2007-12-19T18:09:00.000-08:00

TO LIVE AND LIE IN THE
WHITE HOUSE

By
J. Philip Preston
j.philip.preston@hotmail.com

Date- 15/10/08
Time- 02:58 GMT

"There are lies, Damned Lies, and statistics"
Mark Twain

______________________________________________________

Last night I watched an illegally obtained copy of the recent Rage Against The Machine reunion concert. One of the things which shocked me most was the bands direct comparison of George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler.

Thats a little harsh, at least Hitler knew where Poland was before he invaded.

Were now 4 years and 7 mounths into the Iraq War, otherwise known as "Operation: Freedom", "Occupation of Iraq", "Operation Iraqi Freedom", "The second Gulf War" and not forgetting my personal favourite "Vietnam; The Sequal". I think we can safely say that this is the first war to have more aliases than infamous London crime lord Ronnie Biggs.

What my main objection to the war in Iraq is, regardless of the general refusal of America to explore other avenues for the deposition of Saddam, is that our governments have repeatedly lied to us. THIS IS UNFORGIVABLE.

First, the war was used to justify the hunt for Osama Bin Ladan. Recently televised interviews managed to confuddle George Bush. At a presidential speech, an interviewer made reference to an earlier presidential statement about the possible location of Bin Laden within Baghdad, then asked the president "What does Bin Laden have to do with Iraq?" to which the President replied "Nothing at all"

The journalist, now completly stuptified asks "So why did we invade?"

"To find Bin Ladan"

Indeed, this has been noted on John Stewart's Daily Show. I forget the date, if anyone has access to an archive and is capable of providing a date, and if possible a timecode, they shall receive a pack of cookies!

It has been proven, repeatedly, that there is no tangible link between Al-Qaeda and Saddam. Indeed, only ten days after the tragedy that was September 11th Bush was told in a daily presidential briefing that there was no link by his own intelligence opratives. Yet he still saw fit to inform his own country, indeed the world, that this is why he invaded.

The war was then justified by searching for Saddam's WMD's. To this day, there is still no sign of the mysterious weapons. This opens up a whole new chapter on the Dr David Kelly affair (AKA; The government weapons inspector, 45 minute claim, etc). One which I will not discuss here, as that is another piece for another time. We can all agree that the USA is having real problems locating the weapons, Its rather like me with Fountain Pens, every christmas I recieve one, But can I find one when I need to look professional? can I bollocks?

Mind you, the main difference is that I have been stockpiling Fountain pens for the past decade...

Then we moved onto the third, and current justification. A duel purpose "Take out Saddam"/"Continue war on terror".

Now please understand, I'm not denying the need to remove Saddam from office. He was a truely detestable man, who had surely become far too consumed by his own power. He needed to be removed, He needed to be put on trial for his war crimes. In particular, for the massacring of his own people.

I also understand the need for the war on terror. I ceartinly don't think it needed to be as volatile as it is, may I remind people that intelligence and covert ops would surely be a far more agreeable option than a large, brute force, armed with sub-standerd body- armour and semi-automatic weapons.

Neither am I speaking out against our troops. I whole-heartedly believe that the army, on the whole is doing a good job, and thats what it is, a job. I DO OBJECT however, to the human rights abuses of guantanomo bay and abu-grhaid prison. Again however, another journal for another day.

What I object to is how blatently our leaders have lied to us. I find this breach of trust shamefull. It angers me...

When our elected leaders are sworn into office, they have a responsibility, Nay, a perogative, to be hounest about the major workings of their respective political systems. We can tolarate them bullshitting to us about taxation, or the education system, namely because there things that only have ramifications within our home borders. To lie to us, not just once, but repeatedly about the justification for going to war is unforgivable, its henious, Im groping for a greater insult here, to be hounest, I think its downright Daily Mail.

But what scares me the most is that people genuanly buy this crap. My own mother repeatedly forgets why we invaded. And she's a teacher, a professional. Without wanting to sound too boastfull she is a highly respected figure within the exam industry, specialising in acamdemic sciences, more specifically biology.

If a working professional of this magnitude, who i can atest to bieng intelligent, witty and araldite buys these lines, how the hell are the rest of us supposed to cope? Im a bloody university student for fucks sake, I should be a liklier option for one of the sheep in the equation surely to goodness.

We must never forget that our governments are answerable to the people, not the other way around.

Somebody should be made answerable for this web of deciet, but they wont be, thats the sad truth. Our governments have the capacity to lie to us, and with the mass media culture we live in, we let those lies permeate down to us. We let Fox news tell us the crap they want us to believe, We let the News at 10 dictate theire trite to us.

Never, ever, believe a politician.

Seek out the truth in all things. Question authority.

HAVE A NICE DAY
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J Philip Preston's "The Inner Sanctum"