10 years after

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Peninsula readers' letters: March 19



From Daily News Group readers



mercurynews.com

Posted:   03/18/2013 06:30:36 PM PDT

March 19, 2013 6:21 AM GMTUpdated:   03/18/2013 11:21:21 PM PDT






10 years after



Dear Editor: The U.S. seems to have a hard time figuring out reasons for its wars, especially the ones it wages on Iraq, so it keeps changing them until it finds something that will stick and sound reasonable and justifiable. Wars require creative marketing, you know. For this second Gulf war, the U.S. started off trying its best to tie Saddam Hussein to Osama bin Laden's outfit so it could pin part of the blame for 9/11 on him.



Something like two-thirds of Americans believe Iraq either staged the 9/11 attacks or played some sort of role in the attack behind the scenes, or that some of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqis. That's not the case at all, but it just goes to show that if you keep repeating a lie often enough, people will eventually believe it.



Words have power, both for good and bad, especially when spoken by the president. Teddy Roosevelt used to call the presidency a "bully pulpit," a place where a good leader could preach moral values and principles. Of course, it can also be a place where an unscrupulous or immoral leader can promote bad values, ungodly principles and war, which has also been the case.



Ted Rudow III,



Palo Alto, CA









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