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What Happens When Everything the President Says Is a Lie?
by James Glaser
I don't know if I have reached the point that I think everything George Bush says is a lie, but I can tell you that whenever George Bush says something, I have to check out the facts. More and more what this President has to say on any subject turns out to be, at best a distortion of what is really happening, and at worst, just a bold faced lie. Now I didn't catch this one myself, but a reader sent it to me. A few weeks ago, a White House reporter by the name of Helen Thomas asked the President about the build up to his war in Iraq, and the President stiffed her and the American people with an out-and-out falsehood. George Bush said, "The World said, 'Disarm, disclose or face serious consequences.' We worked to make sure that Saddam Hussein heard the message of the world. And when he chooses to deny the inspectors, when he chose not to disclose, then I had the difficult decision to make to remove him. And we did. And the world is a safer for it." Way back in July of 2003, George Bush was saying that Saddam Hussein had barred the United Nations weapons inspectors, but the truth is that in November of 2002 Saddam opened up Iraq to UN inspectors, and it was Bush who forced them out so we could invade. When George Bush says, "The World said, 'Disarm, disclose or face serious consequences,'" it was really George Bush saying it. Think back to that time and try and remember a 12,500 page report the Iraqis sent to the UN about how they had disarmed and destroyed their weapons of mass destruction. The Bush Administration blew that "disclosure" off as a pack of lies. Well, after we took over Iraq, bombed the heck out of the country with our new "shock and awe" bombing program, we found out it wasn't a lie. There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction. Iraq had told the truth.
So we have George lying about Saddam refusing inspectors in his country, and we have George lying about Iraq not making a disclosure about destroying their Weapons of Mass Destruction. Now we get to the last part of George's answer to Helen Thomas's question. George Bush claims that the world is safer now, because he had our country attack Iraq. George said, "And the world is safer for it." We don't know how many, because the Bush Administration refuses to keep a count, but it is safe to say that over 50,000 innocent Iraqis and American and coalition troops have been killed because of Bush's war. 50,000 is a conservative number. Many groups estimate the number of deaths attributed to Bush's War in Iraq at well over 100,000. On top of that are the almost 18,000 Americans wounded and the tens and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis maimed for life. Nobody can even guess on the number of people on both sides who will be living with psychological problems because of this war. But George wants to claim that even with these losses, the world is safer because he ordered America to attack Iraq. This is just one example of how the President of the United States lies. And you know what? He is not very good at it! Post Script: You write a column like this and it makes you stop to think. What are we going to do with three more years of George Bush in office? If you start reading the foreign press around the world, you quickly see that America and George Bush are not liked at all. It used to be that people around the world could get mad at our government in Washington and its foreign policies, and still like the American people, but today the world is looking at the American people, and wondering why we elect people like Bush and his administration. And then re-elect him. It isn't just that the people overseas have a negative opinion about us. I look at our southern border and see tens of thousands of people crossing illegally every month. I keep thinking Washington will put a stop to that, but then I realize that it isn't Washington calling the shots, it is the international corporations who want cheap labor here at home and it isn't just them, it is also the upper middle class and above who want cheap domestic labor in their homes. People with a little bit of money don't have to move to Mexico or some other third world country in their retirement years to have gardeners and cooks and clean up people. They might not be able to speak English, but you can now get those people right here at home for less than minimum wage. So it isn't just George Bush, but he is the guy those people put in to secure them the good life. That means lots of tax cuts and more spending. George is running amok with our kid's credit card. Sure it looks like we can keep doing this for ever and right-wing economists tell us our debt is really less as a percentage of GDP because that keeps going up, but they are not always right and some day, some how that debt is going to come due. Bush crows about job creation, but he is doing it with credit. Government keeps raising the spending limit and all that money they print keeps adding jobs. You cut that spending down or try and balance the books and times will be getting tough. Some day we are going to have to do that, and it is really going to hurt. I probably won't be around then, but my children will and that isn't a fair way to treat their future. I don't know the answers, but I do know that we now have a President that is so arrogant or so foolish that he will repeatedly lie to us. I know he smiles and chuckles when he talks like everything is OK, and he is just shinning us on, but in my book, and the way my parents taught me, he is lying to us. And that puts our country in a pretty sad state. |
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