------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted on Fri, Jun. 20, 2003

WMD lies no surprise

By Crispin Sartwell

If you seriously believed the Bush administration that Iraq posed an immediate threat because of its weapons programs, or that Saddam was intimately connected with al-Qaeda, you richly deserved your deception.

And if you lived through any part of the 20th century and didn't learn that political power, and in particular the American presidency, is shrouded in lies - uses lies as a basic strategy for governance - then you really are a chump.

You've got to understand, first of all, that "intelligence" works both ways: Information drives policy, and policy drives information. If the CIA is charged with justifying a certain policy, its agents will at least give it a shot. After all, they're loyal Americans.

But the case was luridly bad from the get-go, riddled with holes that were obvious to anyone who was watching. We kept reaching for crudely forged documents and aluminum tubes. When Secretary of State Colin Powell got up in front of the United Nations to make the case that Saddam was connected to Osama bin Laden, he used as his main point the existence of an al-Qaeda training camp in Iraq. The camp was in the Kurdish autonomous zone, controlled not by Saddam but by the people to whom we had allied ourselves. That would have justified bombing D.C. - but not Baghdad.

Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix revealed in a recent interview with the Guardian that he was pressured to exaggerate and distort the result of inspections, and that he believes he was the victim of a Pentagon disinformation campaign to impugn, among other things, his heterosexuality. But the administration obviously pressured everyone involved to come up with claims it could use to justify conquest and obviously used anything that would bolster its case, no matter how obviously ridiculous.

The weapons-of-mass-destruction thing would have made the case for attacking around a dozen countries at least before it would have justified attacking Iraq.

The truth is, we wanted to flex our muscles, wanted to kill somebody, thirsted for conquest. That's the reason the administration ladled up the slop, and that's the reason so many Americans purported to believe it or decided not to worry too much about the case.

Clearly, the manipulation of public opinion was central to the administration's strategy for war, and clearly, it garnered and continues to enjoy the support of the American people. And in our system - in which human lives are nothing compared to polling numbers - the decision to go couldn't have been made in any atmosphere of opinion that was much different.

So for God's sake, please don't pretend now to feel betrayed or anguished by sudden doubt. Your self-deception is as much to blame as the administration's lies.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crispin Sartwell teaches philosophy at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

© 2003 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.philly.com

...believed the Bush Junta's lies really fall into 3 Groups:

Suckers

Suckers

Suckers.

BUSH LIED, PEOPLE DIED. It really is that simple.

And if they should find WMD's there, its because they were planted there. They either aren't there at all are they were planted there. That's the only two possibilities.

...despite your lame attempt at parody you have by pure random chance swerved into the truth.

So, of course you are one of the Suckers.

Ryan, when Dio is right he's right.

In fact, Dio and a few others around here are privy to intel that proves that ALL the WMD that everyone, including Dio, accept as having been in Iraq for certain, magically disappeared over the years.

You see, while Dio and his herd are quick to condemn us for allowing Iraq to develop WMD in the 80's and while they openly acknowledge that these WMD existed throughout the 90's, they have proof that, while Sadam put up with sanctions and the inevitable loss of power that the war brought, he was able to virtually make all WMD disappear AND hide that disappearance from the world. In fact, he went to extraordinary lengths to hide this magic act from the inspectors who were there to monitor the destruction of WMD.

Listen to Dio. He knows what he's talking about. There couldn't have been any WMD BUT we're still bastards for allowing WMD to be there in the first place.

I know it seems like crazy talk and circular logic but you just gotta listen to Dio.

The one thing that Dio tells me absolutely did NOT happen to these magic WMD is that they were given to other "entities" or moved to another peace-loving arab "state".

When Dio says he will not accept something than that's it man. And Dio says these WMD NEVER existed.

Except when they existed to the point that we were bastards for letting them exist,.

Or something like that.

Everything Dio says is the absolute truth.

Everything everyone else says is totally false.

Let me be the first to nominate Dio for the position of Grand High Righteous Dude and Speaker of All That's Goodly, E Pluribus Unum, Peace Be Upon Him, and Word Up (GHRDSATGEPUPBUHWU).

This post was created for him and for him alone, since Dio is the only human in all of history, past or future, is fit to bear the title of GHRDSATGEPUPBUHWU. It doesn't pay too much, since we're on a tight budget, but it does come with a year's subscription to People Magazine and a T-Shirt with the "All-Knowing Brain" logo of the office on it.

