10 years into the Iraq war

Thursday, March 28, 2013

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013







10 years into the Iraq war

Ted Rudow III, MA, Encina Ave, Palo Alto, CA


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 their best to tie Saddam to Osama bin Laden’s outfit so they 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.





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