ISN’T IT TIME TO STOP TRUSTING THE GOVERNMENT’S WAR PROPAGANDA?
By Ron Paul || We have been at war with Iraq for 24 years, starting with Operations Desert Shield and Storm in 1990. Shortly after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait that year, the propaganda machine began agitating for a U.S. attack on Iraq. We all remember the appearance before Congress of a young Kuwaiti woman claiming that the Iraqis were ripping Kuwaiti babies from incubators. The woman turned out to be the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S. and the story was false, but it was enough to turn U.S. opposition in favor of an attack.
This month, yet another U.S. president – the fifth in a row – began bombing Iraq. He is also placing U.S. troops on the ground despite promising not to do so.
The second Iraq war in 2003 cost the U.S. some two trillion dollars. According to estimates, more than one million deaths have occurred as a result of that war. Millions of tons of U.S. bombs have fallen in Iraq almost steadily since 1991.
What have we accomplished? Where are we now, 24 years later? We are back where we started, at war in Iraq!
The U.S. overthrew Saddam Hussein in the second Iraq war and put into place a puppet, Nouri al-Maliki. But after eight years, last week the U.S. engineered a coup against Maliki to put in place yet another puppet. The U.S. accused Maliki of misrule and divisiveness, but what really irritated the US government was his 2011 refusal to grant immunity to the thousands of US troops that Obama wanted to keep in the country.
Early this year, a radical Islamist group, ISIS, began taking over territory in Iraq, starting with Fallujah. The organization had been operating in Syria, strengthened by U.S. support for the overthrow of the Syrian government. ISIS obtained a broad array of sophisticated U.S. weapons in Syria, very often capturing them from other U.S.-approved opposition groups. Some claim that lax screening criteria allowed some ISIS fighters to even participate in secret CIA training camps in Jordan and Turkey.
This month, ISIS became the target of a new U.S. bombing campaign in Iraq. The pretext for the latest U.S. attack was the plight of a religious minority in the Kurdish region currently under ISIS attack. The U.S. government and media warned that up to 100,000 from this group, including some 40,000 stranded on a mountain, could be slaughtered if the U.S. did not intervene at once.
Americans unfortunately once again fell for this propaganda and U.S. bombs began to fall. Last week, however, it was determined that only about 2,000 were on the mountain and many of them had been living there for years! They didn’t want to be rescued!
This is not to say that the plight of many of these people is not tragic, but why is it that the U.S. government did not say a word when three out of four Christians were forced out of Iraq during the ten-year U.S. occupation? Why has the U.S. said nothing about the Christians slaughtered by its allies in Syria? What about all the Palestinians killed in Gaza or the ethnic Russians killed in east Ukraine?
The humanitarian situation was cynically manipulated by the Obama administration — and echoed by the U.S. media — to provide a reason for the president to attack Iraq again. This time it was about yet another regime change, breaking Kurdistan away from Iraq and protection of the rich oil reserves there, and acceptance of a new U.S. military presence on the ground in the country.
President Obama has started another war in Iraq and Congress is completely silent. No declaration, no authorization, not even a debate. After 24 years we are back where we started. Isn’t it about time to re-think this failed interventionist policy? Isn’t it time to stop trusting the government and its war propaganda? Isn’t it time to leave Iraq alone?
Ron Paul is a former U.S. Congressman from Texas and the leader of the pro-liberty, pro-free market movement in the United States. His weekly column – reprinted with permission – can be found here.
50 comments
War initially buoys a Presidents popularity and is a nice stand by when there is no where else to get some positive press. The lapdog media loves war too.
The Peace Prize President sure has made a sucker out of his followers….he really hasn’t stopped any of the wars nor close Guantanamo….he’s got a string of broken promises that surely rivals “no new taxes”. If there’s one saving grace to Obama’s “legacy”, it’s that all that time on the golf course makes it tough to catch him in a “my pet goat” moment or “mission accomplished”. All that workout video or the recent dancing photo while Ferguson burned isn’t helping things.
