| Author | Message | | Guest | | Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2002 4:57 am Post subject: Bush Deception is a Sad Business as It's the Economy, Stupid |
| OCT. 14, 2002 (COL. 3)
DECEPTION A SAD BUSINESS
BY CHARLEY REESE
It is a sad business when the main thing one can say about one's own government is that it
is engaged in an operation to mislead the American people. Such, however, is the case with the
Bush administration.
For some hidden reason, the Bush administration is determined to wage war on Iraq. To
convince the American people that this is necessary, it has launched a campaign of
disinformation designed to show Iraq as an imminent and dangerous threat to the United States.
Virtually everything the president and his minions have said about Iraq is distorted to make
it appear other than what it is.
Repeated citing of the fact that Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against the Kurds is
an example. This happened in the late 1980s. This happened during a war with Iran in which the
Iranians were also using chemical weapons. This happened when the Kurds had sided with the
Iranians. This happened when the United States was providing covert aid to Saddam Hussein.
This happened at a time when the United States deliberately chose not to criticize it or make
it an issue. And, in almost 15 years since it has not happened again.
The fact that Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator was known at the time the United States
re-established diplomatic relations with him and chose to provide him with covert aid in his
war against Iran. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were part of the administration that aided
Saddam.
It is repeatedly said that he is a threat to his neighbors, though his neighbors deny it
and are urging the United States to avoid launching a war. The fact is that Saddam Hussein has
been in power for nearly 30 years, and during that time he has launched two attacks. He
attacked Iran, and we supported him in that attack. He attacked Kuwait, and we went to war. In
the course of that war, he launched missiles against Israel and against U.S. forces in the
Gulf states. Since 1991, after putting down rebellions we encouraged and then failed to
support, he has not attacked any country. In 1993, he was accused of an attempt to assassinate
the elder George Bush during a visit to Kuwait. Since that incident, nine years ago, he has
not been implicated in any act of terrorism.
Displaying aerial photographs of factories that have been rebuilt does not prove anything.
Claiming that he is ``suspected'' of producing weapons of mass destruction does not prove that
he is. Claiming that he has not fulfilled any of the United Nations' resolutions is false.
Claiming that he is hostile might have something to do with the fact that in the first Bush
and subsequent Clinton administrations, it was said publicly that even if Iraq met the U.N.
obligations, the terrible sanctions would not be lifted until Saddam Hussein was overthrown.
That is hardly a way to encourage cooperation.
Recently, the president mentioned that Iraq has developed unmanned aircraft and acted as if
this was new information. There were stories in London newspapers about these aircraft in
1998. It is not new information. The president's claim that these aircraft could be used
against the United States is as absurd as his claim that Iraq's possession of one nuclear
weapon would allow it to blackmail the world.
What has been most depressing about this disinformation campaign is the stupidity it has
revealed - the stupidity of politicians and the stupidity of members of the media, none of
whom seems either informed or able to think logically. It is irresponsible of the American
news media to fail to report public statements by Israelis that punch holes in the
disinformation campaign. One Israeli general has said that the threat of Iraq is greatly
exaggerated. Another Israeli source says Iraq has no missiles in a position to reach Israel.
Another Israeli leak indicated Bush decided to go to war a month or more ago, even as he
continues to deny he has made that decision. Saddam Hussein is a bad man, but it is also a bad
government that lies to its own people.
(Write to Charley Reese at P.O. Box 2446, Orlando, FL 32802)
AP-
OCT. 14, 2002 (COL. 2)
IT'S THE ECONOMY, STUPID
BY CHARLEY REESE
History seems about to repeat itself. President Bush's father waged war against Iraq and
soared in the popularity polls, only to be defeated for re-election by a campaign slogan …
``It's the economy, stupid.''
Now the son seems determined to wage war against Iraq, is scoring high in the polls, yet is
ignoring the economy, which has reached a dangerous stage of decay. In the past two years,
$8.4 trillion of wealth has vanished in the stock market. The only other period of time in
which so many bad months were recorded was in 1929-32. Do you honestly think that with $8.4
trillion lost, this economy is going to snap back? I don't.
Just how badly out of kilter the economy is was indicated by a paragraph from a story that
appeared recently in The Observer, a British newspaper. The headline stated: ``Global crash
fears as German bank sinks.'' The first paragraph said:
``Stockbrokers around the world are braced for a potentially calamitous week as alarm
mounts over a looming, Thirties-style global financial crisis. A leaked email about the
credit-worthiness of Commerzbank, Germany's third largest bank, yesterday increased fears of
the international stock market malaise exploding into a fully-fledged banking crisis.
Commerzbank lost a quarter of its value last week, raising the specter of Credit-anstalt, the
Austrian bank that collapsed in 1931, sparking global depression.''
In the United States, Ford Motor Co. is worried sick that its creditworthiness will be
downgraded. Last year, it lost $5.7 billion, and it is in debt to the tune of $157 billion. A
bad rating of its corporate bonds would be disastrous. In Japan, a looming banking crisis is
unfolding. Argentina's economy has crashed. Brazil, in no great shape itself, is on the verge
of electing a leftist government. In the United States, there are a lot more layoffs still
being announced than there are new jobs being created.
