by James Glaser
March 16, 2004

Yesterday I wrote about how the President and his staff were no longer trustworthy. Somebody took that column and put it on some blogs and many people e-mailed me about underhanded things George Bush had done that I had missed.

To tell you the truth, I think I had heard of all these new ones. I just put in the ones that hit my front lobe first. Almost everyone that wrote wanted me to expand on the lies about Iraq's weapons and the claim of an imminent threat.

Seven people sent me this quote by George Bush made one year ago today, "The dictator of Iraq and his weapons of mass destruction are a threat to the security of free nations." As I said yesterday, we knew from our first war with Iraq, (Gulf War) their military was no threat at all and after over a decade of our embargo it was even less.

I think every American that was frightened by the George Bush into thinking that Iraq could some how harm us here at home, should remember that Iraq had no Air Force, no Navy, and no Marines. Iraq did have an Army which we pretty much pulverized with our air power and then rolled over with our armor.

There is no reason at all for any American to be afraid of any other military force in this world. Right now we are spending more on our military than all the rest of the world combined. This year we are spending over four hundred billion and that doesn't even include what we are spending on the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Combat costs will be extra. No, I don't have any idea of how much 400+ billion dollars is either.

Here are three quotes by Vice President Cheney, "Iraq is a serious threat to our country, to our friends and to our allies." 1/31/03 "Iraq poses terrible threats to the civilized world." 1/30/03 "Iraq threatens the United States of America." 1/30/03

Donald Rumsfeld said on 1/25/03, "The threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction will be removed."

George Bush 3/19/03, "The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder."

I would like you to think back to the time before this new war with Iraq. Do any of you remember Saddam Hussein threatening us? I Don't. I remember him telling the world that he got rid of his weapons and I remember a 12,000 page report that he gave the United Nations explaining that he got rid of his weapons. I remember the Bush administration saying that Iraqi report was all lies.

Let's face it, George Bush and his people got our country all scared of Iraq. We went into that war thinking we were protecting our homeland from an attack. Now we know that attack could not have been made. Remember how millions of Americans went out and bought duct tape and rolls of plastic? I wonder how many older Americans died out of fear of a gas attack. Yes, I would say that George Bush killed any of those scared old people that had a heart attack either from that fear or from the exertion needed to close up one room with the tape and plastic.

As I said yesterday, it isn't just foreign policy that we are told stories about. Several people sent me an article written by Robert Pear, in the New York Times titled, "US Videos, for TV News, Come Under Scrutiny."

The article starts off with, "Federal investigators are scrutinizing television segments in which the Bush administration paid people to pose as journalists praising the benefits of the new Medicare law, which would be offered to help elderly Americans with the costs of their prescription medicines."

Pear goes on to say that the videos "are intended for use in local television news programs. Several include pictures of President Bush receiving a standing ovation from a crowd cheering as he signed the Medicare law."

The videos were produced by the Department of Health and Human Services, which called them video news releases, but the source is not identified. Two videos end with the voice of a woman who says "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting." That was so it would sound just like a real news report, but "Karen Ryan is an actor. There is even a Spanish language version with an actor who says, "Alberto Garcia, reporting."

The Bush administration says this is legal and an "Effective way to educate beneficiaries." Now tell me, do you think this sounds legal or moral? Would you trust a President that has a Production Company that makes up fake news segments and then has them shown to the American people as real news? Well, that is the kind of President we have right now in the White House.

Now is really a scary time in America. We can't trust anything the President, the Vice President, or any Cabinet Member says. Think back to what Colin Powell told the United Nations about Iraq's weapons. He told them how many liters and tons of chemical and biological weapons they had. He talked about documents that he knew right then were forged and tried to say they were on the up and up and proved Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Africa and was building nuclear bombs. Colin Powell lied his ass off while representing you and me.

Now we know George Bush uses actors in his campaign commercials, but how terrible is it to find out he is using actors so he can pass of his manufactured news stories as real news. America is in trouble right now and that trouble isn't coming from terrorists or foreign powers, it is coming from our President and his people. When a country can no longer trust those in government, that country is heading down hill fast.