My LTTE: back to basics -- why are we in Iraq?

[dalaigh lllama]

I just sent this LTTE to our local paper. It occurred to me that sometimes I forget that not everyone keeps up-to-date with what's going on in the world, so I took advantage of * press conference last week to write the following letter. (This is my fourth LTTE to our local paper. I'm getting quite a rep as a "radical." :))



More people eat ice cream in the summer; more people drown in the summer. Therefore, eating ice cream causes drowning. True or false?

Remember that old chestnut? It’s a classic question many of us studied in high school or college, designed to easily demonstrate the difference between correlation and causation. Here’s another question for you:

Saddam Hussein is a bad man; the attacks on 9/11 were done by bad men. Therefore, Saddam Hussein attacked us on 9/11. True or false?

But wait a minute, you say. That certainly isn’t the argument the government has used to justify the war in Iraq. Hmm. Let‘s look at a few statements from the government. Here’s an excerpt from the president’s letter to Congress on March 18, 2003: "The use of military force against Iraq … is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001." And another statement by the President on May 1, 2003: "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes on.” Please note the careful avoidance of actually saying Iraq attacked us on 9/11.

But the government has told us that Saddam had links to Al Qaeda, you reply. Why, yes they have, over and over and over; again, please note they’ve very carefully not elaborated on those “links.” There are two good reasons for this. The first reason is because any causative “links” have been thoroughly discredited by official reports, such as that put forth by the 9/11 commission way back in 2004: "We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States." The second reason is even more fun: if readers are familiar with the idea behind “Six Degrees of Separation,” they’ll remember that possibly everyone in the world has links to Al Qaeda -- even that retired school marm in Iowa -- so it’s not really a lie to say Saddam and Al Qaeda had links, is it?

Recent polls indicate that 60% of Americans oppose the war in Iraq. (This is the “fringe” element we’ve heard so much about lately.) The following is for that 25% who just can’t bother themselves examining why we’re engaged in a war that’s soon to cost us $318.5 billion, and who still -- today -- believe that Saddam attacked us on 9/11:

Excerpts from the transcript from the President’s press conference on August 21, 2006:
THE PRESIDENT: “…The terrorists attacked us and killed 3000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the middle east.”
REPORTER: (unheard)
THE PRESIDENT: “What did Iraq have to do with what?”
REPORTER: “The attack on the World Trade Center.”
THE PRESIDENT: “Nothing! Except for it’s part of…and nobody’s ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a -- the lesson of September the 11th is, take threats before they fully materialize, Ken. Nobody has ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq…”

Hope that clears things up for some of you.

[GOPBasher]

1. Those are excellent points, very well argued and your piece is

very well written. Unfortunately, most Americans are too stupid to understand what you even said. Those are the people who will continue to vote Republican.

[dalaigh lllama]

2. Thanks, GOPbasher

I guess I'm hoping to reach the ignorant rather than the stupid.

I figure if all of us who can write letters do so, maybe we can help influence some of those folks who tend to be swayed by the weight of public opinion rather than the weightlessness of their own thinking ability.

[rosesaylavee]

3. Great LTTE

As H2O Man said earlier this summer, we all need to be inundating our local papers with this sort of thing... like water over stone we will wear them down. Be interested to hear the response you receive (if any) to the above when its published.

[dalaigh lllama]

4. I've actually had H20 Man's thoughts on LTTE's

percolating in my brain for some time now. Let the inundation begin!

And thanks for the k & r, rosesaylavee! :hi: