The Lies of War

How many WOUNDED U.S. soldiers?

What about the cost to our communities in terms of increased domestic violence cause by service men and women who have returned from the battlefield?

How about the increase in crime?

How do you measure the increase in hatred toward Americans that has resulted from this war?

How many Iraqi civilians have been killed in this war?

How many is too many?

One?

A hundred thousand?

A million?

Ten million?

The cost to the the world is chaos and bloodshed for the foreseable future.

What does it profit a man to gain the world at the cost of his soul?

bin Ladin vowed to backrupt the US in '02. He's done it.
From a cave. In NW Pakistan. Okay, he had some inside help.
And if he didn't have that help, then he's probably the second coming.

It took seven years
for most ignorant apathetic
americans to wake up
Most vote without a clue
as to the record or background
of their candidate.
America gets what it deserves
This economy is going down hard.
Bush doubled the debt to 7 trillion
since 2000. Dollar down 33%
since 2000 US hated world wide.

the repiglickins drank our milkshake

I take it back. it isn't most of the time.

Lost my tribe: thank you, i needed that. Most of the time I get insulted.

Thank you Thomas Moore and the Bangor Daily News.

If only more newspapers were so honest and informed, the U.S. would be a better country leading a more just world.

It just completely blows my mind as to how we as an "educated" and "Christian" nation have been so duped and seduced by our American capitalistic culture.

Unfortunately it speaks so well of the pure diabolical evil of Western industrial capitalism. And to think we "won" the cold war!

Until humankind recognizes the intrinsic evil of Western corporate capitalism, humankind will never have peace and a sustainable planet.

The answer? A revolutionary change of heart, a new and universal higher global consciousness. How? To me, by coming to know the radical mind of Christ as practiced before the sell-out of Christianity to the Roman Emperor Constantine.

Things have not changed much in 2,000 years. Now we have the American "Christian" Empire.

Barn Burner says:
"the point is We as U.S. citizens are tied to our Governments policies in their mind." Therein lies the problem. We, as US citizens should also be tied to our governments policies in our minds as well. Somewhere along the way, since 'Morning in America' we have lost sight of the meaning of government of the people, by the people, for the people. We ARE our government and if those that have been placed in elective office do not reflect our will then we must take to the streets and remove them. We must petition our elected officials to use any and all legal means to remove them from office...but we are not....they are not. When the Democrats took control of the Congress the House leadership IMMEDIATELY said that impeachment was off the table. Essentially, from the get go we were told that there was not going to be any kind of accountability for this criminal regime holding power in OUR government. It is no wonder that 'they' tie us to the policies of this government and 'they' are right to do so. We ARE responsible, regardless of which way we voted in any of the past four elections. 'WE' did nothing when the election of 2000 was stolen from us in broad daylight; 'WE' did nothing when dubious returns increased the GOP majority in the House and particularly the Senate in 2002; 'WE' did nothing when election fraud again was raised in Ohio in the election of 2004; and 'WE' have done nothing to force cowards in leadership positions in the Democratic party to act on our behalf. Make no mistake; you, me and every living American, whether they voted or not, ARE responsible for the slaughter in Iraq and until 'WE' drag the criminals out of the White House, Supreme Court and Congress and show the world that our laws apply to ALL EQUALLY we will be living in denial. Until and unless that happens 'WE' will never have the respect of the rest of the world and deservedly so. Either 'WE' demand justice be served on these tyrants or 'WE' live knowing that 'WE' are complicit in their crimes.

"The reasons for going to war were misrepresented and groundless. They were lies."

Sure, it would be *much* better if the Administration told the nation the real reasons it has to fight illegal wars. That the 'American Way of Life' (AWOL) depends on global access to resources and markets on our terms, that oil is Peaking and the Persian Gulf area has many trillions of dollars worth of the remaining Reserves (not to mention natural gas), that the American Empire has over 800 military bases around the world and needed more in Iraq to threaten Iran with, while withdrawing troops from Saudi Arabia before our dictator there is overthrown by the populace seething with hatred...

