On the 5 year anniversary of the occupation of Iraq he deemed as ‘worth it,’ President Bush gave a 26-minute speech in which he brought up al-Qaida 14 times while trying to make the public believe that if America stops fighting in Iraq, new attacks could be made at home by bin Laden’s terror network — using the usual fear tactics we’ve all grown to know, see through and despise.
The Associated Press (AP) decided to do a fact-check on a couple points brought up in the speech and found that once again, there were discrepancies between the spin coming out of Bush’s mouth and the truth. The New York Times (NYT) says the mission is still not accomplished. As usual, the president lied.
For years the Bush administration has tried to link al-Qaida and Iraq to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Despite the fact that even the Bush administration admits that Saddam Hussein had no involvement with al-Qaida and the fact that al-Qaida wasn’t in Iraq until we occupied it, Vice President Cheney and President Bush continue lying about it while Republican Presidential Candidate Senator John McCain — who, as noted by Democratic Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama, is running to fill Bush’s third term — continues to blow their horns.
The AP debunked the spin from the president regarding “the terrorists who murder the innocent in the streets of Baghdad” that “want to murder the innocent in the streets of America,” and the spin about the “Arab uprising.” Bush refers to 90,000 so-called Sons of Iraq alleged to be part of the “Arab uprising” who are paid by the United States to ‘fight terrorists’ — paid to not shoot at U.S. troops.
Bush doesn’t mention the major problem with the Sons of Iraq. According to the Guardian UK: “In an investigation carried out by GuardianFilms for Channel 4, we uncover how thousands of Iraqis employed at $10 a day by the US to take on al-Qaida are threatening to go on strike because they say they have been used by the ‘Americans to do their dirty work’ and haven’t been paid.”
Mission Still Not Accomplished
The NYT reports that President Bush was stuck in the Neverland of his “Mission Accomplished” speech — in his mind’s eye, the invasion was a “remarkable display of military effectiveness” that will be studied for generations. The war has placed the nation on the brink of a great “strategic victory” in Iraq and against terrorists the world over.
In the article the NYT brings up more reminders of the incompetence and delusions of the Bush administration and reminds us that Bush refuses to listen to anyone, including the American public.
While the Bush administration claims that it has all been “worth the effort,” they neglect the 4,000 Americans who have been killed (97% of which died after Bush’s infamous declaration of “Mission Accomplished”) — far too many of them because Bush and his administration failed to plan for an insurgency when the Iraqi Army and Police force were ignorantly disbanded — the thousands of Americans who have been wounded and deprived of adequate post-conflict care, and the growing number of veterans committing suicide while Iraqis have died by the tens of thousands. Most estimates say hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died.
More than five million Iraqis have been driven from their homes. The cost to the United States from the illegal occupation known as the Iraq war could exceed $3 trillion. Destroying America’s reputation and the havoc wreaked on Iraq has made the United States more vulnerable, not safer, and has stretched our military dangerously thin.
If you’re affiliated with Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater or a few other dubious outfits, such as is the case of Vice President Cheney, it’s well worth it. For the rest of us, it’s not. More explanation of why the mission is still not accomplished can be found in the NYT article.
The Push for War with Iran
Contriving Weapons of Mass Destruction to illegally goad the American public into acceptance of a war with Iraq, 4,000 American soldiers killed, almost half a trillion spent so far (by Pentagon estimates), increasing the federal deficit to $9 trillion, making the Middle East more unstable, ruining Americas reputation, oil at more than $100 a barrel, inflation hitting record highs, and a military strained to its breaking point — to the point of recruiting high-school dropouts, gang-bangers and people with criminal records isn’t enough for the Bush administration.
The administration has consistently lied about and contrived evidence in attempts to goad the American public into going to war with Iran too.
Last week President Bush reportedly said that Iran has declared that it wants to be a nuclear power with a weapon to “destroy people,” including others in the Middle East, despite contradictions (again) from the recently released U.S. intelligence report contradicting what he says. Bush and his cronies continue trying to goad the public into war with Iran.
