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Fleischer Ignorant Of The Name Of Wounded Iraq Vet Featured In His TV
Ad

On MSNBC�s Hardball tonight, former White House press secretary Ari
Fleischer, who is leading a White House front group to defend Bush�s
escalation, was unable to name the wounded Iraq veteran featured in
his organization�s pro-war ad. �I don�t have his name in front of me,�
said Fleischer when asked by host Mike Barnicle if he knew the
soldier�s name.

Later in the program, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
executive director Paul Rieckhoff ripped into Fleischer�s offensive
ignorance. �What bothered me the most is that Ari Fleischer didn�t
even know the guy�s name.� said Rieckhoff. �He�s willing to run a
multi-million dollar campaign, utilizing the personal story of a
soldier, and he couldn�t tell you on national TV what that soldier�s
name is.�

Rieckhoff described it as part of �a problematic trend� that Freedom�s
Watch is using the soldier�s �personal story� as �a backdrop for
political rhetoric�:

People on both sides of the aisle, but especially the president and
this administration, have continued to use troops as a political prop.
As a backdrop for political rhetoric. It�s why the president gave such
an impassionate speech today in front of the VFW. It�s why this ad
carries so much weight on a visceral level. And it really bothers me
because our troops are not political props and they�re not chew toys.

Fleischer and his team of Bush surrogates are spending $15 million to
run the ad featuring the soldier, whose name is John Kriesel, in 20
states for a month. Hopefully, Fleischer will remember his name from
now on.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/22/fleischer-rieckhoff/



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2 wrongs don't make a right, but 3 rights make a left.