Minn. Star: 'JFK knew how a myth could be worse than a lie'

[ailsagirl]

By Jack Uldrich, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Forty-three years ago last weekend, on June 11, 1962, President John Kennedy addressed the graduating class of the Yale University. In his speech he said: "For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

At this moment in our country's history, it is appropriate -- indeed, necessary -- to reflect on the wisdom of his words. Recently, the secret "Downing Street memo" has proven what many Americans long suspected and what a few former Bush administration insiders (Dick Clarke and Paul O'Neill) have been publicly saying: President Bush -- contrary to pronouncements to the American public suggesting otherwise -- "had made up his mind to take military action" against Iraq as early as July 2002 and then worked to make sure "the intelligence and facts were being fixed" around this controversial policy.

The president's "deliberate, contrived and dishonest" comments about his desire to wage war deserve to be treated as "a great enemy of truth" by both Congress and the American public.

However, it is not enough to simply hold Bush accountable for his blatant disregard for the truth. We, as citizens, must also take to heart the second part of Kennedy's prescient advice and challenge the many myths that still shroud our policy in Iraq because they are just as insidious -- if not more so -- than the president's deliberate lies.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=21512&mode=nested