Play into the Frame and Lose

What's wrong with this sentence (John Kerry at a Cincinnati, Ohio campaign stop):

"Today marks a tragic milestone in the war in Iraq; more than 1,000 of America’s sons and daughters have now given their lives on behalf of their country, on behalf of freedom, the war on terror."

Answer:
It legitimizes the so-called "war on terror," legitimizes the war on a country that posed no threat to us, and conflates the two (makes people think they're related, even though they're not).

More importantly, this framing implies that the honorable service of our soldiers was honorable because of their location, not because of their wilingness to sacrifice.

The "right" created this frame to manipulate people into believing that disagreeing with the location of a war would be to dishonor the soldiers' willingness to sacrifice. The real dishonor comes in taking credit for their honorable service through decietful language.

To truly honor these fine men and women, John Kerry needs to reframe:

"Today marks a tragic milestone in the war in Iraq; more than 1,000 of America’s sons and daughters have now given their lives on behalf of their country. We honor their sacrifice.

I understand the pain of losing a loved one in war. My heart goes out to their families. When I am President, I will ensure that their sacrifices will not have been in vain."

[UPDATE 9-8-04]
The campaign has reworded the speech for today. Much better!

Yesterday in Iraq, we marked the most incalculable loss of all. Yesterday, we reached a tragic milestone. More than 1,000 of America’s sons and daughters gave their lives in service to our country. More than 1,000 sons and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters who will never come home to live the lives they dreamed of. We honor them, we pray for them and for their families, and we owe it to their memory and all our troops to do what’s right in Iraq.