If the wingnuts believe that the Iraq war will succeed or fail based on purely its PR image, what would they do when the news in Iraq are really bad? That's it: have the president launch a PR counterattack! All is clear as water:
Bush is engaging in a public relations offensive on Iraq amid increasing worries in the American public. Only 39% of Americans support the way the president has handled Iraq, according to the latest AP-Ipsos poll. Nearly four out of five Americans, including 70% of Republicans, believe civil war will break out in Iraq, the poll showed.
Bush chose to focus in his opening speech on Iraqi security forces. He said that even though they need more training, they "turned in a strong performance" in the wake of the mosque bombing — which the president said was intended by insurgents to provoke a civil war.
"From the outset, Iraqi forces understood that if they failed to stand for national unity, the country would slip into anarchy," Bush said. "And so they stood their ground and defended their democracy."
He acknowledged, however, that not all Iraqi forces performed as well as others, and said there were reports that some forces in eastern Iraq had let insurgents pass by unimpeded.
Who do you think is winning the PR war? Now I understand why the administration believes that it's possible to win the war by simply arguing that it is being won. Nothing is real, no blood has been shed, no corpses have been found. It's all about images and who talks the loudest. Horrible.