O Grand High Righteous Dude, confer upon us unworthy mortals the singular honor of accepting this post, and rain down upon us your words of really smart wisdom and stuff.

Word up.

hee hee hee

We're in the same state.

Oh, and we both think you're an idiot.

That I should inspire such vitriol is like music to my ears. Thanks for the morale boost guys.

Of course despite your parodies I have never claimed to have all the answers. All I have ever claimed is that by simple deduction one can conclude from the evidence available in the public domain that BUSH LIED.

I don't know why you guys simply cannot wrap your mind around that one fact.

Is it too much of a blow to your ego to admit you were taken in?

Whatever.

BUSH LIED, PEOPLE DIED. It really is that simple.

You really are that simple.

I'm gonna get me a tag line!

How about: DIO LIED, NOBODY WAS SURPRISED.

I know, the rhyme scheme is a little off. I'll keep working on it.

...but don't expect it to stick. I'm smarter than you are.

Na, na, na, na, na!

In a pool of dark evil. The shadows close upon the unaware.

The enemy is left to attempts of trivialization in the tide of leaking

information from the failing firewalls of the media.

This is something that has never been so evident as today the assess

to information. One of those unforeseen blowbacks of human endeavor.

We will not be accepting the yoke of your world of terror.

Your side has shed all of it's creditability. Not good for a growing discontent. The Shape of Things to Come.

"Opposition to Evil is Obedience to G-d."

Never, ever, ever, give up.



"The truth is cruel, but it can be loved, and it sets free those who have loved it."

- - George Santayana

DIO LIED, HIS BRAIN IS FRIED!

O Grand High Righteous Dude, if you were any more full of yourself, you'd collapse into a singularity.

...I have no wish to visit that lightless pit which is thine Soul.

That was no parody. I completely agree with you.

Suuure.

Does this ring a bell?

"You are here because you are paid to be here or you are a psychotic.

There is no third option."

Sounds like all the answers to me, Grand High Righteous Dude.

You say so yourself: there is no third option.

Your arrogance is astounding...as well as totally unwarranted.

Why do you have so much trouble accepting the fact that people don't agree with you because they want to, not because they're paid to, or because they're mentally ill? What are you afraid of, Dio? Is. perhaps, accepting the fact you're wrong such a blow to your ego? I expect so...a blow to an ego the size of yours would be fatal.

So what say you just accept the nomination as Grand High Righteous Dude. You know you want to. After all, your ego is nearly as large as your arrogance.

that you "daveman " are a mole is logically arguable:

who else would spam indy 24/7 out of his own pocket

unless it's bill gates' deranged son and how many deranged sons does bill gates have spamming indy 24/7 and all on la.indy at the same time?

2 and 2 ain't always five,assmole.

fuck off.

And the opinion of a gutless coward is supposed to mean something to me because...?

I like it here. I like to make fun of you people. It's more fun being in here with all the conspidiots, than someplace where everyone is all in agreement.

Your constant futile attempts to give your cause some credence by painting me as a paid shill are laughable and pathetic. Your arrogance that says your opinions are the only ones possible, and all others are government funded PSYOPS, can only be due to sheer stupid pig-headedness.

You guys are a hoot.

the airman calls others cowards. Can we see your 201 file and the numerous metals and citations on it, hero?

I guess you just don't know that in the Air Force, we don't have 201 files. But your ignorance is excusable.

And it's "medals", not "metals"...of which I have my share, and then some.

My use of the term "coward" is in reference to the unnamed poster's refusal to pick a handle and stick with it.

I feel that anyone who will not take credit for his/her opinions is a coward.

And anyone who denigrates another's service ain't so tough, either.

I've never been in combat or in a combat zone, but I did get some MEDALS for being a good mechanic.

Shit, i've never slept out in the field (leave my wife out of this) during my entire military service.

I've never killed an enemy soldier or even fired a weapon in anger.

I do pretty good though on the air farce PT test.

I get a choice of doing a 3 mile walk

or

a 5 mile bike ride.

Cuz when your in the shit

You always have that choice.

Gosh, your ignorance is boundless.

I will refrain from making the obvious references to the infantry here, because I believe they serve a noble purpose, and I thank them for it.

But you heaping scorn on the service of others shows your small-mindedness.