Sure, Americans just want the *true* reasons we go to war, not these lies they keep feeding us.

Stephen Kinzer has a nice book on the recent century of War that has contributed to American wealth:
Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq

May I also add, read the poetry of Randall Jarrell. As a matter of fact, I just read "The Ball-Turret Gunner" this morning in "The Poet's Corner" by John Lithgow. Lithgow stated something to the effect of, "reading this poem alone should motivate us to end war. Let alone reading the newspaper." War is senseless and barbaric, and we should stop romanticizing the act of dying in it.

While so many writers are willing to state things like, "Of course we "support our troops" as the ubiquitous ribbon counsels," I'd like just one of them to tell me what that means, and why they think so many of "us" agree on that saying? Are we talking about paying taxes, or taking into our homes homeless PTSD ridden lost soldiers, or giving our daughters to them, or something else?

"The planning for the invasion was grossly inadequate"

This oft repeated canard is not only false but completely misses the point. The Iraqi professional class has been completely decimated, either murdered, denied employment or forced into exile. This did not happen by accident; this was by design on a the Pol Pot model. Why are there any foreign construction contractors in Iraq at all? The Iraqis had a sophisticated building infrastructure prior to our invasion. The fact is our goal is not to rebuild Iraq; it is to destroy it, to reduce it to permanent low grade chaos where we can lord over the oil reserves from the protection of our numerous fortresses. Of course, this sort of planning cannot be announced publically by the administration (though McCain let the cat out of the bag with his "hundred year" war) but, from the point of view of Big Oil, the planning was not only adequate, it was one hundred percent successful.

lizard, We, the youth, listen to your posts and know that you are on our side. Thank you.

Jacob Freeze: "Americans aren't just hated… We're despised by almost everybody else in the world."
I travel through Europe regularly, and I noticed after 2003, that attitudes had changed, not just towards the US, but also towards people from the UK. A big part of the problem, seems to be the US attitude of "if you are not with us then you're against us". There were many countries in Europe who didn't want to enter the Iraq war, and we were aware of the hatred and vitriol aimed at them by the US press. The re-election of Bush had much to do with a confirmation of the mindset of the American people. Bush was and is known the World over, for being inarticulate, ignorant and having the perpetual sneer of a man, who is incapable of caring what other people or countries think of him.
I was talking to someone the other day about president Putin in Russia, and they said to me "what do you think of Putin, he is a dictator who is starting the cold war all over again, he is such an evil man". I replied, that I thought that Putin was indeed a powerful leader, and that things are far from perfect in Russia, but what did he think of what Bush and Blair did in Iraq? I went on to mention the million dead Iraqis, and said that I believed that our leaders are far more evil and calculating than Putin. Unfortunately he failed to see the point which I was making, and so did the 51% of Americans who voted for Bush, and the 36% of British who voted for Blair.
The majority of the people here in the UK and also in the US, are in denial. They believe that everything is fine with our Western Capitalist culture, based on materialism and wealth. They do not care about our foreign policy, or the effect it has on World terrorism, they simply do not want to see the link.
Jpoverseas: you raise such valid and poignant points, regarding our behaviour abroad. We live in such democratic countries, where people take all behaviour to excess levels, that we are taken aback when that same behaviour is seen as offensive abroad. I know this is a generalisation, but collectively, we are so arrogant that we see our way as the only way, and foreign people are viewed as quaint, backward or primitive.
We live in the 21st century, not the middle ages, and this is not the time to be going on crusades, trying to force our way on other nations, imposing our forms of "democracy" and "liberation", when in reality it means slaughter and rape, and making people hate us more.

They hate the condescension and arrogance of the Bush-Cheney administration's foreign policy - the invasion, the bombings, the torturing, the surge, the mercenaries - but most do not hate Americans.

Americans lost the presumption of innocence when they re-elected Bush. Mr. Moore's experience in the Middle East sounds like something out of a bygone era. The image of the United States today is greedy, ignorant, and violent by proxy.

Americans aren't just hated... We're despised by almost everybody else in the world.

