Falsehoods and the Iraq War

[Sapphire Blue]

Falsehoods and the Iraq War

The warring factions in Iraq are engaged in a civil war that the U.S. occupation is only making worse.
by Jim Wallis

Two political conservatives recently had a lot to say about Iraq. The first was Rep. John Murtha, a conservative Democrat and decorated Vietnam War Marine veteran who has served on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee for three decades. He has supported every U.S. war, and he has been one of most hawkish advocates of the war in Iraq, until now. Murtha created a political earthquake when he called for the redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq. His words were prophetic in a town usually devoid of prophetic utterances. “It’s a flawed policy wrapped in illusion,” he said. “The future of our country is at risk.”

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Rep. Murtha frequently visits wounded soldiers, often at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and the families of dead American servicemen and women in his home district. He has seen too many broken bodies and lives, too many severed limbs and maimed futures, and too many spouses and children who have lost their beloved partners and needed parents. Thirteen soldiers from his congressional district in southwestern Pennsylvania have died.

Murtha has also been to Iraq and seen how the American occupation has become more the catalyst than the solution to a violent and bloody insurgency. He has seen the truth in Iraq—the warring factions are engaged in a civil war that the occupation is only making worse. Military leaders talk to Murtha, who is extremely well-connected at the Pentagon and with the military in the field. They give him a much grimmer picture of the prospects for success in Iraq than the political (and mostly civilian) architects of the war who repeat tired mantras about “staying the course.”

<snip>

One of the grand architects of an American empire in Iraq and the Middle East is another political conservative, Vice President Dick Cheney. Two days before Murtha’s speech, Cheney attacked war opponents, saying that those who claim the administration had manipulated intelligence are making “one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city.” The vice president has been relentless in attacking critics who accuse the administration of being selective or manipulative with prewar intelligence as “opportunists” using “cynical and pernicious falsehoods.” When asked to respond to Cheney’s attacks, Murtha shot back that he wasn’t going to be lectured by people who obtained several deferments instead of serving in the military themselves.

Continued @ http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0601&article=060151

[NoLongerRepresented]

1. He should know

--- The vice president has been relentless in attacking critics who accuse the administration of being selective or manipulative with prewar intelligence as “opportunists” using “cynical and pernicious falsehoods.” ---

If anyone would know “cynical and pernicious falsehoods.” it would be this administration!