I wanted to follow-up on a post I made yesterday.  See here:

http://progressiveminds.bloghi.com/2006/04/08/with-the-gop-it-s-always-someone-else-s-fault.html

Yesterday, I talked about how, during his weekly radio address, Bush blamed Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid for derailing the "deal" on the immigration bill.  (Reid used a procedural tactic to stop certain amendments on the bill from being considered).

And I mentioned that before the Republicans criticize Reid for stopping amendments from being considered, they need to take a look at their own record in this area.  For example, when a Katrina relief bill was before the House, House Republicans stopped a Democratic amendment from being considered; an amendment which would have included more relief measures.

Well lo and behold, MSNBC is carrying a story that talks about this very issue:

"After having vowed to eliminate the "closed rules" Democrats used to quash GOP ideas, Republicans used the same tactics to stifle debate. During the past Congress -- the 108th -- only 22 percent of legislation was considered with an open rule allowing the minority to offer amendments from the floor, compared with 30 percent under the Democrats' 103rd Congress. When Democrats offered 29 amendments to a medical malpractice bill last Congress, GOP leaders blocked all of them from coming to a vote."

GOP sees disturbing reflection in the mirror

Democrats were accused of similar abuses of power before ouster in ’94

I hesitated some about posting this story, because in no way, shape or form do I want to be perceived as supporting any terrorist, which obviously Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is.

But sadly, I think this story speaks more about our military, than Zarqawi.

It seems as though the U.S. military has been conducting a propaganda campaign (what a shocker!) that has overemphasized Zarqawi's role in Iraq.

According to a Washington Post article, internal military documents show that the propaganda campaign against Zarqawi has raised his profile in such a way, that has overstated the importance of his role in the Iraq debacle, and also allowed the Bush Crime Team to tie the war in Iraq to the September 11 attacks.

The propaganda campaign included broadcasts on radio and television outlets, leaflets, word wide web postings, and a leak to an American journalist (where have we heard that one before?).

Army Col. James A. Treadwell says that the military policy is to NOT aim pyschological operations at Americans.  However, U.S. psychological operations soldiers produced a video disk that was circulated within Iraq, but was also shown on the "fair and balanced" Fox News here in America.

Hmmm...I have an idea here. Instead of overemphasizing things or embellishing information, why not try the truth here?  The truth usually works, and people respect you for it.

U.S. military plays up role of Zarqawi

Jordanian painted as foreign threat to Iraq’s stability