I'm sorry to say this, but if warning their opposition about a coming offensive is considered "hitting back"? Don't even bother.
They shouldn't be telegraphing warnings, they should simply Hit back. How hard is it? tell the TRUTH. Don't say, hey, we all had fault intelligence. State Saddam was a brutal dicatator that tried to assasinate a U.S. President, committed mass murder, fired on our troops, and denied U.N. inspectors entrance. Now the Iraqi people are about to vote on their new government after passing a Constitution. State how this positively impacts the WOT and educate people of our own constitutional history.
None of this needs to be strategized.
They are making this a damn sight more difficult than it really is, and diluting the impact of the offensive by warning "shock and awe" is coming.
My advice for the W.H. starts with a simple act. Get rid of Scott McClellan. Replace with an Ari figure.
Amen. See post #18. Both of us had the same thought!
They shouldn't be telegraphing warnings, they should simply Hit back.
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Good point!