Pentagon issue 74-page spin on Iraq

Pentagon Issues Rebuttals for Iraq Debate

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By LIZ SIDOTI, The Associated Press
Jun 15, 2006 11:20 AM (15 mins ago)

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon on Thursday armed congressional supporters of the Iraq war with an unusual "debate prep book" packed with ready-made rebuttals to criticism of three more than three-year-old conflict.

With the House beginning an election-year debate on the war, the Pentagon suggested lawmakers make the point that "Iraq will become a haven for terrorists, murderers and thugs," if the United States leaves "before the job is done."

"We cannot cut and run," it says at another point, anticipating Democratic calls for a troop withdrawal on a fixed timetable.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the 74-page document. It was sent to both Republicans and Democrats and it laid out the administration's positions in strong terms and offered page after page of counterpoints to criticisms that Democrats typically level against President Bush's war policies.

Both houses of Congress debated the war Thursday as the Pentagon announced that the U.S. death toll in the conflict had reached 2,500 in the three years since the war began and lawmakers sent the president an emergency spending bill that includes $66 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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