See here for the backstory. Ex-White House snake oil salesman spokesman Ari Fleischer, fresh off his immunity-from-prosecution deal in the Valerie Plame investigation*, is on Hardball to hype the Save The War ad campaign being rolled out in 20 states by Freedom’s Watch. (“For people who believe in peace through strength, the cavalry is coming.”) The Hardball guest-host cues up one of the ads featuring a double
amputee Iraq vet who asserts, more or less, that if we pull out now he will have lost his legs in vain. When it’s over the host asks Fleischer for the vet’s name. Fleischer gets that deer-in-a-headlight look for a nanosecond then says simply, “I don’t have his name in front of me.” He doesn’t know his name? This vet’s story was singled out — of the literally hundreds of thousands of life stories that have been dramatically impacted by the war — as one of the THE FOUR MOST EMBLEMATIC stories of the war and why we must continue to fight it — and Ari Fleischer goes on national television and doesn’t even know the guy’s name? How fucking cynical can you be? You get this right-wing welfare gig shilling for a White House front group in a last gasp Swift Boat maneuver to Save The War profiteering — and you can’t even be bothered to do your homework? Do you even believe what you are saying? At long last sir, have you decency whatsoever? If you were here right now, we’d wipe that hot dog right off your face.
*After receiving an immunity agreement, Fleischer testified that he had revealed Ms. Plame’s identity to reporters after learning it from Libby.[9] [WASHINGTON POST]
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WHAT’S A LITTLE NEPOTISTIC CRONYISM AMONG WAR PIGS?
Michael Fleischer is a United States businessman from the state of New Jersey and on March 13, 2004 was appointed to the post of Director of Private Sector Development for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. He took leave from Bogen Communications International, Inc., where he was president and a member of the Board of Directors, in order to serve in Iraq. He has since returned to Bogen. He is the brother of former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer.
So, taking a look at the Bogen web site makes us ask the question, what exactly qualifies a guy who, best we can tell, runs a company that makes Mr. Microphones to be appointed the Director of Private Sector Development for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq? Well, Paul Krugman has some answers:
“If the occupiers often seemed oblivious to reality, one reason was that many jobs at the C.P.A. went to people whose qualifications seemed to lie mainly in their personal and political connections” people like Simone Ledeen, whose father, Michael Ledeen, a prominent neoconservative, told a forum
that “the level of casualties is secondary” because “we are a warlike people” and “we love war.”
Still, given Mr. Bremer’s economic focus, you might at least have expected his top aide for private-sector development to be an expert on privatization and liberalization in such countries as Russia or Argentina. But the job initially went to Thomas Foley, a Connecticut businessman and Republican fund-raiser with no obviously relevant expertise. In March, Michael Fleischer, a New Jersey businessman, took over. Yes, he’s Ari Fleischer’s brother. Mr. Fleischer told The Chicago Tribune that part of his job was educating Iraqi businessmen: “The only paradigm they know is cronyism. We are teaching them that there is an alternative system with built-in checks and built-in review.”
Let’s say the obvious. By making Iraq a playground for right-wing economic theorists, an employment agency for friends and family, and a source of lucrative contracts for corporate donors, the administration did terrorist recruiters a very big favor.”
Heckuva a job, Ari!
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BONUS: The Wit and Wisdom of White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer
“[T]here’s no question that if force is used, it will achieve the objective of preserving the peace far faster than the current path that we’re on.” [2/14/03]
“[G]iven the chance to throw off a brutal dictator like Saddam Hussein, people will rejoice.” [3/21/03]
“[W]hen you take a look at the level of violence inside of Iraq, it is impossible to argue anything other than violence has, indeed, come down as a result of America’s military operations.” [6/25/03]
“My point is, the likelihood is much more like Afghanistan, where the people who live right now under a brutal dictator will view America as liberators, not conquerors.” [10/11/02]
“There have been contacts between senior senior Iraqi officials and members of the al Qaeda organization, going back for quite a long time. Iraq provided some training to al Qaeda in chemical weapons development. There are contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda.” [1/27/03]
“There is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly. And all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes.” [3/21/03]
“The fact of the matter is, one of the reasons the Iraqi people are supportive of the efforts we’ve had there is because of the effort that’s been done in the reconstruction phase.” [7/1/03]
“I think that if you look at the Iraqi people, the Iraqi people are overwhelmingly pleased with the fact the United States has helped them to get rid of the Saddam Hussein regime. That was clear from their dancing in the streets, from the way they tore down the statues. And I think that is the viewpoint of the overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people.” [7/1/03]
“[N]o, I don’t think there’s any chance of losing the peace, but it is going to be a battle to continue to win the peace.”[5/19/03]
[via THINK PROGRESS]