Like Moore, I have spent a good deal of time abroad, though in southeast and south Asia. Sometimes I have been tempted to tell the local people that I am Canadian rather than American for shame at what our "leaders" from Bush pere through Bush fils were doing to both Americans and non-Americans (except of course the rich elite of both). However, I have always swallowed the shame and fessed up. Everywhere I've gone, local people have been intelligent or polite enough, or both, as Moore attests, to distinguish between the American powers that be and American people. Though I have witnessed more than a few virulent attacks on official and unofficial American practices and policies, I have never been attacked personally for being American, and have often been told that Americans are good people.

But I find this distinction bit puzzling. Most Americans travel very little outside the bounds of the US except to resorts carefully shielded from the lives of the locals. Many of those who do take the scary step into the other worlds do so in ignorance and with little curiosity. They do not bother to learn the basic local customs before they go or while out there, they can't even say "Hello", "Good-bye", "Please", or "Thank you" in the local language, they are quickly frustrated when the desires they express in a language unknown to the locals are not instantly gratified, they resent paying more than locals whose income is a small fraction of theirs, they eat only those local foods closest to their usual fare, they cringe at accommodation more "basic" than their wont even if it is clean, they do not notice how their outsized bodies impose on the locals, they move through crowds like sharks through a graceful school of fish. Americans are not the only ones who act this way. I have seen two young Australian women plop themselves down on a beach in front of a Muslim village in Indonesia, loll about topless for two hours while the young men in the village did not work at all, then leave in a huff mumbling about the "bloody Peeping Toms". And, of course, there are Americans who travel in other worlds carefully, with some knowledge, respect for local people and their customs, and willingness to experience what is not familiar. But in my experience they are a minority, and a minority proportionately smaller than their counterparts from Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

About the only solution I can find to this puzzle is American movies and TV. To be sure, the media perpetuate the image of Americans as outrageously rich since even the supposedly poor folks on the big or small screen live materially much better than most people in Asia. On the other hand, media American characters are mostly honest, kind, willing to lend a hand to someone in trouble, courageous in the face of injustice, funny, inventive, well intentioned if sometimes a bit clumsy, and devoted to their families. Sure there are the baddies, some even American, but they are always, always, always defeated in the end by the modest hero or heroine. And remember, most non-Americans know us only by the media since we show up in other countries so rarely.

Wouldn't it be nice if we managed to live up to the image folks in foreign lands have of us?

Are those many Americans incapable of counting any but their own dead, to be permitted to obscure the fact that their own dead are but a vanishly small fraction of the deaths that their own dead caused. Until America as a nation learns to cry for the sufferings of others, why should others cry for the sufferings of America.

People are brain-washed from the day they are born to their death through the culture. It is hard, almost impossible to see through this.

Let's see, Agent Orange, Depeleted Uranium, and only God knows what else, and these people do not care who gets in harms way, as long as their nefarious plans come to fruition. The lives of the average person mean next to nothing in the way they treat these soldiers, and the non-combatants in the areas of operation. When one gets sick or dies, just replace them with another, or the innocent men, women, and children, who are caught up in the middle of all this insanity. All of this just because Bush, and his cabinet, wanted to help out the oil companies, now that is insanity.

http://www.gtr5.com/

On June 8, 1967, US Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty was suddenly and brutally attacked on the high seas in international waters by the air and naval forces of Israel. The Israeli forces attacked with full knowledge that this was an American ship and lied about it. Survivors have been forbidden for 40 years to tell their story under oath to the American public. This USS Liberty Memorial web site tells their story and is dedicated to the memory of the 34 brave men who died.

The Attack

After surveilling USS Liberty for more than nine hours with almost hourly aircraft over flights and radar tracking, the air and naval forces of Israel attacked our ship in international waters without warning. USS Liberty was identified as a US naval ship nine hours before the attack by Israeli reconnaissance aircraft and continuously tracked by Israeli radar and aircraft thereafter. Sailing in international waters at less than five knots, with no offensive armament, our ship was not a military threat to anyone.

