George W. Bush didn't just lie about the Iraq War. What he did was much worse.

[kpete]

George W. Bush didn't just lie about the Iraq War. What he did was much worse.
Paul Waldman

What the Bush administration launched in 2002 and 2003 may have been the most comprehensive, sophisticated, and misleading campaign of government propaganda in American history. Spend too much time in the weeds, and you risk missing the hysterical tenor of the whole campaign.

In 2008, the Center for Public Integrity completed a project in which they went over the public statements by eight top Bush administration officials on the topic of Iraq, and found that no fewer than 935 were false, including 260 statements by President Bush himself. But the theory on which the White House operated was that whether or not you could fool all of the people some of the time, you could certainly scare them out of their wits. That's what was truly diabolical about their campaign.

[Each and every time the message was the same: If we didn't wage war, Iraq was going to attack the United States homeland with its enormous arsenal of ghastly weapons, and who knows how many Americans would perish. When you actually spell it out like that it sounds almost comical, but that was the Bush administration's assertion, repeated hundreds upon hundreds of time to a public still skittish in the wake of September 11. (Remember, the campaign for the war began less than a year after the September 11 attacks.)

Sometimes this message was imparted with specific false claims, sometimes with dark insinuation, and sometimes with speculation about the horrors to come ("We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud," said Bush and others when asked about the thinness of much of their evidence). Yet the conclusion was always the same: The only alternative to invading Iraq was waiting around to be killed.

.........


By playing incessantly to their fears, Bush also succeeded in turning Americans against each other--anyone who raised his or her voice to question the threat became part of the threat in the eyes of their fellow Americans. After all, if you're terrified of something, and you know by God the threat is real, someone next to you telling you not to worry, or worse, ignore the danger, becomes as bad as the enemy.

This is what Bush (and Cheney) knowingly did to the American people. He counted on their fear, not just Americans' fear of Hussein, but of each other. Iraq became a "life or death" decision. It didn't matter to him that their fear was generated completely by lies--all he needed was the fear. It was a classic exercise in propaganda and, terror inflicted on a vulnerable and scarred American public, the implicit threat always looming, hammered home day after day to get the war he and his cronies desperately wanted. And all of it deliberate:

This is one of the many sins for which Bush and those who supported him ought to spend a lifetime atoning. He looked out at the American public and decided that the way to get what he wanted was to terrify them. If he could convince them that any day now their children would die a horrible death, that they and everything they knew would be turned to radioactive ash, and that the only chance of averting this fate was to say yes to him, then he could have his war. Lies were of no less value than truth, so long as they both created enough fear.


MORE:
http://theweek.com/articles/555921/george-w-bush-didnt-just-lie-about-iraq-war-what-did-much-worse

http://m.dailykos.com/stories/1386781

[gelsdorf]

1. Right out of the Prescott Bush, Koch Brothers playbook n/t

[tblue37]

2. Bush was merely a useful idiot, the front man for the truly diabolical Cheney cabal. nt

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. I used to think that, too.

But I saw something not long ago that showed that Bush was completely aware that all this was going on. He really wasn't just the dumb puppet.

I knew their whole argument was phony right from the git go. I just don't understand how people let themselves be so duped by these guys.

[PatSeg]

53. I think he knew what he was doing,

but that he was also a willing puppet. Having all those "daddy issues", he wanted to be president so badly, he was willing to do whatever the rich and powerful wanted. I also think he wasn't always aware of how deep a hole he'd dug himself into or how evil his benefactors were.

[SummerSnow]

11. Cheney was the Sith Lord in the shadows and his student was Bush

[blm]

15. Bush was a longtime political dirty tricks operative and knew EXACTLY what he was doing.

Don't kid yourself.

[raouldukelives]

21. If most of us could see through it, you know the connected could.

These aren't idiots we are talking about. Highly educated & connected people who understand how things work.

I never, for a second, believed any of them felt we were under threat of having our beaches stormed, our government overthrown and statues of Saddam to spring up in every city.

