How great it was. By most accounts—that is, what one sees on television and reads in the mainstream press—the war in Iraq was a resounding success. Iraqis are rid of Saddam Hussein, which is great, and only a few score Americans are dead. (The Iraqi dead from sanctions and the two wars are not part of the calculation, having never… return to article
-
subscribe to print magazine
-
email this article to a friend
-
Reader Comments (30)Page 1 of 1 pagesMaybe only “a few score” American
soldiers are dead, but have those been counted who will be suffering from
“mysterious illnesses” from the use of depleted uranium?
Posted by J. L. Dillard on Apr 30, 2003 at 9:55 AM i couldn’t agree more with your story - i just wish the rest of the US citizens would wake up and smell the rat......... cause he’s been running amuck for way too long - talk about another Hitler !!!!
Posted by Jackie Hautamaki on May 1, 2003 at 7:41 PM “What good fortune for governments that the people do not think.” Adolph Hitler
“My Will Decides.” Adolph Hitler.
“Every generation needs to have taken part in a war once.” Adolph Hitler
“Doesn’t it get tiresome quoting a dictator?” Yes. And thanks Joel Bleifuss for another great column.
A. J. Franklin
Posted by Alan J. Franklin on May 2, 2003 at 12:51 PM You are just another example of why most American’s hate liberals. You have no idea about what you are talking about, but that doesn’t matter to liberals. Stop whining and crying about everything and come up with some facts that back your outragously stupid and unpatriotic views!
Posted by james Bradley on May 2, 2003 at 10:36 PM Re James Bradley’s comments below:
Mr. Bradley, perhaps in the future you should use your evening time to complete your homework (you do have to catch the bus in the morning!), rather than offer up purile comments concerning people and subjects about which you obviously know nothing about. FOX News is, I’m sure, fun to watch… lots of bright, shiny logos, gung-ho slogans, and simple words… but if you’re going to post a comment in a forum for grown-ups, at least learn how to spell first. And following that, perhaps you might also learn someday in elementary school (or maybe junior high) about something called the First Amendment. This is part of something called the United States Constitution, which, when you’re old enough to read it (provided you ever can), will shed some light on what you derisively call “unpatriotic views”. Until then, I’m confident you’ll continue squealing, burbling and drooling in front of the television, mindlessly aping whatever agitprop FOX News tells you is proper to think at the moment.
Talk about unpatriotic.
Posted by J. W. Hart on May 6, 2003 at 2:11 AM I typically don’t like Texans, but Mr. or Mrs. Hart hit the nail on the head, nice piece.
Posted by Brian on May 7, 2003 at 12:03 AM Amazing that there are more, “all news channels”, available on the corporate propaganda machine which also used to be known as, “the airwaves”, stolen from the American people with the blessings of the FCC and innumerable, unending, stolen taxpayer-generated grants...and that fewer and fewer corporations own those media outlets. There are places in this country whose media outlets are disingenuously labeled with different names but owned by one corporation thousands of miles away. The CIA has infiltrated and installed itself as the de facto arbiter of truth with the blessings of their corporate employers. Once this happens, the people cannot get news which is not first screened and manipulated into the CIA’s idea of what the people should know. In their exalted opinion, we the people are mere milch-cows without the guts, brains, or right to know what occurs in our world without their first making the news fit their own twisted view of reality. We have gone far beyond the Orwellian nightmare because WE, the people are too afraid of critical thought; because our corporate/security/police state has learned the lesson of Orwell’s vision and has found that a surreptitious approach to institutionalized tyranny is infinitely more efficacious. Sure, we can exchange some pithy, insightful views on the internet...for now but how long can that last? Knowing people well, I realize only personal tragedy and confrontation can awaken the blind and somnolent, (it takes at least twenty fatalities at a blind intersection before traffic signals are installed), out of their stupor enough to allow them a clearer picture of their own economic disinfranchisement and spiritual poverty. Then, who knows. Yes, Joel Bleifuss, regime change does begin at home...I think I’ve outlined some of the pre-requisites, however.
Posted by Dom on May 7, 2003 at 8:42 PM Actually, media outlets vis a vis the corporate media do not actually OWN the airwaves. The American people own them. I think it’s about time we started to collect the rent. Let’s see...how does about ten million dallars in rent for every man, woman, and child living in America now sound to you other owners of the airwaves out there? I know you renters won’t like it but hey, you’ve been getting away with stompin’ around our property for too long now and we think we’ve had enough of your lies, greed, and mendacity. Besides, I like that figure and think they, (the corporate media), would be getting away cheap at that! But then, we, the people are not the greedy, egocentric, megalomaniacal psychotics they are and must retain our virtues, our altruistic and generous natures. I think my figure is fair. How about it, Ruppert et al? We, the piper must finally be paid. If you can’t come up with the money or refuse to, well, we’ll have to evict you and move into our digs ourselves...after much fumigation and people-oriented re-structuring for which we’ll require a fair share of YOUR income dollars, garnisheed from your mega-paychecks like our taxes are from ours now. Hey, if you could make it work, anybody can...especially a bright, ingenious population such as is the American melting pot.