Reported by the Washington Post:
“Experts on Iran and nuclear proliferation said the president’s statement was wrong. “That’s as uninformed as [Sen. John] McCain’s statement that Iran is training al-Qaeda. Iran has never said it wanted a nuclear weapon for any reason. It’s just not true. It’s a little troubling that the president and the leading Republican candidate are both so wrong about Iran,” said Joseph Cirincione, president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation.”
General David Petraeus — referred to as General Betray US by some — the highest ranking officer in Iraq is also helping sound the alarm to attack Iran. He claims that Iran was behind an attack in Baghdad’s heavily fortified green zone. Petraeus is another example of a highly politicized military ‘leader.’
Other Iraq Lies and UN Threats
Recently Newsweek reported on a review of 600,000 pages of Iraqi intelligence documents seized after the fall of Baghdad, as well as thousands of hours of audio- and video tapes of Saddam’s conversations with his ministers and top aides. A full review of the Iraqi Perspectives Project from the United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) is available from the USJFCOM website.
Another lie told by Bush was debunked after review of those documents — aside from the nonexistant Weapons of Mass Destruction and links to al-Qaida — Bush also referred to Saddam Hussein as ‘a guy that tried to kill my dad’ after allegations of an Iraqi plot to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush during a trip to Kuwait in 1993. No where in the documents, audio- or video tapes was evidence found to corroborate that allegation.
Other actions of the Bush administration resulting in bitterness and deep mistrust with U.S. allies all over the world were recently revealed in a book written by Heraldo Muñoz, Chile’s ambassador to the United Nations.
The book, to be released next month, is titled “A Solitary War: A Diplomat’s Chronicle of the Iraq War and Its Lessons.” It details how the Bush administration threatened trade reprisals against friendly countries who withheld their support, spied on its allies, and pressed for the recall of U.N. envoys that resisted U.S. pressure to endorse the war in the months leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Muñoz wrote that “in the aftermath of the invasion, allies loyal to the United States were rejected, mocked and even punished” for their refusal to back a U.N. resolution authorizing military action against Saddam Hussein’s government.
The United States and Terrorism
As noted by Information Clearing House, terrorism is a general term used to describe violence or other harmful acts carried out for achieving political ends. The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) can be considered a terrorist organization according to both international and American definitions of terrorism.
The CIA was created by Congress in 1947. Its official duty is to serve as an intelligence gathering agency. In reality, the CIA not only gathers information but consistently targets and engages in covert operations, psychological operations, and acts of terrorism both domestically and internationally.
All kinds of information regarding the CIA and terrorism continues coming to light, such as in this video of Phillip Agee, a fromer CIA agent turned whistleblower. GHW Bush called him a traitor…Agee drew attention to the use of the CIA to support assassination of dictators in foreign countries. The involvement of CIA planes to transport Cocaine and prisoners for rendition is also common knowledge. More information about terroristic tactics by the CIA can be found from Information Clearing House and The Existentialist Cowboy Blogspot.
As noted by the Federation of American Scientists, since 1992, the United States has exported more than $142 billion dollars worth of weaponry to states around the world. U.S weapons sales help outfit non-democratic regimes, soldiers who commit gross human rights abuses against their citizens and citizens of other countries, and forces in unstable regions on the verge of, in the middle of, or recovering from conflict. The United States is the top arms seller to other countries, with Kosovo being the most recent recipient.
Governmental Deceptions and Unanswered Questions
For many, the possibility that they have been blatantly deceived by their own government is unthinkable or unbelievable, despite mountains of evidence all leading to the same conclusion. The U.S. Government lies, cheats, steals and performs all kinds of other crimes against their own citizens and citizens of other countries.
There are too many conspiracy theories involving 9/11, but there is truth in the fact that people in the upper echelons of government knew of or had a hand in the attacks of 9/11 and there are too many unanswered questions. While corporate media loves to smear people who question the ‘official’ story of 9/11, possibly due to complicity on their part to keep information covered up, it’s beginning to unravel. Hint: if the ‘conspiracies’ were wrong, corporate media wouldn’t be making such a stink about it.
The only conspiracy was on the part of the individuals involved who purposely made no effort to prevent the attacks of 9/11. The Iraq war is about oil, not terrorists. In 2001, shortly before Osama bin Laden was reported to have died, the Taliban offered to hand him over to the U.S. — President Bush rejected the offer.
