are serious about national security"<\/em> counterattack last week (see Greg Sargent<\/a><\/strong> for a refresher if you’ve forgotten), Karl Rove<\/strike> an anonymous "top GOP strategist" made a revealing admission to the Washington Post<\/a><\/strong> :<\/p>\n

The strategist, who is involved in GOP efforts to capitalize on the issue of national security, said one of the big challenges in the months ahead will be "making sure the terrorism issue sticks to Iraq."<\/strong> With some GOP candidates distancing themselves from Bush’s Iraq policy, the strategist said, it has been difficult marrying the issues of terrorism and Iraq. This is disturbing to top GOP officials because support for the war is low, and dropping, and Iraq is a bigger issue in many of the campaigns than the less-defined effort against terrorism<\/strong>, the strategist said. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Even when they don’t try to tie Iraq directly to 911, they always imply that the war in Iraq has something to do with the general “War on Terror”<\/strong>. We’re so used to them saying it, we forget that it is absolutely not true<\/strong>. What is true? For review:<\/p>\n