Fib factory running full tilt

White House tells some whoppers in bid to depict wars as battles
against al-Qaida
By ERIC MARGOLIS

The latest whoppers from the White House's fib factory came this
week as President George W. Bush (A) claimed U.S. forces in Iraq are
fighting "the same people" who staged 9/11, and, (B) withdrawing U.S.
forces means "surrendering Iraq to al-Qaida."

These absurd assertions mark the latest steps in the
administration's evolving efforts to depict the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan as battles against al-Qaida.

When marketers want to change the name of an existing product, they
first place a new name in small type below the existing one. They
gradually shrink the old name, and enlarge the new one until the original
name vanishes.

That's what's been happening in Iraq. When the U.S. invaded, Iraqis
who resisted were branded "Saddam loyalists, die-hard Ba'athists, or
dead-enders." Next, the Pentagon and U.S. media called them "terrorists."
Then, a tiny, previously unknown Iraqi group appropriated the name,
"al-Qaida in Mesopotamia."

This was such a convenient gift to the Bush administration, cynics
suspected a false-flag operation created by CIA and Britain's wily MI6.
Soon after, the White House and Pentagon began calling all Iraq's 22-plus
resistance groups, "al-Qaida."

The U.S. media eagerly joined this deception, even though 95% of
Iraq's resistance groups had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden's
movement. Watch any U.S. network TV news report on Iraq and you will
inevitably hear reporters parroting Pentagon handouts about U.S. forces
"launching a new offensive against al-Qaida."

Al-Qaida in Iraq didn't even exist before 9/11, but that didn't stop
the president from trying to gull credulous voters. Polls show that in
spite of a mountain of evidence to the contrary, White House
disinformation strategy has worked. Today, an amazing 60% of Americans
still believe Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11.

FAUX WAR

This faux war is now costing a mind-boggling $12 billion US monthly,
reports the non-partisan Congressional Research Service. The Bush
administration has spent $610 billion since 2001 on its wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, making them the second most expensive conflict in U.S.
history after the Second World War.

This week, U.S. Homeland Security czar Michael Chertoff allowed he
had a "gut feel" that an al-Qaida attack was imminent this summer. The 16
U.S. intelligence agencies spend $40 billion annually, with another $15-20
billion in their hidden "black budgets." Homeland Security spends $44.6
billion.

After these gargantuan expenditures, the best intelligence czar
Chertoff can come up with is "gut feel?"

One suspects Chertoff's worried innards and leaks that al-Qaida has
returned to full strength have far more to do with the growing Republican
Party revolt against the president's Iraq war than nebulous threats from
Osama bin Laden's loud but tiny group.

Polls show the only area where Republicans still command popular
support is the "war on terror."

SCARE TACTIC

So Bush/Cheney & Co are trying to use al-Qaida to scare Americans to
vote Republican, just as they did prior to 2004 elections. It worked well
last time and got Bush re-elected.

But Americans are increasingly leery of the White House's crying
wolf.

Many are also asking how Bush could claim "steady progress" was
being made in his wars while U.S. intelligence was reporting al-Qaida
movement is back to pre-2001 strength and Iraq is a bloody mess.

After six years of conflict, 3,600 dead and 25,000 wounded American
soldiers, expenditure of $610 billion, tens of thousands of dead Iraqis
and Afghans, collapse of Mideast peace efforts, and a Muslim World enraged
against the U.S., nothing positive seems to have been accomplished.

As the White House ponders an attack on Iran, recall the famed words
of King Pyrrhus of Epirus, "one more such victory and we are ruined."

. Have a letter for the editor? E-mail it to
torsun.edi...@sunmedia.ca

http://torontosun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2007/07/15/4...

Fib factory running full tilt

White House tells some whoppers in bid to depict wars as battles
against al-Qaida
By ERIC MARGOLIS

The latest whoppers from the White House's fib factory came this
week as President George W. Bush (A) claimed U.S. forces in Iraq are
fighting "the same people" who staged 9/11, and, (B) withdrawing U.S.
forces means "surrendering Iraq to al-Qaida."

These absurd assertions mark the latest steps in the
administration's evolving efforts to depict the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan as battles against al-Qaida.

When marketers want to change the name of an existing product, they
first place a new name in small type below the existing one. They
gradually shrink the old name, and enlarge the new one until the original
name vanishes.

That's what's been happening in Iraq. When the U.S. invaded, Iraqis
who resisted were branded "Saddam loyalists, die-hard Ba'athists, or
dead-enders." Next, the Pentagon and U.S. media called them "terrorists."
Then, a tiny, previously unknown Iraqi group appropriated the name,
"al-Qaida in Mesopotamia."

This was such a convenient gift to the Bush administration, cynics
suspected a false-flag operation created by CIA and Britain's wily MI6.
Soon after, the White House and Pentagon began calling all Iraq's 22-plus
resistance groups, "al-Qaida."

The U.S. media eagerly joined this deception, even though 95% of
Iraq's resistance groups had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden's
movement. Watch any U.S. network TV news report on Iraq and you will
inevitably hear reporters parroting Pentagon handouts about U.S. forces
"launching a new offensive against al-Qaida."

Al-Qaida in Iraq didn't even exist before 9/11, but that didn't stop
the president from trying to gull credulous voters. Polls show that in
spite of a mountain of evidence to the contrary, White House
disinformation strategy has worked. Today, an amazing 60% of Americans
still believe Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11.

FAUX WAR

This faux war is now costing a mind-boggling $12 billion US monthly,
reports the non-partisan Congressional Research Service. The Bush
administration has spent $610 billion since 2001 on its wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, making them the second most expensive conflict in U.S.
history after the Second World War.

This week, U.S. Homeland Security czar Michael Chertoff allowed he
had a "gut feel" that an al-Qaida attack was imminent this summer. The 16
U.S. intelligence agencies spend $40 billion annually, with another $15-20
billion in their hidden "black budgets." Homeland Security spends $44.6
billion.

After these gargantuan expenditures, the best intelligence czar
Chertoff can come up with is "gut feel?"

One suspects Chertoff's worried innards and leaks that al-Qaida has
returned to full strength have far more to do with the growing Republican
Party revolt against the president's Iraq war than nebulous threats from
Osama bin Laden's loud but tiny group.

Polls show the only area where Republicans still command popular
support is the "war on terror."

SCARE TACTIC

So Bush/Cheney & Co are trying to use al-Qaida to scare Americans to
vote Republican, just as they did prior to 2004 elections. It worked well
last time and got Bush re-elected.

But Americans are increasingly leery of the White House's crying
wolf.

Many are also asking how Bush could claim "steady progress" was
being made in his wars while U.S. intelligence was reporting al-Qaida
movement is back to pre-2001 strength and Iraq is a bloody mess.

After six years of conflict, 3,600 dead and 25,000 wounded American
soldiers, expenditure of $610 billion, tens of thousands of dead Iraqis
and Afghans, collapse of Mideast peace efforts, and a Muslim World enraged
against the U.S., nothing positive seems to have been accomplished.

As the White House ponders an attack on Iran, recall the famed words
of King Pyrrhus of Epirus, "one more such victory and we are ruined."

. Have a letter for the editor? E-mail it to
torsun.edi...@sunmedia.ca

http://torontosun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2007/07/15/4...