The Israeli forces attacked without warning and without attempting to contact us. Thirty four Americans were killed in the attack and another 174 were wounded. The ship, a $40 Million Dollar state of the art signals intelligence platform, was later declared unsalvageable and sold for scrap.

The Cover Up

Despite a near-uniform consensus that the Israeli attack was made with full knowledge that USS Liberty was a US Navy ship, the Johnson administration began an immediate cover-up of this fact. Though individual administration officers continued individually to characterize the attack as deliberate, the Johnson administration never sought the prosecution of the guilty parties or otherwise attempted to seek justice for the victims. They concealed and altered evidence in their effort to downplay the attack. Though they never formally accepted the Israeli explanation that it was an accident, they never pressed for a full investigation either. They simply allowed those responsible literally to get away with murder.

Anti-Semitism and the Anti-American Apologists
.

The USS Liberty Memorial site abhors the racist and ill-informed positions taken by the Liberty Lobby, the American Free Press, and similar anti-Semitic organizations. We repudiate their comments and oppose them in every way. The campaign for accountability for the attack on USS Liberty has no room for hatemongers. We do not seek harmfor any country or people, only accountability for the criminal acts perpetrated against us.

Nonetheless, the legion of pro-Israel, anti-American apologists, while small, makes up for its lack of numbers and inability to mount any kind of legitimate defense by launching loud, vicious ad hominem attacks on anyone who attempts to raise the issue of the attack being deliberate. These anti-American apologists refuse to discuss the facts of the case. Rather they rely on "big lie" propaganda and attack anyone who questions the Israeli position as being "anti-Semitic".

For detailed information about the power of the pro-Israel lobby, please read The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy. See also, The Pro-Israel Lobby.

Bernice. I couldn't agree more, specially with respect to Jesus. It could have been grand. But it has been spoiled by mysticism and magical thinking. The fault as such, lies in all of us for not questioning, for assuming things. The greatest calamities of mankind arise because too few have the courage to question what everyone accepts as true.

the best thing about having Jewish friends is never having to wonder who your enemy is.

I think the US/Israel relationship has proven that to be a fact beyond any shadow of a doubt.

lizard: It isn't Christianity or Jesus that is responsible for the Bush/Cheney Foreign Policy From Hell, just as Islam is not responsible for bin Laden and his followers. It is fundamentalism of every kind: religious, market, political ideology, and, in the case of our White House Gang, a fundamentalist faith in military power over human reason and caring.

The war has moved from Iraq to Pakistan, the world's only nuclear armed Islamic nation. The prize is no longer oil; it is a cache of some 80 nuclear bombs. The U.S. will enter Pakistan in force and join the big wrestling match among al-Qaeda, the Taliban, dozens of unruly tribes and the Musharraf government in pursuit of nukes. Get ready for a whole new set of astounding lies for the new war in Pakistan.

Eric Barth has pointed out the real crux of the situation. The fascist CEO's who run this country's politics don't give a shit about anybody...just whether or not they are kept in their proper places. They don't care about "victory" or "freedom." They care about the bottom line and they have hijacked the American military to carry out that program. They don't care how many are killed (they're just part of the unwashed, diseased masses).
And if the US suffers another Vietnam style trauma...they don't care. They are multi-national, they are obscenely rich and if the rest of the world suffers and self-immolates...tough shit! Vietnam was wasted into the stone age for refusing to play the game. Despite their so-called victory they are just now crawling out of the economic and ecological hole we bombed them into and that only because they have finally shown they are coming around and are now willing to play the corporate game. They are signing the trade agreements as we speak. The Saudi royal family knows this fact...Saddam thought he could circumvent it.
This govt doesn't care about Israel or Islam. They care about keeping things stired up enough so the fools doing the fighting will keep on and not unite against the common enemy.
Israel has 1000 times more in common culturaly,
ethnicaly and economicaly with the Arab people
then they will ever have with Dick Cheney and Adolph Bush but they are being played...we are all being played by the souless worshipers of money. "Lets you and him fight," is the name of the game. It started when the Puritans used Indians to track down escaped slaves and it worked out so damn good they decided to make it a permanent policy that has served them well to this day. When we make exceptions,i.e. who is most deserving of our murderous anger like Cheney and Bush we become part of the dark side (yes Luke, I said it) and THEY are in charge.
Peace will come to the world only through enlightenment. Hang Bush and Cheney and a hundred will step up to take their place. What would it be like if those two woke up tomorrow
with real understanding? Awesome!!! I pray for their enlightenment daily.