Posted by Dom on May 7, 2003 at 8:58 PM This is an important article, folks. Joel Bleifuss not only has the investigative journalistic instincts our once free press’ reporters prided themselves in having but he has the guts most of them lacked, even in, “freer times”. What most of you don’t realize is that the mainstream, corporate media showed it’s true colors, without exception, in their abrogation of independence after the John Kennedy Assassination. To me, seeing them all fall into disgraceful place solidly behind the ridiculous myth which was The Warren Commission Report left no doubt in my mind that our country had been sold down the river of no return. All critical and questioning faculties seemed to disappear behind the adamant green curtain of corporate greed. A reporter either backed the BIG LIE or was blacklisted and marginalized. Of course, those who are still with us today enjoy lifestyles befitting petty monarchs-their reward for toeing the line. counting on their certain belief of the American public’s short attention spans, what has metamorphosed is the complete surrender to the powers that be. There is no media except for the independent media which is looked upon as a sort of, “pinko fag subversive rag”, whose corageous paragons, a la Joel Bleifuss are consigned to write their well-researched commentary, at their own and their family’s risk, on the internet. This is a man who says, “Damn these Nazi tyrants, I must say what must be said for no one else seems to dare to”. We’ve been asleep at the wheel for over forty years, folks. Wake up, folks, this is IT! Once the new world corporate order is fully entrenched, only an Armageddon can root them out. The game has been played to perfection as we continued to beat each other silly over trivial matters, thus redirecting our attention away from the militarization of the planet by the Pentagon’s corporate benefactors who use our tax money to fund war after war while ripping off our civil liberties. They’re imprisoning us at our own expense, folks! Why, they won’t even need a military draft. There will be so few jobs available that many foolish young men and women will be gulled into becoming their own families’ jailers and murderers. That’s what I think Joel here is trying to tell us. Listen. Learn. It’s now or never!
Posted by Dom Mastroseri on May 9, 2003 at 7:19 PM Definately a very good article..and it shows again how media can distract the mass from the essential facts..
remember “you are what you eat “..
thank god that artikles like these may still be published in the land of the free..
Posted by Patrick on May 10, 2003 at 10:41 AM Dom from Long Island:
I agree this is a great article. You seem to have a gift for seeing the “big picture”. Use it. Write, not just responses to other’s articles, but write your own. Your comments were good reading and well worth the time.
Posted by Sue on May 12, 2003 at 10:14 AM Dom,
I agree with Sue. Your observations are right on! We are at the edge of the ‘sippery slope’ and the constitution is being eroded right under us in the name of ‘patriotism’… I share your alarm.
In recent years, barely half of those eligible to vote actually voted...this government wants to keep it that way!! Participate in voter registration!!!!
Posted by lenats on May 13, 2003 at 11:33 AM RE: James Bradley’s comments (from above)
Oh James. Oh James oh James oh James.
We us militant liberals grab our weapons of free speech, healthy criticism, and passionate dislike for idiotic rhetoric, why do you feel the need to lash out so? Why do you hate America, James? Why do you hate the Free Press? Why do you hate the Bill of Rights? Why do you hate everything the Minutemen and countless other sons and daughters fought for?
Besides, when the revolution starts this time, and the radicalized left just takes over and takes the government back whether your vote counts or not and we decide whether or not we give a damn about your stupidity or just choose to lock you up somewhere because WE CAN, what will your views matter anyhow?
OH wait a minute, seems like i’ve plagiarized the actions of our current dictatorship-in-the-making.
Silly me.
Posted by Jonathan Mueller on May 13, 2003 at 7:57 PM This article truly brings to light the problems facing the average citizen in getting unbiased fact based news. Most people I believe want to be presented with facts surrounding a given issue and then arrive at their own conclusions. Corporate news outlets such as Fox seem to be the tool of the current administration, regurgitating their statements with little to no follow-up to establish whether or not these are facts or just fabrications to justify administration policy. Apparently most media outlets no longer practice investigative reporting but merely pass as fact any statement released by the Pentagon, Whitehouse or State Department. Funny how what was reported as fact in many cases eventually turns out to be fiction.
Posted by Eric Sorensen on May 21, 2003 at 8:50 AM You have got to be kidding me, I thought this was real news. Hey Mr. Bleifuss, I suppose you think that you’re smarter than everyone else, that you have been able to see through the propaganda of the United States media. You’re not any smarter than me or the 75% of Americans who supported this war, okay? Look, I support your right to disagree with the war and even point out that the WMD were not found (Bush should provide an explanation).
Another thing to the posters, don’t call Bush a dictator, its a ridiculous statement and it makes you sound foolish.
Posted by Brad on May 21, 2003 at 5:13 PM Brad:
What else would you call someone who stole an election?
