When ordinary citizen lie to an official representative of their government, being a judge, a policeman or a tax inspector, they are held responsible and prosecuted. But it is not the case with our rulers who appear to bear no consequences for their lies, even though these lies have had tremendous tragic consequences like the wrecking of a country, the killing of hundreds thousands, and an irreversible damage to citizens security and basic rights.
I think the main effect of the Iraq war and the 'War on Terror' will be felt for a long time to come in our commitment, as a society, to live up to our ideals; Justice, Truth and Rationality, those ideals the West has proclaimed his own and has so cheerfully trampled on. As long as the Bush administration and its allies are not prosecuted for the amount of lies, fabrications, suffering and prejudice they produced, we can consider ourselves in danger of loosing these core values that make us human beings. Make no mistake, the immorality of the Iraq war is not only in its illegal character but also in the incredible amount of lying rulers have done to their people in order to wage this war.
''A report presented to the armed services committee by the Pentagon's inspector general, Thomas Gimble, exposes the Bush administration to new charges of manipulating intelligence to make its case for going to war against Saddam nearly four years ago.''
And what is the answer of one of the main culprits ? I am not guilty because I am not endorsing a lie that we fabricated in order to test and go against the consensus in the intelligence community, even though this lie has had tragic consequences.
''Mr Feith, who left the Pentagon in 2005 for a post at Georgetown University, yesterday played down the influence of his unit. "This was not an alternative intelligence assessment," he told the Washington Post. "It was from the start a criticism of the consensus of the intelligence community, and in presenting it I was not endorsing its substance."
''My people decide the truth in sixty countries every morning. And in every one it's different.''
Since March 29th 2006
7 comments:
Great post. Simple.
Great post. Simple.
Merkin,
Thanks. I think it is important to stay simple when we have to face such a web of lies disinformation and ill intentions.
I mean did you notice what was Feith's answer ? We wanted to test the consensus in the intelligence community. Yeah...they wanted to test the consensus, at which cost ? Journalists should ask these questions. At which cost and how much suffering and whose expense ? It is if they were testing consensus on a theory fabricated in a laboratory setting. These people's disconnection from reality is disturbing...
Kerblee,
Thanks for the comment. I checked the links, there are two for the same article in the post and they are both working. You have to be able to open a pdf file on your computer. You can download from the web a free Acrobat version which allows you to open pdf files. I can send you the document in an email if you leave me an email adress.
Please let me know of my advice was of any help or not and we can figure out something else.
Well, of course Mr Feith should be prosecuted. Just for the reason you give. The reason that this hasn't won any large resonance in public discourse is surely the fact that he was a very bit player following orders, and we are far from prosecuting the war criminals themselves.
Mr. Meo,
Thanks for the comment. I say let's start prosecuting the small players and the big players may just follow. Look at what is happening in the Libby trial. Technocrats like Mr. Feith and Mr. Libby will not show self-abnegation when they will be in the box of the accused having to defend themselves against charges of war crimes.
Great job.
I'm reading... there's just nothing to add.
It's all just so disgusting.
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