No Mama, No Papa, No Uncle Sam, No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces, No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces, And nobody gives a god damn.

Hoytdouglas: i would suspend my opposition to the death penalty for these two. I don't know anyone more deserving.

GKL

Neoliberal economic policies espouse the sanctity of the free market but in reality serve to subjugate countries by lending them money they can't afford with conditions that impoverish the country while ensuring that the leaders (accomplices) get rich so they will cooperate in the rape. It is a way to increase american power at the expense of the poor. The IMF and the World Bank serve this purpose. Chavez is unto it and therefore must be killed.

"nearly 4,000 american soldiers have died since the start of the iraq war". how about "at least 4,000 american soldiers have died..."??? it's difficult to give much respect to a story that opens with such a fucked up sentence.

Gene therapy. Does being a Buddhist mean that you are now an atheist, when you used to believe in the godliness of Christ? If so, congratulations!

Someone please explain "neo-liberal" to me.

Eric---you nailed it, and shame on Amerika for it's history of war crimes!

Noam Chomsky (that voice not heard in the mainstream media) has stated the following (in paraphrase): "It is important to remember that those who issued the defense policy of the United States in 2002 to combat terrorism don't believe a word of it." In other words, they know that a military response to terrorism is counterproductive and swells the ranks of such terrorist organizations as Al Qaeda, but they advance the policy regardless because, as Chomsky notes, "there are just some higher priorities." These include maintaining a hold on political power, enacting neoliberal economic policies,controlling the domestic population through fear and jingoistic nationalism, and quashing (and criminalizing) lawful dissent.

These are the real Jews, courageous, humane and just. www.gush-shalom.org

Those in power in Israel from the Zionist contingent are worthy only of our horror, disgust and condemnation. They seem more of a sub-set of humanity, namely, the small psychopathic element among us, whose brain configurations are verifiably measurable as abnormal. The perverse, cold-blooded cruelty, with no shame, with no conscience and the need to win and dominate no matter what the cost clearly bespeaks a very dangerous anomaly.

One solution would be for a similar group from the White House in Washington, D.C., to offer the Crawford ranch and additional available acreage of the Texas environs to this Zionist faction for a vacation Homeland.

Given a little time when all of these ego-centered psychopaths get together, they might very well kill each other off in short order. With GW's ability to only see as far as the end of his nose, he very likely might start the fracus off by hosting a Pig Roast with a Jamboree of a Jazzed-up Old Time Hymn band of Right-wing fundamentalist Christian singers, and then take umbrage when the food and entertainment wasn't appreciated by his now dour-faced guests.

GW, as more than rumor has it, does not like to be crossed. Neither do the other guys.

To settle their differences, with a game of Shock Therapy for the Elite, Karl Rove then can pass out the latest models of Tasers for Women that deliver 50,000 volts that can keep going for 5 minutes rather than the 30-second jolts of the original models.

Sounds like a plan.

When Bush, Cheney and a host of generals and Congressmen drop through a trap door with a noose around their necks like Sadam Husein did, we will begin to see change and justice in our world.

Those criminals should be hung after found guilty of war crimes.

But, Bush and Cheney are the war criminals of our time who should not died in peace.

4,000
12,000
such small numbers to represent this war
terrible data selection when counting war costs

Israel was created for the European (Ashkenazi) Jewry, not the Sephardim(who are discriminated against in Israel) native to Mediterranean lands.

European guilt, Zionist manipulation - who cares!

It's all about stealing the land and water of the area referred to in ancient times as greater Syria (Syria, Jordan,Palestine, Lebanon) and pretending its about religion.

Real believing Jews do not really condone the ungodly Zionist policies cloaked as ancient 'rights'.

