What Americans were kept from saying when Bush said 16 words

[Generic Other]

Still a rather powerful little film. It proves not everyone was fooled.

No War Yes Peace

This ad (links below), featuring 70 ordinary citizens from central New Jersey, aired in January 2003 a few weeks before the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Comcast, Corp. refused to air it when originally scheduled (on CNN in Washington on the night of Bush's 2003 State of the Union address) on the grounds that it contained "unsubstantiated claims." Bush's speech that night referred to alleged Iraqi attempts to obtain uranium from Africa, along with many other statements about Iraq's WMDs.

http://antiwarvideo.org/

[H2O Man]

1. Those "16 words"

were a lie in the fall of '02, when they were removed from a speech Bush was going to give in Ohio; they were a lie when he gave the state of the union speech in January; and they remain a lie today.

I like Senator Robert Byrd's description: "...Then the president's voice took on a different tone. He began to detail the horrible substances Saddam Hussein had not accounted for. To a hushed chamber, Bush recited the poisons .... Then came the fateful and now famous sixteen words .... That statement was false, and known to be false by key advisors to Bush at the time he made it -- a desperate ploy by agenda-driven zealots to justify and lead the country into an unnecessary war.

"All the while, Bush had spoken in a hushed voice, deliberately and dramatically emphasizing each frightening possibility, each deadly agent. It reminded me of my Boy Scout days, when theatrical scoutmasters would terrify youngsters with spooky tales around a campfire in the woods. ..."

Losing America; 2004; pages 181-2.

[Generic Other]

2. The lies silenced the truth

The voices of the people were consistent.

Byrd's description of Bush captures his essence perfectly. A failed boy scout.

[H2O Man]

3. It is extremely important

that we continue to document that those 16 words were lies, and that those lies brought us to war. The administration would have the public believe that those 16 words were accurate, should we fail to keep the truth in focus.