Peace On That

I haven’t posted anything on this topic but the Progressive Bloggers Union is requesting that we blog about this. Well, I for one am glad that she is in Crawford at Bush’s doorstep. I support Cindy and her cause. I’m not sure how I would react to losing a loved one in a war that I didn’t support and is not resulting in the outcome the administration touted to the American people.

Although she had to leave to deal with her ailing mother, people continue to stand in her place. She asked one simple question, ‘For what noble cause did her son die for?’ It is such a simple question but it exposes the lies the Bush administration has been repeating since the run up to the invasion. In fact, Bush’s latest radio address was a recycle of the lie. In his Saturday radio address, Bush said the following:

"They know that if we do not confront these evil men abroad, we will have to
face them one day in our own cities and streets, and they know that the safety
and security of every American is at stake in this war, and they know we will
prevail."

Have we not heard the same thing over and over again? The sad part about this entire episode is that Bush will not pay a political cost for his lies and blunders. Although several on the right are starting to squirm a bit, they are aware that the trickster has as audience willing to suspend rational thinking and a cowardly media sacrificing accuracy in the story for access to the storytellers.

Cindy Sheean’s son gave his life for what he thought was a just cause. I think every man and woman that has served and is serving in Iraq deserve our support. However, we have dishonored their service by not holding Bush accountable for the slaughter of truth in creating policy. I’ve dealt with his lies on several occasions and in every post, a Bush support accuses the left of being jealous or holding on to sour grapes. Rarely do they deal with the facts. And when they do, their response is packed with cliché’s and RNC talking point rhetoric.

So, here is another chance for the neo-cons to spew their rhetoric. Bush and his Administration have done nothing but lied and misinformed the American public. Check the following:

THE LIES, THE LIES, THE LIES

The Lie: "We know he's been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."
VP Dick Cheney – “Meet the Press” 3/16/200

The Fact: “The IAEA had found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program in Iraq."
IAEA report to UN Security Council – 3/7/2003


The Lie: On January 27, 2004, White House spokesman Scot McClellan claimed that the administration never said Iraq was an imminent threat. "the media have chose to use the word imminent" to describe the Iraqi threat.

The Fact: (source)
"This man poses a much graver threat than anybody could have possibly imagined." President Bush (09.26.02)

"The Iraqi regime is a threat of unique urgency. . . . It has developed weapons of mass death" President Bush (10.02.02)

The Lie: c) “We've [learned] that Iraq has trained Al Qaeda members in bomb making and poisons and deadly gases.” (Bush’s televised October speech)

The Fact: The L.A. Times reported a few days after that speech that CIA director “Tenet's letter was more equivocal, saying only that there has been ‘reporting’ that such training has taken place. Unlike other passages of the letter, he did not describe the reporting as ‘solid’ or ‘credible.’” (Source:) Overall, the number of Iraqi military and police trained and equipped is more than 169,000, according to the U.S. military, which has also said there are 107 operational military and special police battalions. As of last month, however, U.S. and Iraqi commanders had rated only three battalions capable of operating independently.

The Lie: Condi Rice, on Fox News this morning:And so the administration, I think, has said to the American people that it is a generational commitment to Iraq. But it is not a generational commitment in military terms; it is a commitment of our support to them, our political support and an understanding that democracy takes time.

The Fact: There is no record of the Bush Administration ever stating to the American people that Iraq would be a generational commitment.

* Feb. 7, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, to U.S. troops in Aviano, Italy: "It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

The Lie: The administration's top budget official estimated Monday that the cost of a war with Iraq could be in the range of $50 billion to $60 billion, a figure well below earlier estimates from White House officials.

The Fact: The source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-05-18-csm-iraq-costs_x.htm That totals $270 billion for all military operations since 2001, according to the CRS analysis. The cost of war in Iraq by itself has already far exceeded the $85 billion inflation-adjusted price tag of the 1991 Gulf War, notes Mr. Kosiak. Plus, that war was largely paid for by contributions from U.S. allies.