There were many "useful idiots" in run up to war, in the calls for innocent blood to be shed for money. If I truly believed they were ignorant and not outright evil I'd feel much better about our future.

[katmondoo]

3. I was happy to oppose the war before Bush started it

I actively protested until almost the end. Health problems interfered. I was called all sorts of names and worse. There were lots of us but no one listened. The Bush shame will increase as more and more of the lies surface

[Dont call me Shirley]

4. They ushered in the era of destructive selfishness, the end of care of anything other than self.

They brought in the concepts of criminality is hip, violence is the way, addiction is life, worship the bad, destruction is good, irresponsibility for ones own actions is normal.

[malaise]

5. John McGramps was on CNN this morning saying

there will be another 9/11 if ground troops don't attack ISIS.

They are still using the same old bullshit and seem to forget that there were warnings about attacks before9/11 which Buscho chose to ignore.

[erronis]

17. So is McGramps merely a tool or a demented fool?

Maybe he's spent too many days in Hiltons around the world. Hardening of the arteries and of the synapses.

[leftyladyfrommo]

54. Even athiestis hope there is a hell for Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld

to go to.

What they did was really, really awful. Thousands and thousands of people died because of them. Thousands and thousands have been displaced.

Those hypocritical "Super Christian" bastards have caused the deaths of thousands and thousands of Christians. Almost all of the Christian population in the region have had to leave their lifelong homes (they have lived there for hundreds of years) and run for their lives.

[MBS]

7. yes, exactly, and as long as our country

stays embedded in a mindset of fear and denial and short-term thinking, we will not be able to solve our problems.

Good article; thanks.

[kentuck]

8. I remember the "free speech" zones....

...and the tear gas.

[Enthusiast]

23. The Constitution doesn't mention free speech being restricted to specific "zones".

Those fuckers had absolutely no respect for this nation.

[lastlib]

44. Remember, the Constitution was "a G-- D----- piece of paper" to GWB and his cronies.

Apparently, so was the Geneva Convention and every other international agreement we ever signed.

[Enthusiast]

51. Oh, I couldn't have a lower opinion of anyone associated with the Bush Administration.

President Obama failed us big time when he let those criminals off the hook.

[jalan48]

9. They turned the Iraq War into "Support our Troops".

Immediately after the war began folks dressed in camo appeared on our roadways and overpasses waving the American Flag and screaming "Support our Troops"! The millions of voices opposing the war were countered by this slight of hand.

[JEB]

20. Every other passenger car here in the States

was heavily armored with "support the troops" magnetic ribbons while the troops were dying in unarmored vehicles. More than enough evil in that bunch to go around. The whole lot deserve to spend the rest of their miserable lives behind bars.

[jalan48]

25. Yep-I noticed how those ribbons disappeared when the maimed troops starting coming home.

[Unknown Beatle]

39. Rumsfeld:

You go to war with the army you have---not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.

Evil motherfucker.

[JEB]

40. I am against the death penalty, but

he comes damn close to deserving the chemical cocktail injection.

[Botany]

10. 230,000 Vets w/traumatic brain damage

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, between 2001 and 2014 some 230,000 soldiers and veterans were identified as suffering from so-called mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), mostly as a result of exposure to blast events. The variety of symptoms associated with the condition—headache, seizures, motor disorders, sleep disorders, dizziness, visual disturbances, ringing in the ears, mood changes, and cognitive, memory, and speech difficulties—the fact that they resemble symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the fact that exposure to blast events often was not logged in the early years of the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq make it impossible to pin down casualty figures.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/healing-soldiers/blast-force.html

[Mnpaul]

42. And a good part of was caused by Bush's quest for propaganda

In the invasion, racing towards Baghdad, they came across Saddam's ammo dumps chuck full of high explosives. They were not secured, we put up "keep out" signs. After our forces got done helping the Iraqis tear down Saddam's statue and secure the oil ministry we went back to secure the ammo dumps. By that time, the were looted - empty and this was the source of the explosives used in the IEDs.