“War is humanitarian when WE do it!” -Democrats
Did you notice that Cindy Sheehan stopped demonstrating against the war when Obummer got elected ? They are the same people that are pro abortion yet called Vietnam Vet. baby killers. Go figure
You mean the Cindy Sheehan that left the Democrat party in 2007 after they passed a bill continuing funding for the war in Iraq? Or the Cindy Sheehan who protested in Oslo when Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? Or the Cindy Sheehan that called the death of Osama bin Laden a hoax?
Yeah, I’m sure she’s Obama’s biggest fan.
Smirks-Stop confusing the issue with facts. Let Rogue believe whatever he wants to believe.
Yeh why does this guy refer to himself as “rogue?”
He’s just a plain old Republican.
You mean she actually believed all that BS she carried on with during President Bush’s tenure ? Most “protesters” are only Dims. acting out a part. As soon as the administration changes they disappear..
edit: *Although that workout video
OK: I’ll go along, Iraq was senseless. Now can we gather up all the tanks, guns grenades drones, and soldiers and turn those Mofos’ loose on the worthless some beeches, here, like FITS, RonPaul, Sanford, Obama and the Freakin’ idiots screwing up the US?
People who do not understand the value of freedom, even its importation to one-time enemies, D@*n sure don’t deserve it. If you think it’s OK to watch the innocent brutally murdered (knowing you could be next) maybe you ought to have that exacted upon you. Then maybe you F*#king idiots would STFU.
PS: Obama fought Iraq like RonPaul would have. It’s why it’s such a failure. Obama has failed at everything. He is a glowing example of a RonPaul presidency.
Hittin’ the Koolaid, are ya? You must still believe in Saddam Hussein’s WMD, Santa and the Tooth Fairy. Mindless troll!
Glad that you let us know you are OK w/ beheading children if they are Christian, but you condone looting and rioting if a violent democrat special interest Thug is shot for attacking a police officer, who has a gun.
You are the lowest S#!* in this country…and ANYBODY who has fought for it, would quit, if there were only people like you, they were going to war to protect. You do not deserve America, and we do not deserve low-lifes like you.
If you truly feel that way, then take your ass out of your mom’s basement, enlist, strap on a weapon and go shoot at those the oligarchs hate. Otherwise, STFU because those who are too cowardly to serve don’t have the right to run their troll mouths!
So if I’m not in the army I don’t have free speech.Go read the US Constitution Dumb@$$.
And go take a creative writing class, too. You ignorant liberals are pretty lame cliches.
Nail on the head.
“Obama fought Iraq like RonPaul would have.”
Normally you’re so stupid I don’t bother to respond, but in this case your stupidity is so annoying I have no choice.
Ron Paul has preached a non-interventionist foreign policy so many times that anyone who doesn’t know it is either:
#1 Incredibly stupid/uniformed, to the point of absurdity.
#2 Not being truthful on purpose
With you, I think it’s a weird combination of the two. That said, Paul would have never went in to start, so no fighting would have been necessary and that’s the difference between him and Obama the drone strike king. It doesn’t even take a 5 minute youtube search to see one of his many admonitions PRIOR to all the Iraq actions.
You are simply an idiot.
“People who don’t believe in the value of freedom don’t deserve it.”
“Hahaha, wouldn’t it be funny to unleash the military against people I don’t agree with?”
God bless ‘Murika and all its freedumbs, right T?
You purposely misquoted GT.Not surprised.That is what liberals/socialists do-lie and deceive.
People who do not understand the value of freedom, even its importation to one-time enemies, D@*n sure don’t deserve it.
“People who don’t believe in the value of freedom don’t deserve it.”
Now can we gather up all the tanks, guns grenades drones, and soldiers and turn those Mofos’ loose on the worthless some beeches, here, like FITS, RonPaul, Sanford, Obama and the Freakin’ idiots screwing up the US?
