Americas Majority

Americas Majority is a 501(c)(4) policy group, which was "founded to increase the constituency for conservative causes: free market economics, international anti-totalitarianism, and morals based on Jewish and Christian scriptures," its website states. 

Americas Majority was described in March 2005 as "a not-for-profit dedicated to expanding the electoral base of conservative politics." 

"War of Words" Project
The Americas Majority website states that the War of Words Project "assembles veterans, and particularly veterans of the Operation Iraqi Freedom, to describe the rationale of U.S. pro-democracy policy in the Middle East. The project emphasizes the ethical and national security rationales for our military operations in Iraq, and elsewhere in the region."

According to an April 6, 2006, article in the Kansas City Strip's The Pitch by Eric Barton, Americas Majority president Richard Nadler "recruited" Iraq war vet U.S. Marine Corporal Richard Gibson "to join two other Iraq vets who [were] convinced that news outlets aren't showing the real war" in Iraq.

Calling it the War of Words Project, "hoping to get the message out that things in Iraq are relatively the same as they are in Overland Park, Nadler rounded up help from Gibson; J.D. Johannes, a former Marine sergeant and ex-campaign manager for Phill Kline who'd also worked in TV; and Lt. Lawrence Indyk, a self-described 'Jewish Iraq war veteran,' who was awarded a Purple Heart.

"They produced TV commercials showing happy scenes of Iraqis voting, children skipping along with U.S. troops, and American flags blowing in the breeze. One of the main messages, repeated by Gibson, warns that the media want the war to get worse. 'Don't let them turn Iraq into another Vietnam,' Gibson warns," Barton wrote.

"Nadler hopes that he'll be able to raise enough money to run the commercials nationally. So far, he has managed to get them on his Web site, www.amermaj.com. The site explains that the goal of his organization is to ensure 'a lasting conservative majority' by convincing folks who aren't conservatives to start voting the way that they are," Barton wrote.

On March 9, 2006, "Gibson and the other vets flew to Washington, D.C., where they joined Nadler for a press conference to kick off War of Words. Also, there was Nadler's communications director, John Altevogt, another conservative activist who is probably still aglow from his success in exposing University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki as an anti-fundamentalist (based on Mirecki's postings on a student atheist group's message board last December) and harassing Lawrence homosexuals.

"Altevogt arranged to have the vets speak at the National Press Club. Recalling the event, Altevogt isn't sure which members of the press attended," Barton wrote. "He does recall a reporter from the Turkish press and another" from Cybercast News Service, "a Web site produced by the conservative Media Research Center."


 * See Transcript of the March 9, 2006, press conference in Washington, DC in the Murrow Room of the National Press Club: Veterans Report Progress In Iraq (17-page pdf).

Also, on May 17, 2006, the American Enterprise Institute "hosted the 'War of Words' veterans in a panel discussion entitled 'Veterans Speak Out on the Coverage of the Iraq War.'" See website for video link.


 * See Transcript of the May 17, 2006, Speech by J.D. Johannes posted on the Faces from the Front website.

Conservative Pro-War Ad
Robert Novak reported in the May 20, 2006 Human Events Online on a "new television ad" by Americas Majority that "attempts to use outspoken Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean's own words to discredit his party on the war against terrorism."

The ad "shows a black-and-white still photograph of a sinister-looking Dean. His own voice is heard, with these words: 'The idea that we're going to win this war is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong, and I've seen this before in my life.'

"The ad continues with an announcer saying: 'Every time a prominent Democrat tells America we can't win, his words are broadcast around the Arab world.' At the close of the ad, the announcer says: 'The terrorists know their days are numbered unless the Democratic Party wins the next American election."

Officers

 * Richard Nadler, President
 * John Altevogt, Communications Director

Board of Advisors

 * Herman Cain
 * Jack Cashill
 * John "Woody" Cozad
 * Dwight Sutherland

Contact Information
7808 Foster, Suite B Overland Park, KS 66204 Phone: 913 481-3086 Website: http://www.amermaj.com/

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Faces from the Front

External articles

 * Randy Hall, "'Job Is Getting Done' in Iraq, Despite US Press, Veterans Say," Cybercast News Service, March 10, 2006.
 * Eric Barton, "Good News From Iraq. Brought to you by hometown patriots!" The Pitch (Kansas City), April 6, 2006.
 * Speaker Biographies, American Enterprise Institute, May 17, 2006.
 * Robert Novak, "Cheney vs. Times," Human Events Online, May 20, 2006.
 * Roger Aronoff and Cliff Kincaid, Opinion: "The Good News from Iraq: Iraqi Citizen Polls & the Media," Post-Chronicle, May 23, 2006.