It's getting hard to tell what's true and what isn't. Colin Powell cites forged documentation as justification for war, and points to alledged chemical weapons facilities that turn out to be storage sheds. President Bush boasts of a "coalition of the willing," consisting of forty-six countries, and yet no more than six are contributing in a military capacity, while another six (including the island-nation of Palau-population of 20,000) do not even maintain armed forces. And the death-toll of coalition forces? Most foreign journalists place the number much higher than the official line. It isn't helpful to the coalition's claims that no journalists are allowed to view the American dead as they are off-loaded from the transports which brought them home.
What is so absolutely amazing isn't the Bush administration lies practically every single time they issue a statement. Rather, it's nearly 75 percent of Americans still support its policies with regards to the war in Iraq. That is, if the recent polls are to be believed. I don't know of a single person whose been asked to participate in one of these polls. The national media have been caught in its own share of lies and distortions since Bush took office two years ago. They are constantly reporting about how captured and dead Iraqi sodiers have been found carrying gear that would protect them from chemical or biological attack. The media cites this as possible proof that Saddam's forces are about to use such weapons. Our troops carry the same type of gear into battle. Should we infer, then, that coalition forces are also preparing to use such weapons? We are using depleted uranium, but that's another story.
In his famous speech to the United Nations, Colin Powell stated that Iraq was harboring terrorists with ties to Al Queda. The group in question is Ansar Al-Islam, a terrorist group which was, until recently, based in Northern Iraq. Powell showed photographs of a building in the Ansar compound, saying it was used to make chemical weapons. There are at least two problems with his claim: First, Ansar was operating in the northernmost part of Kurdish-held Iraq, near the Iranian border. Saddam's forces have had absolutely no control over this region for at least eight years. When Ansar Al-Islam was recently rousted by combined Kurdish and U.S. forces, the ones who survived the attack ran across the Iranian border to safety. The other problem with Powell's claim was that the building in question was found to be full of radio and television equipment. No residue consistent with the manufacture of chemical or biological weapons was discovered. Try again, Colin.
There are a mountain of lies told by Bush administration officials-far too many to go into here. It is overwhelming. They lie about not having ambitions in Iraq, even though Haliburton and Stevedoring Services of America, and probably other big-name contributors to the Republican party, are said to have already signed lucrative contracts for services to be rendered in that country.
They lie about the size and scope of the so-called "coalition of the willing," even though about half of the participating countries (inlcuding Afghanistan) can't even support or protect themselves, and many of the rest are likewise participants in name only. Perhaps most troublesome of all is that they lie about protecting our freedom, while systematically working behind the scenes to drastically curtail our individual liberties. This fact alone makes George W. Bush far more threatening to our way of life than Saddam Hussein will ever be.
If being a patriot means giving blind obedience to a corrupt presidential administration, then I will never be a patriot. If being a loyal American means fighting in, or supporting, unjust, immoral wars, then I am not loyal. If it is treason to oppose a government that spills the blood of thousands in its ruthless pursuit of empire and the theft of the resources of another nation, then I am treasonous.
What I believe in is truth and evenhandedness. When my government fights for these things, I will stand with it, and proudly so. When it persues the path such as the United States finds itself upon right now, then with a heavy heart I will stand with my brothers and sisters the world over, in peaceful, justifiable opposition.
