Dear Mr. President
I know you feel that sometimes, in your line of work, you’ve ”got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”
But I have a small request.
As British Transport Police work to recover bodies from Thursday’s explosions in London, could you possibly refrain from saying things like ”We will stay on the offense, fighting the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them at home”?
It’s offensive to the people of Britain, who are still searching for loved ones after getting hit “at home.”
It’s offensive to the people of Iraq, who didn’t face the daily threat of suicide bombers, assassins and IEDs until you decided that their streets would be a good place to “fight the terrorists abroad.”
It’s offensive to the people of the United States, who you convinced to go to war for a very different rationale, and who are increasingly seeing through the meaningless rhetoric of that empty phrase.
And since the support of the people of Britain, Iraq, and the US is of vital importance if we are ever to stabilize Iraq and strengthen our own defenses against future attacks, I would like to request that you and your speechwriters retire that bit of tactless propaganda.
Is that too much to ask?