Ask Rockridge: Blamed for the Debacle in Iraq?

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The Rockridge Institute experts want to answer your questions about framing the political discourse. To submit comments, go to Ask Rockridge: Blamed for the Debacle in Iraq? To ask a new question regarding a progressive issue that you think needs "reframing," go to: Questions for Rockridge Nation Staff and Community.

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We were recently asked this extremely important and timely question:

I am incensed to learn the right is planning to blame us for a "defeat" in Iraq once troop pullout presumably begins after the conservatives hopefully lose the presidency and congress this fall.

Let's develop some effective frames now and get them out there in the media before the highly coordinated right-wing media machine starts blasting this slander to the world.

How can we fight back?

Many people have written about the stab-in-the-back myth that spurred this question. Examples can be found on Alternet, Atlantic Monthly, and Harper's. This is a real threat and it requires rapid and diligent action to get the truth out there ahead of the slander.

We need to frame the truth. It is not sufficient to merely point out the betrayal that has been set up. That only makes the associations between peace activists and the debacle in Iraq stronger in people's brains. Simply reinforcing their frames by telling the story of betrayal is counter-productive.

Instead, we need to get out ahead of the swift-boaters and tell our story first. The only way to keep from being trapped is to put conservatives on the defensive and reframe the betrayal story so that it reveals key truths. This will require a broader strategy than simply reframing the betrayal. Ultimately, it will be necessary to confront the broad problems of conservatism directly to gain the upper hand.

The current landscape of ideas gives conservatives a strong advantage. They have been putting us on the defensive for years. We are in a position to turn this around by thinking strategically and acting quickly. Let's start with betrayal. There are several things that need to be reframed with it.

Reframing the Betrayal

Last week I wrote an article called America Betrayed: Will Progressives Take the Fall? with my colleague Scott Parkinson that presents the reasoning behind telling an alternative betrayal story – one that shifts the meaning of the frames already constituted in people's brains as part of the set up. The simple truth, according to Kevin Baker at Harper's, is that conservatives have a strategy that looks like this:

1. Advocate some momentarily popular but reckless policy.
2. Deny culpability when that policy is exposed as disastrous (and remain steadfast even when it becomes unpopular).
3. Blame the disaster on internal enemies who hate America.
4. Repeat, always making sure to increase the number of internal enemies.

They have set us up by introducing language into the media throughout the last few years. Examples include:

• "defeatist"
• "cut-and-run"
• "embolden the enemy"
• "not supporting the troops"
• "break the will of the American people"
• "lack of resolve"
• "demoralizing the troops"
• "the party of appeasement"

These words and phrases tell a story of betrayal. They have been repeated often enough to form established circuits of meaning in people's brains. They have also falsely claimed the surge to be a "success," setting up the inevitable re-escalation of violence to be blamed on opponents of the occupation.

We can set a new context that shifts their meaning and resolves the tension they create. This means telling a different betrayal story that needs to get out far and wide before the swift-boating begins – the Betrayal of Trust. This story should be told again and again in as many places as possible. We will need to organize and mobilize the netroots, grassroots, independent media, and progressive organizations to reinforce the theme of betrayal of trust.

Here is a brief version of the story that we need to tell to express this theme clearly and truthfully:

The Betrayal of Trust

At the time of the invasion, there were four BIG LIES. We were told that (1) we were threatened with weapons of mass destruction, (2) Saddam Hussein's government was responsible for 9/11, (3) we were going to spread democracy, and (4) the conflict would be short and easy with minimal damage at a total cost of about $100 billion. Every reason given for the invasion was a lie – no WMDs, no link between Iraq's government and terrorists, and no true democracy, and all the horrors that Cheney knew in advance would occur.

Now we have another betrayal, the BIG LIE – that the so-called 'surge' is working. With this Big Lie in place, occupation hawks will be especially well-positioned to blame the inevitable rise in violence and discord in Iraq on those patriotic Americans who are working to end the occupation. It has been accompanied by a key deception-by-omission where the 30 year oil contracts to U.S. companies and construction of permanent military bases are ignored by politicians and the mainstream media.

All the while, hundreds of thousands have been killed and maimed. Destruction is widespread. Conservative elites benefit from tax cuts and sky-rocketing profits while we get stuck with the $3 trillion bill, lost opportunities at home, and a crippled economy. Most of it was known in advance, planned, and carried out. A colossal betrayal.

We must reframe the debate and tell this story. This requires a shift of several ideas:

The invasion of Iraq was a betrayal of trust, not a poorly managed policy.

It is an occupation, not a war. So staying is not about trying to achieve "victory" and departing is not a surrender.

The escalation has failed, because it has not delivered meaningful political progress.

Congress is the decider, not the president.

This is the betrayal story we need to tell.

Joe Brewer
The Rockridge Institute

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