“Hahaha, wouldn’t it be funny to unleash the military against people I don’t agree with?”
I don’t see where I misquoted him at all. This is misquoting:
You purposely misquoted GT.Not surprised.That is what liberals/socialists do-lie and deceive.
“My name is Sandi and I admit to being a paid Haley troll.”
You just looked SO STUPID, he was doing you a favor (benefit of the doubt) by saying you misquoted it.
Yes you did Limbaughsackhkunt (your name apparently appeared on one of his posts and then disappeared Saturday before you apparently caught it).
Not ” understanding” the “value” of freedom is different than not “believing” in the “value” of freedom.
You purposely tried to deceive other readers, as usual.
You are an incomprehensibly dumb person.
your name apparently appeared on one of his posts and then disappeared Saturday before you apparently caught it
This is an error with Disqus showing new comments that is rectified by refreshing the page. Sometimes Disqus gets retarded and loads new comments with one person’s screen name repeatedly. Refreshing the page makes Disqus send everything all over again, which gives the correct screen names.
It is impossible to delete comments, that has to be done by Will or someone else who has the rights to do it. At most, someone signed into Disqus (how I comment) can “edit” the words in their post, but nothing more. It is impossible to change your screen name once a comment has been placed.
As I’ve said in a previous thread, feel free to ask Will or whoever else if they can verify your paranoid fantasy for you.
As for “misquoting” GrandTango:
par·a·phrase?par??fr?z
verb
verb: paraphrase; 3rd person present: paraphrases; past tense: paraphrased; past participle: paraphrased; gerund or present participle: paraphrasing
1. express the meaning of (the writer or speaker or something written or spoken) using different words, especially to achieve greater clarity.
noun
noun: paraphrase; plural noun: paraphrases
1. a rewording of something written or spoken by someone else.
Exactly.
“(your name apparently appeared on one of his posts and then disappeared Saturday before you apparently caught it)”
It’s a glitch with certain browsers associated with Disqus, if you had a longer attention span than that of a gnat, you’d have caught other posters bitching about the random name changes due to real time Disqus updates.
Sure, there’s lots of sock puppets about, me included, but just because one moment a name appeared, then you hit “refresh” and it changes, doesn’t mean it’s happening at that time. You can only edit posts if you are logged into Disqus…and even then you can’t change the Disqus name after the fact.
Get a clue.
Here’s an example for you, as it presented itself in this thread.
http://imgur.com/0f6zMML
Comment is near the top despite zero upvotes, so it’s new. It was actually posted by FedUp.
Damn.I apparently struck a nerve.I don’t care who in fuck your sorry ass is.
You wake up everyday chasing and replying to my comments,like a rat finding bread crumbs, I made the previous day-in everyone you spew the same paranoid fantasy that I work for Haley-which is false.
Get a life dude.You appear too thinksinned to participate in a blog like this, Limbaughsackhkunt. :-)
No hard feeling Smirks. Smile.
oops…thinskinned
I apparently aborted the wrong one. Goddamnit, you’re a fool.
Sandi: they only want to use the military to extend the welfare we pay for, so they can sit on their lazy @$$#$….They slurp up the freebies, don’t contribute, but demand we live like they tell us to live. That’s the liberal way.
What did you do to collect Medicaid? Cut your stupid nose off?
So you agreed w/ Hitler and Anti-Constitution Democrat Slaveholders…
“I disagree with you, therefore you clearly support Hitler.”
I swear man, you’re one giant, self-perpetuating joke.
You just don’t like getting the S#!* slapped out of you with your own leftwing rhetoric.
It’s fine to shill for more handouts that other people give you. But when you’re asked to support all the crap you espouse, w/ substance, you meltdown.
People that don’t understand the value of the “sanctity of life” certainly would NEVER understand the value of “freedom”.
The only freedoms the Democrat Party and liberals believe in are lawlessness, abortion and deviant lifestyles.