The near total absence of concern by "Christians" for the 1,000,000 plus dead Iraqis even as they grieve for our own 4,000 dead, is emblematic of why I have long, long since vacated the "Christian community". The Jesus I was taught would have considered every Iraqi as much a brother or sister as the boy down the street who went to war. Contemporary Christianity is conservative, fearful, nationalistic, militaristic and bears no resemblance to the namesake. Hence my shift to Buddhism. I firmly believe that Jesus, were he present now, would be a Buddhist and certainly an anti-war activist.

We do not have to agree with everything our politicians do, we do not have to support our troops abroad, if we feel that the war is illegal. We do not have to listen to and believe our mainstream media, if we feel (as I do), that it is being censored or manipulated. We must never lose the ability to make our own minds up, and if necessary stand up to our friends if we must in order to stick to our principles or take what we see as the moral high ground.
We still live in a democracy (both the US and UK), and democratic rights will only be whittled away if we turn into sheeple, constantly bowing to peer pressure, refusing to stand for what we believe is right.
This article deals with the attitudes of people in Middle Eastern countries, in relation to the policies inflicted on them by Western imperial powers. This could be Britain in Iraq, Iran and Palestine, or France in North Africa. It almost certainly points to the actions of the US in the last 50 years in the whole of the Middle East, supporting successive dictatorships, to the obvious detriment of the greater population. We are approaching the 5th "birthday" of operation Iraqi freedom, and what do the Iraqi people think about us?
Was it George W Bush who said "they hate us for what we are". If he really did say that, then it may be one of the most relevant and insightful statements he has ever uttered. The people of all the countries mentioned, have every reason to hate us for killing them, stealing their resources and installing puppet governments, who will keep their people in a constant state of poverty and fear.

"Nearly 4,000 American soldiers have died since the start of the Iraq War."

That in itself is a lie......

Those #'s which are the "nearly" 4k often touted by the CMSM are BATTLEFIELD casualties.

The REAL number is more like 12k......Those #'s come from soldiers and marines succumbing to wounds sustained long after returning from the "war on terror." And let us not forget the growing # of suicides...

Lets call it what it really is.....A TRAGEDY

Is it really possible to "support our troops" if they are carrying out illegal orders in an illegal war? Truly supporting our troops would mean supporting our Constitution, which includes all the international treaties and laws the U.S. has agreed to: the U.N. Charter; Geneva Conventions; Nuremberg Tribunals; the 1996 U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Punishment or Treatment;
and so on. And that would mean denouncing and repudiating our military presence in Iraq, Afghanistan, and countless other areas in which the morally and illegally bankrupt U.S. Empire has forced itself since 1947 (at least). Soldiers who carry out illegal wars of aggression and occupations should ONLY be supported in their attempts to disobey illegal orders and in being brought home as soon as possible, not in carrying out their "superiors' " illegal, immoral missions.

"The pastor at my church said yesterday, "Soon tiny little Israel will rise up and fight against the whole world, except with God on its side."

I would ask this pastor if he would like America -nation of huge wide open spaces and wealth- to welcome the 4 million Iraqi refugees from "Shock and Awe" who've lost everything: home, family, job.

If not, how can he criticize the Palestinians for having difficulty with millions of Jews showing up and making themselves at home on their land and telling them to get the hell out?

Has anyone ever read a comment in an American newspaper noting the fact that America's tight alliance with Israel is a liability?

I have never read it once.

Even before the Iraq war began I went to a panel discussion called "Clash of Civilizations; Islam versus the West."

I was one of two non-Muslims, besides sponsoring profs and press agents. The other guy got up at the beginning and railed, shaking with fury, against the godlessness of Muslim terror for 5 minutes and then stormed out before anyone could respond.

It was very embarrassing for me to be associated with that "born-again" Christain. I apologized on his behalf.

Nevertheless, by the end of the program I had heard that Israel-US relations were a big part of America's Middle East problem. So I asked the panel, "What percent of the problem would go away if the USA simply held Israel responsible for its actions with regard to social justice for Palestinians?" The answer was resounding, "Most of it." They all agreed.

