Behold the Lies (Page 1 of 2)

Bush's war has only begun.

Behold: A lie so big and bold and in your face that if you believe it, you're among the fools Bush referenced when joking in March of 2001, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on."

Yes, you can believe much progress has been made in Iraq during the Surge if you don't count:

• Those shot in the front of the head. That's a sign of domestic violence, don’t cha’ know?
• Shi’ites killed by unknown killers.
• Sunnis killed by unknown killers.
• Shi’a on Shi’a violence.
• Sunni on Sunni violence.
• The largest increase in American deaths since the war began.

Don't believe me? Read the front page of the Sept. 6 issue of the Washington Post.

I'm not fooling. Nor lying. Nor spinning to suit dogma. I leave that to the faith-based community. So trust me when I suggest…

If you've been thinking of moving to — Costa Rica? Canada? The wine country of France? Someplace, any place to get away from the insanity that's seized our country and squandered the opportunity we had to address real problems — say, global warming, Social Security, Osama bin Laden, electoral malfeasance — then wait another week before you pack your bags, take a good look around and ask yourself...

Did the media look this lie in the eye? Refute it? Offer equal time to the truth?

Did your brother, Merle, your father-in-law, Max — those Fox News addicts of the family — come away from the past week's events truly believing Gen. David Petraeus and Pres. George W. Bush had shown peace and democracy are on the way in Iraq? Did Congress do anything meaningful to shut down the war? Are we going to meekly go along with it, again? Will we swallow the lie that a nine-month draw-down returning us to occupation levels of 2006 is a meaningful act?

Or, will a mass movement rise up to hold Bush/Cheney accountable for yet another bait-and-switch maneuver? Unless you're willing to sign onto such a truth-and-responsibility movement, then, yes, maybe you'd better leave because things won't get better soon. Our military, our leaders, our media, Merle and Max have let us down. They'll believe anything.

The Big Lie they swallowed this time around will have us killing and squandering what's left of our humanity until the end of time. That could come sooner than you think. What they've signed onto is nothing short of the Neocon dream of endless war, marked by torture, kidnapping, new nukes and worse.

We should've impeached Bush and Cheney years ago. Just listen to their parade of brassy lies: Bush claims he didn't know of Paul Bremer's plans to disband Saddam's army in 2003. He still tries to make the connection between Iraq and Sept. 11. He blames Iran for most of our failures. Pretends the war is progressing on an upward curve. Acts as though the promise to fall back to pre-Surge levels is a Christmas present unrelated to the dismal reality he has stretched the military to its breaking point. He says Petraeus arrived at all his recommendations independently, even though a fool could see they're singing from the same hymnal. But, first, a fool has to look.

If the media, judicial and political establishments of this nation dance to tunes emanating from Petraeus' mouth, it proves we'll dance to any pied piper who comes along, and we will sow any seed handed us as we dance. And reap dragon's teeth for generations.

Listen: The Law of Unintended Consequences will not be revoked. Above all, it's that folksy law our president breaks time and again on his way to undermining statutory law and settling Oedipal scores. What has blown my mind during the entire Bush presidency is how willing so many have been to pretend there are no unintended consequences of such poor judgment.

How could we not know if we deposed Saddam Hussein and held "free elections" that angry Shi’ites would take over and have their revenge on minority Sunnis?

That if Shi’ites took over Baghdad, they'd make common cause with Shi’a brethren in Iran?

How could we not have reported on the Downing Street memos that proved Bush cooked the books in drumming up this war?