The president, however, continues to make cowboy-style threats against foreigners and is
seemingly unaware of the looming economic crisis. Repeated administration statements that
``the economy is fundamentally sound'' can also be found on microfilm in the newspapers
published in 1929. When politicians keep saying the economy is fundamentally sound, it isn't.
It is simply a pathetic attempt to explain away bad news and avoid responsibility.
Terrorism, despite the shock of Sept. 11, 2001, seems to me to be less of a problem than
the sinking economy and an administration that appears increasingly both unintelligent and
unperceptive. It is interesting that while President Bush was proclaiming that Americans would
not live in fear, referring to a foreign dictator unable to reach us with any weapons, people
in the Washington area were living in fear of a nut with a rifle. Most American Muslims are
living in fear of an attorney general who seems to be the legal equivalent of Jerry Falwell,
an ignorant and anti-Muslim bigot.
Federal deficits, huge trade imbalances, overproduction, layoffs, corporate and Wall Street
corruption, enormous piles of private and public debt and a looming global recession, if not a
depression, present a much-greater threat to the American people than some bearded fanatic
hiding in the mountains of Pakistan or a megalomaniac living in the ruins of Baghdad. Yet the
president seems intent on pursuing a war in the Middle East that can only have negative
consequences for an economy already under stress.
The president needs to boot the neoconservative fanatics and Zionists out of his
administration and find some wise Americans to give him advice. He is heading down the wrong
road, and even though he will pay for it at the next presidential election, that will be no
consolation to the rest of us. The president is like the pilot of an airplane. All the
passengers have to hope and pray he's successful.
(Write to Charley Reese at P.O. Box 2446, Orlando, FL 32802) | |  | | Guest | | Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2002 8:28 pm Post subject: [Fwd: Reese: `The Greatest Civic Sin'] |
| Subj: [Fwd: Reese: `The Greatest Civic Sin']
Date: 10/15/02 1:20:23 PM Pacific Daylight Time
THE GREATEST CIVIC SIN
By Charlie Reese
Monday, October 14, 2002
http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20021014
There is a certain poem by Rudyard Kipling. I can't quote it exactly,
but the relevant two lines are something like "When they ask why they
died, tell them it was because their fathers lied."
Kipling's son died on his 18th birthday in World War I. I believe the
bitter little poem was directed at himself, for Kipling had been an
imperial enthusiast and had used his influence to get his son a
commission, despite his son being underage and medically disqualified.
Kipling was never the same after. The illusions about patriotism and
honor and glory vanished for him, as they did for millions who died in
that stupid war. A lot of America's sons have died because "their
fathers lied." The U.S. government lied through its teeth about the
Tonkin Gulf resolution, an authorization for war based on a nonexistent
attack, which Lyndon Johnson used as an excuse to pour American troops
into Vietnam.
Franklin Roosevelt lied when he campaigned and promised he would never
send American boys to fight in a foreign war. Long before he said it, he
and Winston Churchill were plotting to get America into the war. Woodrow
Wilson had campaigned on the slogan "He kept us out of the war," and
then promptly got us into the war after the J.P. Morgan interests told
him all of their loans would be jeopardized if the British were defeated.
I have come to believe that the greatest civic sin is to lie to the
people. It ought to be considered the unforgivable sin. It undercuts the
very basis of self-government. That concept, pioneered by America's
Founding Fathers, says that the people can make the right decisions in
the long run provided they are given the facts. If they are lied to,
they are denied the opportunity to make the right decisions. They are,
rather than choosing their destiny, being manipulated by others for
hidden reasons.
That's why I've become so anti-war, which is not the same thing as being
a pacifist. I will support any war in the genuine defense of this
country, but I have not seen an honest war in my lifetime or read of one
since the War Between the States. Even World War II was based on lies.
It's true that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. It is also true that
the Roosevelt administration maneuvered them into a position in which
they had no choice but to attack the United States. The Japanese
certainly did not wish to go to war with the United States if it could
have been avoided. Even the Third Reich never had any interest in
conquering the world as Americans were told repeatedly during the war.
Both the "War to End All Wars" and the "War for Democracy" were based on
lies. They were both wars involving a conflict of empires and would-be
empires, which did not concern the United States. Peace and democracy
had nothing to do with the wars.
I served in the U.S. Army, 18 months on active duty and the rest in the
Army Reserve. I'm glad, though, that I wised up in time to discourage my
children from joining. The all-volunteer Army, which is really a
mercenary Army, was adopted to make it easier for the United States to
go to war. The sons and daughters of the powerful and influential, of
course, don't volunteer. Our soldiers are mostly minorities and
lower-middle-class kids. They are wonderful Americans, but they are, as
far as the American elite is concerned, expendable. They can be lied to.
We have become a nation of liars. The politicians lie, journalists lie,
corporate CEOs lie, and stockbrokers and other salesmen lie. Advertisers
lie. Businesses lie. Preachers and priests and rabbis lie. And because
of those lies, the young in our own and in other countries die or have
their lives blighted by wounds, disease and poverty. As Thomas Jefferson
said, if God is just, we're in trouble.
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