Apparently, not everyone is paying attention. In remarks on a couple posts below, newcomer Marshall Art wants proof for my assertion that Bush and members of his Administration lied to the American people in the run up to the war. Indeed, in one comment, he denies that such proof even exists (apparently, Patrick Fitzgerald went after Libby for no reason; or, it's possible that Valerie Plame's ID was leaked as payback for her husband's insistence that Bush's claim that Saddam Hussein attempted to purchase uranium from the African country of Niger was false, based upon information the intelligence community knew - at the time it was included in a speech by President Bush - was false; is that a lie? depends on one's definition I suppose . . .). In order to enlighten Marshall, I have a small list of links here - just a sampling, mind you - of Administration false statements, history revision, etc. on the run up to the war. These include not just contemporaneous accounts, but current spin in which the lies continue.
Now, Marshall says he is open to the possibility that Bush and his Administration in fact lied to the American people. Let's put that to the test, shall we?
1) For a general overview, go here. It's an older site, but there is just a laundry list of quotes from Bush and Administration officials, every single one of which has proven factually untrue.
2) On Donald Rumsfeld's serial falsehoods, Truthout has a nice recap with refutations. My favorite has always been, "We know where the weapons are," even as UN inspectors on the ground weren't finding any.
3) From just one website - just one, mind you - come, the following six links, from the previous three months, in which current Bush Administration rhetoric attempts to spin past history, ignoring the fact there is enough on record to show them to be falsehoods. All those nasty documents. Should have been shredded. Remember, this is just one website, I didn't have time to do too much digging. From Think Progress:
- June 4, 2007
- May 26, 2007
- May 25, 2007
- May 24, 2007
- April 19, 2007 (this is one of my favorites, in which, in answer to a question, Karl Rove says the Iraq war was Osama Bin Laden's idea)
- April 10, 2007
Now, this is just a sample, not just of previous misstatements, but of the current attempt to either (a) lie about the history, or (b) claim that there have never been any lies, or (c) the claim that no misstatements were made is itself false. Like last summer's attempt to make "cut and run" the phrase du jour, and then, having failed miserably at it, claimed that no one in the Administration ever accused the Democrats of having a "cut and run" strategy. They are like kindergarteners, really, and if thousands of people's lives hadn't been lost, it would be comical. In context, though, it's a tragedy of epic proportions.
Had I the time, I am quote sure I could have found the exact sources for hundreds of whoppers. Just consider Secretary of State Colin Powell's appearance before the United Nations Security Council, I think in February of 2003. "Slam dunk" was the word used; "compelling", "inarguable", "unanswerable" were other epithets used. Alas and alack - the entire performance was the biggest embarrassment of Powell's career, as he has since noted with much regret. The night before, reading over notes, Powell grew frustrated, tossing the report across the room and telling aides that the information he was going to the UN with was, in his words, "fucking bullshit". That description, while crude, was accurate. Whether it was "mobile germ warfare units" or whatever other nonsense he spewed, every assertion he made in that presentation has been shown to be factually inaccurate. Of course, we have Powell's own remorse afterward, but that cannot undo the damage done, or the tens of thousands of lives lost and bodies and minds destroyed on both sides.
Now, I am sure that Marshall will argue that my sources are biased, etc. Of course, they're biased. That is not an argument for their lack of credibility. The main point here is this - the information is out there, available, anyone can read it and make of it what one will. The frustration for many of us is the denial, such as the one you made, Marshall, that is even exists. Not only does it exist, it is copious, detailed, and damning. This isn't some weird BSD most Americans suffer from. We are mad as hell, not just because of the war, which is a disaster of historic proportions. We are mad as hell because of the lying, not just four years ago, but the on-going, continuous, non-stop lying. This is lying that continues even after it has been proved a lie.
I would be happy to read a list of any sources you might provide, even one more thorough, that would attempt to refute my claims of Bush Administration untruths, or of the nobility and success of our current military efforts in Iraq, or of the veracity of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, or any other member of the Administration as it pertains to the war in and occupation of Iraq. I, too, am open to the possibility that four years and thousands of pages of documents are just plain wrong.
Virtual Tin Cup
