The
Washington Post chose to bury
Breaking Ranks, a charette of the falling-out between Col. Larry Wilkerson and Colin Powell in the wake of the colonel's scathing criticism of the "neocon cabal" responsible for the Iraq disaster. It's chock-full-of ball-breaking quotes from Wilkerson like:
"This is not a Republican administration, not in my view. This is a radical administration."
"As a teacher who's studied every administration since 1945, I think this is probably the worst ineptitude in governance, decision-making and leadership I've seen in 50-plus years."
"None of these [neocon] guys ever heard a bullet go by their ears in combat."
Okay... So how do we defy the WaPo censors and use this to educate the public?
As we all know,
credibility is everything in politics and few things are more damaging to credibility than when an insider becomes a whistleblower. And Col. Wilkerson is not just an insider, he's among the most respected military leaders in the country and a Republican.
The Republican Right and their corporate media allies have successfully weakened the credibility of Iraq war critics by stereotyping them as opportunistic partisan Democrats, Hollywood elites, irrational Bush-haters and unpatriotic former '60's peaceniks. It's time we break their frame beyond repair by making people like Wilkerson, Rep. John Murtha, Gen. Wes Clark, Gen. Anthony Zinni, Brent Scowcroft, Richard Clarke and other prominent military & national security leaders the public face of Iraq war opposition:
1. Promote "Breaking Ranks" -- take a couple minutes to post a link to Breaking Ranks with your own comments on your local board or forum (i.e., the forum at Rocky Mountain News and Boston Herald as opposed to the NY Times). Use Wilkerson's quotes; there are many of them and they are devastating!
2. Call & E-Mail "Breaking Ranks" to Talk Radio Shows -- we've got to make it easy for folks sometimes by giving them good material. This means both progressive voices like Ed Schultz and wacky wingnuts like Jay Severin.
3. Throw Wilkerson Back at the Right -- In personal interactions with Righties --whether online discussion groups or calling-in to their radio shows-- they will inevitably accuse you of being unpatriotic, a partisan, ignorant of fighting wars, etc. Use Col. Wilkerson as your argument. He's yet another Republican, yet another military expert, yet another administration insider who says the neocons are dishonest and incompetent.
I have found it particularly effective to tell them, "hey, you can stick with draft-dodgers like Paul Wolfowitz and loudmouths like Sean Hannity, I trust the combat veterans."
Wilkerson's brave decision to speak truth to power is a unique opportunity; it can be a powerful communications asset for us in the battle for the hearts and minds of the American public. But it's up to us --The Post editors, we can be sure, will do everything they can to bury it.