Behold the Lies (Page 2 of 2)

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Evidence that Bush's war machine effectively escorted bin Laden to the Pakistani border, and let him get away when pinned down at Tora Bora?

How could we meekly go along when Bush embraced Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which had everything to do with bin Laden, and visited Shock-and-Awe on Iraq, which had nothing to do with him? ABC News reported last week rich Saudis remain the biggest contributors to al Qaeda, whose leaders are holed up… where? Inside our "ally," Pakistan.

How could we let Bush 43 gloss over the reality Reagan and Bush 41 handed Afghanistan to the Taliban and provided Saddam's Iraq with military technology?

How could we ignore that it would take years to placate Iraq, rather than weeks, as promised by Paul Wolfowitz?

How could we have muzzled those who predicted this war would cost billions, if not trillions, as we glibly reprinted the lie that the war would pay for itself?

How could we have refrained from asking the oil posse running foreign policy to tell us their thoughts about Iraqi oil?

How could we have failed to ask Bush if he was fulfilling Biblical prophecy?

How could we have ignored the real truth of Valerie Plame, Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman? That they were all co-opted into the Big Lie against their wills?

That the U.N. testimony Colin Powell consistently and publicly regrets came from people we tortured or bribed? Why are al-Libi, Chalibi and Curveball not household names?

How could we not have seen war and terror would spread to Lebanon and Israel, Pakistan and India?

The answer is some did see, some did bear witness. I can prove I made most of the above points years back, as did that erstwhile conservative, Charley Reese, good old liberal Molly Ivins and a handful of others who consistently wrote the truest things we could think, despite spin and hype and fog of wartime politics and pressure from good ol' Merle and Max. Our opinions were read by millions on the Internet and in some of the nation's papers. Unfortunately, the same talking heads you see on TV today broadcast Bush's lies to hundreds of millions. The same so-called journalists who beat the drums for war with Iraq now beat drums for war with Iran. I'm shocked, but I'm not surprised how the media glossed over Petraeus' saber-rattling against Iran during his Congressional testimony. This does not bode well.

If we make it through the Bush/Big Media ventriloquist act another year without going to war with Iran, it won't be for lack of complicity. Even if we don't end up bombing Iran, we'll be in Iraq for years to come unless good Democrats, good Republicans, good Independents and, above all, good reporters and publishers discover integrity and fortitude. Don't count on that. Better buy those tickets to Costa Rica or wake up and join the movement for honesty in government and honesty in media.

Because the truth is Bush's war has only begun.

* The views expressed in Commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Knoxville Voice.