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May 18, 2006
Bush's biggest fraud: the phony war on terrorism!
By Len Hart
Until recently, George W. Bush could bludgeon dissenters with the issue of terrorism. But as "terrorism" becomes another issue on which Bush is taking a beating in the polls, an increasing number of writers and readers are questioning the very nature of Bush's perpetual war.
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Since the beginning of the year, the Bush administration has conducted a campaign of lies and misinformation about widespread domestic spying. Bushco has lied about it, denied it, acknowledged it, and, most egregiously, Bush has said that if he orders it, it's legal! Interestingly, none of the various cover stories are consistent with one another. How convenient for Bush should you forget one of his past lies!But among the numerous and conflicting official cover stories is, not surprisingly, a most pernicious cover story: had there been an NSA domestic spying program in place prior to 911 the attacks might have been prevented.
That is, of course, an outrageous, bald-faced lie. The attacks might have been prevented anyway! But were not!Moreover, the measures Bush has taken since then have utterly failed to address the issue of terrorism.
That Bush ignored numerous warnings is heavily documented. And there is yet another new story from AlterNet:The 9/11 Story That Got Away
By Rory O'Connor and William Scott Malone, AlterNet. Posted May 18, 2006.In 2001, an anonymous White House source leaked top-secret NSA intelligence to reporter Judith Miller that Al Qaida was planning a major attack on the United States. But the story never made it into the paper. ...
Nonsense! Bush has never waged a "war on terrorism"! Afghanistan —where bin Laden was allowed to escape was not it! And Iraq —which even Bush concedes had nothing to do with 911 —was not it!
Consider Bush's official conspiracy theory with respect to 911. It goes something like this. bin Laden sits at the head of a vast and super secret world wide conspiracy the likes of which has not been seen since Smersh. There are several things wrong with the official conspiracy theory but let's deal with the most obvious ones.Even Bush concedes that Saddam had nothing to do with the events of 911! Then why does Bush continue to cite the war against Iraq has justification for a widespread domestic surveillance program?
Briefly, Bush lied to the nation and the world in order to begin the war on Iraq and "terrorism" had nothing whatsoever to do with it. It was about oil. There were, arguably, no "terrorists" in Iraq before the American attack and invasion and, if they are there now, it's because they are not stupid.
Bush likes to say that we fight them there rather than here. Rather, Bush took the bait. The terrorists are most surely telling their own constituencies they are killing Americans in Iraq!
But how many of what Bush calls "insurgents" are terrorists? How many are simply Iraqi defending their own country against an illegal occupation by an aggressor? To that extent, they are protected by International Law. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham put it this way to Parliament during Britain's occupation of the American colonies:If I were an American as I am an Englishman, I would never lay down my arms! Never! Never! NEVER!
Now —about the real reasons for war against Iraq. Bush made promises to Dick Cheney's Halliburton, Condo Rice's Exxon-Mobil et al. It was not promised to them that oil prices would go down upon the American seizure of control over Iraqi oil fields and production! Rather, prices would go up and with them, the profits of big oil. Now —isn't that precisely what has happened?
Just keep this in mind: it's hard to go wrong when you realize that nothing that Bush has ever said about anything has ever been in anyway true.Len Hart is a Houston based film/video producer specializing in shorts and full-length documentaries. He is a former major market and network correspondent; credits include CBS, ABC-TV and UPI. He maintains the progressive blog: The Existentialist Cowboy