I was pushy and demanded a percentage. The leader spoke out and suggested, "About 90% of the conflict is about Israel." Then, he forewarned me, "Our problem with the US will change if Bush invades Iraq."

Still, no journalists have the balls to speak out about this. If it is brought up, they minimalize it and blow it off as anti-semitic conspiracy theories.

What if it was 90% of the problem?

The pastor at my church said yesterday, "Soon tiny little Israel will rise up and fight against the whole world, except with God on its side."

Is America really that freaking crazy?

I'm getting tired of the "support the troops" mantra that we must all recite dutifully as we criticize the war.

Now that there is an veteran's anti-war group,http://ivaw.org/ and we know more about the enthusiastic raping, torturing and killing of the psychotic war lovers,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQnv2H4uv08 we can choose to support those who go against their peers in the pursuit of justice and human rights and dignity.

I support the IVAW. I don't support the murdering looting thuggish henchmen of US imperialism.

Lies for Profit is an old tune and one well loved by Americans.
Americans are so dirty with dishonesty and deceit that they are unable or unwilling to challenge the lies of their leadership. Moral behavior is openly mocked in the light of day. Evil triumphed.

A good article AND in an American newspaper. There is apathy but many,many Americans are becoming aware of the scale of deception. A Canadian Member of Parliment once said (Tommy Douglas)" reality hits when ones belly is pressed up against one´s spine." Mr. Douglas is the founder of Canadian Medicare System and he was referring to the fact that people don´t really wake up unless hunger or depravation forces them to. While the road is rough the bumps are shaking up U.S. society. Bullshit detectors are sounding off all over the country-right on!!

Meke

The author said:

They hate the condescension and arrogance of the Bush-Cheney administration's foreign policy - the invasion, the bombings, the torturing, the surge, the mercenaries - but most do not hate Americans. They discern the difference between political arrogance and the wishes and needs of average citizens.

** If this is so, after all we've done to them, we have much to learn from them.

It is an OCCUPATION, not a war.

End the Occupation -- bring the troops home. The people don't want us there for empire -- which most Americans don't recognize, even as they want the troops home.

We cannot lose an Occupation. Major combat activities ceased when Bush declared it so, in front of the Mission Accomplished banner. Saddam Hussein's government is long gone as is he.

No, it is not a peaceful zone. It is an insurgency because our troops are there in an over-long occupation and we must change the frame and honorably get out ASAP. (Read Thom Hartmann's new book CRACKING THE CODE -- specifically the section beginning page 134 for some good stuff on this topic.) It is more than the Lies of War. It is the Lies of Empire and Occupation.

Bring the troops AND the mercenaries home. (If Obama or Clinton leave the latter there, we'll still have a bloody hateful mess at the cost of many lives and dollars.)

Enough.

(militantliberal writes:)
"why do you love the Jews so much?"
"because they win so many Nobel Prizes"

One has to win prizes and competitions to be worthy of love and respect?

My answer would be: I like every people, every culture, especially the weak, the humble, the endangered.

The minute a people begins to feel superior, I like them less.

Long live the Cheyenne, the Tutsi, the Berber, the Persians, the Danish, the French, the Chinese, the Jews... all of humanity, or none of it.

From the article:

We were never threatened by Iraq, and Iraq had no part
in the Sept. 11 attacks.

even if they had, we would still be doing wrong to attack them, unless we had quit our polic y of ME occupation.

Sorry for the typo in my post. It should have read,
"I disagree and if you can say what you want anytime
you want, Then so can anyone else".

A true and compelling story, thank you Professor Moore.
Presently I am reading, "Armed Madhouse" by Greg Palast. The book should be read by every Republican before they go to the polls. Even as I write this, my nervous system is in turmoil. I am approaching 90 years of age, and for the first 80 of those years I thought how great and lucky I was to be an American. Now I'm just an American.
Of course if the White House group, which would include the elected and the non-elected, were held accountable for their actions and punished severely when found guilty, some degree of patriotism would be restored.
We never learn either from history or from our own expereiences that greed and dominance are factors to be dealt with every moment of our being on this earth.