The ‘surge’ in Iraq hasn’t worked. Lack of competent leadership and poor planning for the aftermath of the war has — as noted by AlterNet — left thousands of wounded veterans returning from Iraq only to face other battles that await them. For someone who ‘supports’ our troops, President Bush has a terribly irresponsible way of showing it.
Links to the information above can be found below:
Bush: Iraq War Worth It article from The Huffington Post
Bush’s War from PBS.org FRONTLINE
Fact Check: Bush on al Qaida, Iraqis article from Yahoo! News / The Associated Press
Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2007 article from Informed Comment by Juan Cole
Mission Still Not Accomplished article from The New York Times
McCain’s repeated “slips of the tongue” on Iran and al-Qaida article by Glenn Greenwald from Salon News
80,000 Angry Men. Is the US Surge collapsing? video from The Guardian UK
Is ‘success’ of U.S. surge in Iraq about to unravel? article from McClatchy News
They Died in Vain article from LewRockwell.com
Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans article from CBS News
Veterans Suicides: How We Got The Numbers article from CBS News
97% of U.S. deaths in Iraq came after ‘Mission Accomplished.’ article from Think Progress
Lifting the Censor’s Veil on the Shame of Iraq article from The New York Times
Iraq: A Teacher’s Tale article from Newsweek
Iraq Occupation a Success After All…For Some People article from AfterDowningStreet
The Road to ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ article from ConsortiumNews
How Many More Must Die? article from The Baldwin Park Democrat
The Army’s manpower squeeze article from The Los Angeles Times
The Bungled War article from LewRockwell
Iran a Nuclear Threat, Bush Insists article from The Washington Post
Bush flubs test on Iran and nuclear weapons article from Crooks and Liars
Bush erroneously says Iran announced desire for nuclear weapons article from mcClatchy Washington Bureau News
The Latest McBush Lies to Lead Us to War with Iran article and video from AlterNet
Iran a Nuclear Threat, Bush Insists article from The Washington Post
Iran ‘behind Green Zone attack’ article from BBC News
MoveOn.org Ad Takes Aim at Petraeus article from ABC News
Saddam’s Files – They show terror plots, but raise new questions about some U.S. claims article from Newsweek
The Iraqi Perspectives Project – Saddam and Terrorism: Emerging Insights from Captured Iraqi Documents report from the United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM)
Ambassador: Bush bullied UN diplomats into supporting Iraq war article from Impeach Bush For Peace
The CIA – a Terrorist Organization article from Information Clearing House
What Is The C.I.A. video from YouTube
GHW Bush called him a traitor. Phillip Agee video from YouTube
The CIA – a Terrorist Organization article from Information Clearing House
CIA Holocaust Claims Twenty Million Victims article and videos from The Existentialist Cowboy Blogspot
FAST FACTS article from the Federation of American Scientists
U.S. Is Top Arms Seller to Developing World article from The New York Times
Russia: US arming ex-terrorists article from News24.com
Bush OKs supplying arms to Kosovo article from Yahoo! News / AFP
Listen Up, Eye Rollers! Part 1 of 2 article from ConspiracyArchive
U.S. and Allied Intelligence Services Had Penetrated The Very Highest Levels of Al Qaeda Prior to 9/11 article from George Washington’s Blog
911 Loose Change (full-length) video from YouTube
A comprehensive list of over 100 lies and omissions in the 911 commission report information from SeptemberEleventh.org
New York Governor ‘Destroyed’ Over Threat To Probe 9/11 Attacks On US article from WhatDoesItMean.com
Report: Bin Laden Already Dead article from FOX News
The Death of bin Ladenism article from The New York Times
Bush rejects Taliban offer to hand Bin Laden over article from The Guardian UK
The Military-Petroleum Complex article from The Intelligence Daily
Think “The Surge” is Working? Think Again article from Diatribune
Five Surgeries, Two Purple Hearts and Still Fighting for VA Benefits article from AlterNet
The Idiot’s Grin article from The Nation
Fateful Choice on Iraq Army Bypassed Debate article from The New York Times
Dear Supporter of President Bush and Mr. Cheney: The Policies Fail On Their Own Terms article from George Washington Blogspot
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