It's no longer a surprise to anyone paying the least bit of attention to the actions of the Bush administration and their rubber stamping comrades on Capitol Hill that citizens of the United States and of the world were severely misled-- about almost everything-- in the build up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In January of 2003, for example, "White House spokesman
Scott McClellan said Bush continues to work with other countries on a peaceful solution [for Iraq].
'But if Saddam Hussein will not disarm peacefully and it becomes necessary to disarm him by force, then what we would be doing is not only disarming a real and growing threat, but liberating Iraqi people from a brutal, oppressive regime,' McClellan said."
Almost a year
before-- in July of 2002-- according to the
Downing Street Memos, "Bush had made up his mind to take military action [in Iraq]" and to facilitate this "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
Now, in 2007, there is growing tension between the US and Iran. Yesterday, Helen Thomas
asked White House spokesperson Dana Perino if President Bush would consult congress before attacking Iran.
HELEN THOMAS: Did [President Bush] consult -- would
he tell Congress before attacking Iran -- before he attacks Iran?
DANA PERINO: Helen, we are pursuing a diplomatic
solution with Iran.
HELEN THOMAS: I'm asking you, does he feel committed
to ask Congress for permission?
DANA PERINO: We are pursuing a diplomatic solution in
Iran.
Déjà vu.
Have we learned our lesson? Previous disasters have an uncanny tendency to
slip the minds of Americans, but it's been a mere four years. The warmongers continue to push for military action in Iran while spewing lies about their 'diplomatic efforts'.
Congress certainly won't curb the executive's war plans. It's up to the American people to speak out in any forum and by any means available to them if we are to avoid a sequel to the Iraq debacle.
Tonight, peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and priest Daniel Berrigan will be at the Cooper Union for a discussion in honor of his new book, "Prayer for the Morning Headlines: On the Sanctity of Life and Death". The event will be hosted by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!.
Conventional wisdom in the United States hails Christopher Columbus as a great explorer who sought a shorter route to the eastern world by traveling west at a time when most people believed the world to be flat. He is credited with 'discovering' the Americas, though it is difficult to imagine how a land can be discovered when it is already inhabited.
