by James Glaser
Otober 27, 2003

They all do. I can remember the first time a President lied to me and that was Dwight Eisenhower. He told me and the whole world, that the United States didn't have spy planes flying over Russia. That was just a few weeks before Francis Gary Powers was shot down and captured over the Soviet Union in a U-2 spy plane.

A few years before that President Harry Truman told my parents and the whole world, "The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, in so far as possible, the killing of civilians." Hiroshima was considered a low military priority and that is why we hadn't bombed it yet. We killed 140,000, mostly civilians with that bomb.

John Kennedy said, "I have previously stated and I repeat now that the United States intends no military intervention in Cuba." This was just before we paid for the Bay of Pigs invasion that had Americans flying combat missions. Fidel Castro recovered the body of one American pilot and kept it frozen for 18 years as proof.

Lyndon Johnson told me I should fight in Vietnam because our ships were attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. What he said was, "As President and Commander in Chief it is my duty to the American people to report that renewed hostile actions against United States ships on the high seas in the Gulf of Tonkin have today required me to order the military forces of the United States to take action in reply." The truth is that no attack ever happened, Johnson lied to get support for his war.

Nixon was lying all over the place and he even tapped himself doing it. Remember the lie about not bombing Cambodia and Laos?

Ronald Reagan lied too, but sometimes he just sounded stupid, like when he said in August 1980, "Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do." In November of 1986 he said, "We did not—repeat, did not—trade weapons or anything else for hostages nor will we." Four months later he said, "A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not."

President Bush the Elder said, "Read my lips." He also was in the cover up for the selling of weapons to terrorists so we could get the cash to by weapons for other terrorists. Bill Clinton said, "I want you to listen to me, I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that women, Miss Lewinsky."

The only President that never lied to me was Jimmy Carter, at least never lied that I know of.

Today we have another George Bush. From Weapons of Mass Destruction to Saddam Hussein and the September 11th attack on us, this George has been lying to us. I know there are millions of Americans that believe this President can walk on water and would never tell an untruth, but they are wrong. This George lies about everything. He lies even when he doesn't have to. I remember him telling the press that he had been to war and he had twin daughters and war was easier. He didn't have to say that, it did him no good, but it was a lie, Bush never was in a war, in fact the man went AWOL from the National Guard during the Vietnam War and should be in prison for Desertion. Like I said he lies when he doesn't have to.

Last week George Bush went to the Philippines and gave a talk to their Congress. He was talking about our history in the Philippines and how that was a "model" for our bringing democracy to Iraq. George wanted the world to believe that we attacked the Philippines to bring them democracy. That thought sounds good, but is a lie.

We never did bring democracy to the Philippines, what historians tell us, is that we annexed the Philippines in 1899 and killed an estimated 250,000 Filipinos while losing 5,000 of our own troops. The resistance to American forces went on for years and in 1906, US Troops massacred 900 Muslim women, children, and men on the southern island of Jolo. That is where President Bush has sent American troops to help fight Muslim terrorists today.

One hundred years ago, Mark Twain said, "Why, we have gotten into a mess, a quagmire from which each step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater. I'm sure I wish I could see what we were getting out of it, and all it means to us as a nation." Twain was talking about our attack on the Philippines

Maybe President Bush doesn't know this, but we never did free that country nor did we go there to bring it democracy, we occupied the Philippines for over 75 years. That might be why he thinks that countries occupation is a model for our war in Iraq. George might be looking at 75 years there too.

The people in the Philippines know that what the President is saying about America and their country as a model for Iraq, is not true. In fact by now every nation watches closely what this President has to say and they check out the facts before they follow his lead.

From the Babylonian Talmud, "This is the punishment of a liar: he is not believed even when he speaks the truth." It is getting to that point now for President Bush. He has told our country and the world so many lies, that it is hard to believe any thing he says.

Just this weekend the Commission that is looking into the 9/11 attack is talking about how the White House won't give them classified papers that they want. President Bush claims that they aren't giving them because of National Security. Many people don't believe that, because of Bush's past lies. Every thing President Bush says now is checked and double checked because the man has a hard time with the truth.

People lie all the time about the size of the fish they catch or how bad the weather was when they were kids, and it hurts no one, but when Presidents lie, people die. How many people has George Bush killed with his lies?

Some information taken from Amy Kaplan's "The Anarchy of Empire in the Making of U.S. Culture"