A totally gutless article. Don't support the government. That is his suggestion. Ridiculous!

The author suggests nothing to do! Nothing. He doesn't call for the execution of Bush and Cheney. I abhor the death penalty, but these two are supposed to be executed , according to US law! Why is the author so meek? BECAUSE THERE IS CENSORSHIP!! We are not free. We are being manipulated.

While I agree with most of Thomas Moore's senti-
ments, I will not support anyone in or out of the
military who supports The Lying Motherfucker and
Chief. Let's not forget his merry band of thieves,
cutthroats, whores, pimps, and murderers.

Yes, that includes the troops. I was in the marines
from 1975-79 and I was lucky that another spurious-
ly contrived war didn't occur in that period.

Rule of Law is just another way of stroking the
people into believeing that the game of life isn't
rigged. Rigged against anyone who wasn't born with
the advantagous constraints of birth, rank, and so-
cial order .

How can one compete with might makes right, author-
ity's is never wrong. They'll will just kick your
ass, If verbal persuations are ineffective.

The definition of insult is to threat with insolance
and contemp. Your are a Murdering Inbreeder, Mr Bush.
Anyone who gives you any respect, is also an inbree-
der.

Only one whose genetic makeup is wacked from fucking
their father, mother, aunt, uncle, etc, could fall for
the bile spewed from these punks mouths.

You Bastards can hide behind psychology and psychol-
gists all you want, these are more of the same lies,
bullying, and treachery employed to justify violence
toward any dissenter.

It's one thing to fuck people in the ass and they
just except it. It is another when the people fight
back and are Crazies, Crimminals, or Terrorist for
Simply saying "I disagree and If you can what you
want anytime you want, Then so can anyone else."

If it bothers you, Too bad. Touch Die, Don't Touch
Live.

They [the government] might think that whatever they are doing is in the best interest's of Americans. Why can't they come out and say it. If they think our situation is so desperate that we have to illegally invade foreign nations, murder and subjugate their people they should try to explain this to us. Maybe we would go along with it. At least we would have a discussion on the topic and explore the alternatives. But they think they know best for us and don't need our input. They instead try to deceive us into supporting them by the use of false flag attacks. I don't like that kind of leadership.

Barn Burner wrote: I was asked "why do you love the Jews (Israel) so much?"

If I were asked "why do you love the Jews so much?" I might reply, "because they win so many Nobel Prizes." Or, "Have you heard of Albert Einstein? Sigmund Freud? Moses Mendelssohn? Kurt Tucholsky? No? How about Jesus, Son of God?" Or, "Bagels! It's the bagels!"

Blood Red Soil

'Dam (blood) adom (red) adama (soil)'
'Dam (blood) adom (red) adama (soil)'
'Dam (blood) adom (red) adama (soil)'1

Blood red bottom fed greed
Soils itself in the valleys of need.

While we worship the beast,
that devours us.
The empire us.
(the empire US.)

So worship and please the beast,
Appease your conscience with newspeak.
For ain't it us that's saving the weak.

For we're the compassionate red
still savoring the garden apple led

That puts power, status, and wealth ahead
of sharing the bread.

We're all inmates of the weapons of greed.
WMD indeed.

Inmates in our garden home
As the beast devours us.

'Dam (blood) adom (red) adama (soil)'
'Dam (blood) adom (red) adama (soil)'
'Dam (blood) adom (red) adama (soil)'

I lived in the Middle East for three years and while my experience there is much less than Mr. Brooksville I still wish to disagree with one small point he makes. I think that while there it is more or less true " (of people in the Middle East)most do not hate Americans" they do hold us responsible and in agreement with our Government. Very often in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Tanzania I was asked "why do you love the Jews (Israel) so much?" At the time all I could reply is "I personally do not know any Jewish people". Now some twenty years later I think I could give a better answer but the point is We as U.S. citizens are tie to our Governments policies in their mind.

"The deceptions and failures of the Bush-Cheney administration..."

and the complicity of the Democrats.