In the New York Times this morning, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) ran an ad supporting Gen. David Petraeus’ recent sugarcoated testimony before Congress. In the ad, Giuliani asks “who should America listen to” on Iraq — critics of the war, or Petraeus and Giuliani:
On MSNBC this morning, Giuliani’s senior communications adviser, Jim Dyke, defended the ad, saying “we oughta have a serious discussion in this country about” Iraq:
I’m an American. And because I believe that the terrorists, the Islamic terrorists, have declared war on us. And I believe that we oughta have a serious discussion in this country about the approach to defending ourselves.
When host Contessa Brewer challenged Dyke’s implied contention that “people who question” the current war strategy are “un-American,” the Giuliani aide dismissed Brewer’s query as “a silly question.” Watch it:
[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2007/09/GiulianiAd.320.240.flv]
Indeed, America needs a “serious discussion in this country” on Iraq. One person who has proved himself to be someone America should not “listen to” is Rudy Giuliani. The former New York City mayor, who has never visited Iraq, has complained that “America is too consumed with Iraq.”
In 2006, Giuliani had an opportunity to study the issue as a member of the Iraq Study Group, but he quit the post because it conflicted with his lucrative speaking tours. Newsday reported:
Giuliani quit the group during his busiest stretch in 2006, when he gave 20 speeches in a single month that brought in $1.7 million.
In 2004, after tons of explosives in Iraq went missing, Giuliani defended President Bush by saying “the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there.”