[jomin41]

12. According to Herman Goering,

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
-- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

[erronis]

18. Herman (Dick) Goering (Cheney).

[lastlib]

55. learned the lesson well

Too damn well for our country's good. Cheney was probably a Goering U. honor student. Sick Evil F*cker.

[sorefeet]

13. 22 Vets commit suicide every day

and I would wager that all of them have been through the VA at one time or several. They realized the VA was a dead end street. Like my friend in Vegas with multiple myeloma bone cancer. He fell through the VA cracks until the mass they found in his chest 4 months earlier became so painful he couldn't take it anymore. 4 months they ignored him. Finally 2 months of the wrong chemo and he was pissing black, they decided to change treatment. He said he knows they would rather he die. They have treated him like shit. Americas priorities are wrong. No more war.

[Duval]

14. I am glad we are having this

conversation, but when will these traitors pay for their treachery?

[historylovr]

30. +1

[maindawg]

16. Really glad this is an issue

I a so happy that this is an issue.I knew they were lying from the start. I was hurt and I fried along with 250,000,000 of my fellow Americans. I now believe it was all part of the plan/plot to do all the terrible things they did.It was all for money. It was all to keep the price of crude high. The Saudis were the hyjackers, they are very close with the Bush crime family.
We must pound this drum loudly for the whole world to hear. It must drown out the continued lies that are all the GOP has left. POUND THAT FUCKING DRUM BICHES !

[Gothmog]

19. Bush and Cheney lied about the reasons for the war in Iraq

The war in Iraq was sold to the American public based on lies

[Enthusiast]

22. K&R! This post should have hundreds of recommendations!

[johnnyreb]

24. Terrorized, not terrified.

State_of_Fear.mp3

...made possible by those too frightened to theorize.

[Martin Eden]

26. THE most egregious betrayal of public trust by a president in our nation's history

In the wake of 9/11 GW Bush had enormous public support and political capital. He used this national tragedy in a systematic campaign of willful deceit to manipulate the anger, grief, patriotism, and FEAR of the American People in the commission of WAR CRIMES that have drained our treasury, killed upwards of a million human beings (including thousands of US troops), made our country less secure and the world a more dangerous place while enriching his corporate cronies.

The fact that this man and his chief cohorts are not in prison is a terrible miscarriage of justice and a bloody stain on our national honor. I will never forget nor forgive what was done in our names. When Bush left office I wrote the following poem for what I would say to his face if I could:


I'd tell you to go fuck yourself
But that is much too kind
Because if you could perform that feat
You'd take pleasure in your behind

I'd like to say eat shit and die
But you deserve much more
You should suffer all the grief and pain
Of your misbegotten war

Though I can never make you think
Our feel, or understand
I'll take solace when I hear your name
Cursed throughout the land

From inside a lonely prison cell
Dark and bare and cold
Where every day you pay for your crimes
Until you're sick, heartbroken, and old

Then when you finally leave the earth
You fucked over oh so well
If there is a God and afterlife
You're going straight to hell.

[kpete]

34. WOW

thanks for sharing

[Thespian2]

37. Excellent!

The poem says it all...

[Ineeda]

27. Bookmarking.

I was never afraid and always against the war(s). I asked many friends, family, and neighbors if they were afraid, and most of them, after thinking a minute, said no. The knee-jerk reaction was often fear though.

[young_at_heart]

28. How does he sleep at night???

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz....do they even have consciences?

[minidriver]

29. The war profit $$$ must be very comfortable

I wish for these mother fuckers a long suffering life full of screaming nightmares from the spirits of the dead.

[LiberalLovinLug]

32. They are all sociopaths

They lack any empathy. And they are part of a cult within the elite who believe that making the most amount of money, in any way possible...even at the expense of the environment, young soldiers lives, the National debt, and even the American people...actually is the most American thing you can do.

I think they do sleep very well. In fact I bet Dubya has more than once let out a small quiet chuckle just before dropping off. Cheney?...he finds it difficult to even crack a smile (that isn't sardonically directed at his critics). I doubt he can even feel joy...or remorse.

