2008 Woodie Awards
All the News That Gives Us Fits: Lies My Government Told Me
Katharine Anderson, Opinion Editor
Issue date: 5/26/04 Section: Opinion
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Amid accusations that he was aware of the abuse, Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld did not condemn the torture - although he did deny knowledge. In response, he issued a ban on "all digital cameras, camcorders and mobile phones with cameras" on U.S. military bases in Iraq.
He would rather corral camera phones than address human rights concerns.
How very hawkish.
The Department of Defense's official count of "U.S. soldier fatalities" in Iraq raises ethical issues about the counting procedure. The numbers are divided into so many categories that they become too convoluted to determine the actual American loss. Fatalities counted are soldiers "killed in combat." This leaves questions about the roughly 2,750 U.S. troops "wounded in combat, not returned to duty in 72 hours."
So exactly how many, if any, deaths of our soldiers have happened in hospitals?
Will they ever tell us? Or will it emerge 50 years from now as a blacked-out number in a classified document?
Rumors are that the total of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq is significantly higher than the Department of Defense previously released. In a war with dwindling supporters, public knowledge of the full count of U.S. soldier casualties could do substantial damage to public opinion of the war effort - and to Bush's popularity.
The administration won't stand for that, will it?
The House Committee on Government Reform Special Investigations Division released for public review a document: "Iraq on the record - The Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq." This 36-page report contains only statements that can be proved with absolute certainty to be instances of the Bush administration knowingly misleading the American public.
Why? To gain the American public's approval and raise support for his plans of an invasion of Iraq.
"Because of the gravity of the subject and the president's unique access to classified information, members of Congress and the public expect the president and his senior officials to take special care to be balanced and accurate in describing national security threats. It does not appear, however, that President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary Powell, and National Security Advisor Rice met this standard in the case of Iraq. To the contrary, these five officials repeatedly made misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq. In 125 separate appearances, they made 11 misleading statements about the urgency of Iraq's threat, 81 misleading statements about Iraq's nuclear activities, 84 misleading statements about Iraq's chemical and biological capabilities and 61 misleading statements about Iraq's relationship with al Qaeda," the report concluded.
When we have our young men and women dying in a war seemingly motivated by greed and the ability to provide defense contracts for a company in which daddy is a chairman and financial gain is certain, special attention to detail and diligence to reveal the truth must be a priority above all else.
Younger generation voters who stay informed and refuse to play party to the lies of the Bush regime could be the deciding factor in the November elections.
Without a doubt, Bush is an embarrassment to himself, the Republican Party and the United States of America.