How can you compare Ron Paul to Obama. This just does not make sense.
Yeah, good point… Obama was smart – and/ or corrupt- enough to lie about who, and what he is, until he got elected. RonPaul only lies regionally, during primaries, and he fools no one.
Bush and Cheney (and Wolfowitz) should get the Marsyas treatment as a reminder for future “Presidents” with war fever…
Well, we expanded Iran and Syria with another state that refuses to acknowledge the existence of Israel.
Propaganda – information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
Ron Paul is an expert on propaganda.
Ron Paul is one of the few that make sense
Ron Paul is a practitioner of propaganda. In the following examples PAUL is false, dishonest or deceptive.
Examples:
24 years of war,
baby incubators,
puppet,
coup,
only about 2,000 were on the mountain,
U.S. government did not say a word when … Christians … Palestinians … Russians were …
yet another regime change,
Congress is completely silent.
Ethnic Russians killed in east Ukraine? Where did he take it from? Putin’s propaganda office. Or maybe mr. Paul watches Russia Today as the main news channel? Shame.
I am a Libertarian sympathizer, but I am not a Libertarian. I can’t help thinking what would have happened if the Congress had not voted funds to fight the World War I, or if we had not initiated lend-lease to Free France, GB/UK, & China, in March of 1941, or using the Atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Withdrawing from the world or waiting until somebody strikes first, looks great on paper. But like all bad ideas from idealists, in the end, it costs lives, money, property, and the very ideals you’re trying to save. Bad people appreciate pure, naked power and the ability of that power to obliterate them if they transgress. That’s all they ultimately appreciate. I would love the world to be as Ron thinks, but, it’s not. It’s just not.
It’s amazing after all this time and having the benefit of hindsight you’re still defending WWI. That war and our involvement made WWII inevitable.
What’s even more amazing is his defense of the Nagasaki bombing. He really has bought into this notion that the evaporation of hundreds of thousands of women & children somehow “saved lives”. It’s really come out strong in historical documents in the last few years that the Japs were trying to surrender and Truman wanted to use the bomb anyway.
Einstein & Ike both saw the bombing as unnecessary….yet somehow the propaganda remains. Amazing.
Your recalling of the history is flawed. There was only one facet of the Japanese high command that wanted to surrender, but we only learned about it AFTER the war, and it wouldn’t have mattered, because they admitted that the Samurai warrior code would not have allowed them to surrender.
No one ever, truly, gets the credit for victory, because it is fleeting, as the Romans well knew. My Aunt was one of the Japanese code-breakers. She never got credit for her work and it caused her to drink herself to death. But before she died, she told me the truth about the Pacific War. We WOULD HAVE lost well over 75,000 soldiers and Marines.
The very fact that we had to drop 2 bombs shows just how stubborn (and brave) the Japanese people could be. AndI haven’t even begin to discuss the retribution the Chinese people still want to invoke against the Japanese, for their crimes of occupation.
“Your recalling of the history is flawed.”
No, it’s not. You’re mistaken. The question wasn’t whether Japan wanted to surrender or not, the question was over the terms.
You are wrong friend.
Said the man who learned in school that “America is BAAAAAAAAD.”
Actually WWI was caused by the 100 Years War. But without WWI, we would never have developed the armed forces necessary to beat the crap out of anyone, anywhere – something we are now losing, again. I’m not justifying it, I’m saying it was serendipity.
But, we never learn that the absence of good allows for the inflow of bad, as surely as a vacuum cleaner attracts dirt. Nevertheless, I do thank you for what you have written. You have expressed, exactly, why Libertarianism is a recipe for disaster. One cannot reason with Godzilla (Godujira). One must be Mothra.
What have we accomplished? A million dead people, billions of dollars lost, more potential blowback in the future, a devaluation of life, PTSD, veterans committing suicides at a higher rate than ever, and….. Obama (without Bush’s war, he would not have been elected)