[procon]

31. Yes, it was the non stop fear mongering

Remember the color coded terror alerts that always managed to up the threat level just at the same time the Bush Administration needed to push the latest war propaganda? It worked so well on my brother that he really thought some angry guy from Iraq was going to single him out personally, then pop out of his closet in the middle of the night and lop off his head. He's still paranoid and suspicious.

[rhett o rick]

33. The major media outlets were also culpable. nm

[Solly Mack]

35. He's a fucking war criminal.

That got away with it.

[Pluvious]

36. Being terrorized is right !! A red-face Vet. yelled at me in a beach-side cafe...

The Cheney/Bush Propelling the Propaganda Regime worked its pre invasion build up so effectively, using their relentless lies of hype 'n hysteria. It was quite aptly demonstrated to me one Sunday morning just months before the killing began.

Here is my story.

Myself and a small group of like-minded friends were enjoying the sunny Sunday morning in a window seat at a Southern California beach front cafe, discussing the astounding pace of events leading up to the imminent US invasion of Iraq. Our conversation mainly consisted of dissecting the obvious (to us) exaggerations and miss-directions coming out of the mouths of the Bush Admin's minions - including of course the President himself.

We marveled at how they seemed to have so completely snookered the US public, and we were just trying to reconcile with the surreality and wrongness of it all.

The unforgettable moment came when a table of people nearby all got up to leave.

One of their party, an older man built like a stocky biker, stepped over our table. Glaring down at me with his face a rictus of fury, hoarsely hollered at me: I WAS IN VIETNAM!!! He then wheeled about and left with his group, never looking back, while we just starred after him, in jaw-dropped amazement.

The whole cafe had gone silent in shock.

I think it was then that it fully hit me, that our "Uniter not Divider" of a President, had so thoroughly played right into the vermin terrorist's hands - and changed the course and character of our once great Country, onto a path we'd never recover from.

It's hard to not give up hope that we'll never climb out of this whole mess.

We are the dead.

-Pluvious

---
"I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain -- I do not need to explain why I say things.
That's the interesting thing about being the President. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me
why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."

-George W Bush

[Thespian2]

38. K & R !!!

I think this OP about covers it all...thanks for posting...

[MJJP21]

41. Most everyone

Most everyone is forgetting that Rush Limbaugh had a big part mobilizing not only the citizens behind the lies but he politicians as well. I used to listen to Rush everyday while I drove truck and distinctly remember Rush bragging that he was invited to Bush's home and admitted on radio what was in store. Limbaughs sidekick Hannity only echoed the same mantra. They need to be called out as well.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

43. SUV drivin' window flag flappin' right wingers STILL refuse to admit they were wrong....

They justify their hate daily based on fiction and never look back so this is no different.

[The Wizard]

48. Almost all homes

now have a large flat screen that serves as an alter for many.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

49. I just saw a Sony tube type in a thrift store for $35. I once paid about $600 for the same model.

[GETPLANING]

45. In other words...Bush and Cheney are terrorists

[merrily]

46. No Democrat I ever met in person believed Bushco.

Susan Sarandon even made her own anti-invasion video.

Yet, many Democrats in Congress voted for the invasion--and for the Patriot Act, parts of which even a Republican Supreme Court declared unconstitutional.

[The Wizard]

47. There is no statute of limitations on war crimes

Dante's Ninth Circle beckons.

[BeanMusical]

50. Kick and R.

[davidpdx]

52. I totally agree

K & R

[Octafish]

56. Poppy Bush had to lie America into making war on Iraq over Kuwait in 1992.

Hill & Knowlton conspired with warmongers in Congress to invite a young woman to testify she was a nurse working in a Kuwaiti City hospital who saw the Iraqi soldiers take babies from their incubators and leave them on the cold, hard floor so they could steal the incubators for Baghdad. She forgot to mention she was making that up, as well as the fact she really was the 15-year old daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to Washington.



"If I wanted to lie, or if we wanted to lie, if we wanted to exaggerate, I wouldn't use my daughter to do so. I could easily buy other people to do it." -- Kuwait Ambassador

http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy10.html

Who isn't in awe of their propaganda? Hunh? Is that power or is that power?