Posted by kilf on May 23, 2003 at 4:56 PM Brad,
no one called Hitler a dictator at the beginning of 1933 either. he was lawfully granted the role of chancellor in a time of electoral and economic crisis.
but by 1935 the only people who were not calling Hitler a dictator were just calling him “mein Fuehrer” and were foolish enough to support him and drag the entire world into a nightmare that took 5 years to overcome and 50 million lives.
would you be that foolish if you had the foresight to see what was coming?
Posted by Jonathan Mueller on May 24, 2003 at 2:33 AM First of all, Bush didn’t steal the election, he won the election according to the rules that have been runing elections for a long time. Personally, I feel that Gore should have won but Bush didn’t “steal” anything.
Do I have to go through the differences of Hitler’s and Bush’s ruling. Hitler had the army pledge allegiance to him, not Germany. Anyone who opposed to him was put in camps. Bush, doesn’t refer to himself as a ruler. And Hitler was in power for 15 years and would have been longer if he wasn’t so crazy. Bush can only be in power for eight years and he it won’t take 5 years or a war to get him out, just an election with good candidates to beat him, and there are no good ones for this time around.
Posted by Brad on May 24, 2003 at 12:29 PM Another point Mr. Mueller, you actually think that Bush is going to drag the world into world war? I just want to make sure that I understood it correctly, because that’s what you seemed to have said.
Posted by Brad on May 24, 2003 at 2:00 PM Brad,
Sir, it is not about being smarter. It is not about having more brains. It is about using the brains you got. Ignorance is not stupidly. Ignorance is the lack of information. That lack of information can make even the most intelligent person appear stupid.
The USA PATRIOT Act effectively abolished large portions of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the name of ěSecurityî. One of Hitlerís first acts as president of Germany was to suspend the Constitution to fight what he called ěterrorismě. The terrorism he was talking about was the burning of the Reichstag.
Of course Hitler had ordered the burning of the Reichstag to trigger a crisis to put himself in power. The very same things have happened in this country, so naturally anyone who knows history is alarmed to see the tools of Nazism and Fascism being put in place.Face it this country has been taken over by large corporations. Almost everyone can see that. Our congress, left, right and center, has been bought and paid for by large corporations. 80% of all political contributions comes from just four states: California, Texas, Florida, and New York; and almost all political contributions are made by corporations, not the American people. As it stands this is a country of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines Fascism as: a system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism.”
And the master Fascist himself said, “Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.” (Benito Mussolini, Encyclopedia Italiana)This is the exact circumstance America finds itself in today, and that Sir, along with the annulling of the of the Constitution and the bill of Rights via the so-called US PATRIOT Act, is why people who are not ignorant of history, who are not fooled by the corporate mediaís propaganda, are just a little alarmed by what they see as the groundwork for the rise of evil in the name of ěSecurityî.
Regards,
DanNote: Read The Grand Chessboard. Then read The War on Freedom, The Defrauding of America, The Forbidden Truth, Breakdown, Dereliction of Duty, and The Truth and Lies of 9-11 then decide which of these sources make the most sense to you.
Posted by Dan on May 25, 2003 at 1:23 PM Dan, you made some good points about how corperations are running the government more and more, but do you honestly think that Bill Clinton wasn’t influenced by the corporations? Bush is not suspending the constitution. So I have no idea what you’re talking about. Freedom of speech is still intact, you can’t be prosecuted for saying something but you can feel consequences if you say something unpopular. The Constitution has been anything but anulled. We still base our government on that document. You mentioned how Hitler ordered the burning of the Reichstag, or you trying to say that Bush “ordered” 9/11? Because if you are then you are the one feeding propaganda. You are the one trying to mislead people.
One thing that you people keep forgetting is that there is an electin next year, and if the American people want someone new (which it appears they don’t) then we’ll have someone new. Bush is not going to make himself king or something like that. He’s going to be an eight year guy probably then he’ll go riding off into the sunset.
Stop saying the news networks are putting out propaganda. That’s a false statement. The news networks all reported the success in Iraq accurately, just like the reported the looting and such.
Our government will never get that far right for the same reason it won’t be communist, most people aren’t radical.
Posted by Brad on May 25, 2003 at 1:46 PM Part 1 of 2
Brad,
Sir, please donít presume you have a right to tell me to stop saying anything just because disagree with me. I am an American citizen, and therefore have the right to say what I wish to say. If you donít agree with what I have to say then come up with a mature argument to prove that what I say is wrong.I am not trying to mislead anyone. I am simply stating the facts as I know them. I am not a ěÖyou peopleÖî, I am one person with an opinion. I base my comments a lot of research using hundreds of different sources to try to determine the truth.
I agree that Clinton, and Gore are as crooked and bought off as the rest of our politicians. And I also agree that most people in this country are not radicals, but it isnít most people that determine the policies of this country.
Less than half the eligible voters even voted in the last presidential election, and less than half of them voted for the current president.I donít vote Republican or Democrat in Presidential elections. Having just finished reading ě ěDereliction of Dutyî by Lt. Col. Robert Patterson I can tell you this: Everyone knows that president Clinton was /is a liar, but the Bush administration is being less than truthful when they tell the American people they had no idea that commercial air craft could be used as weapons.
In a press briefing, Ari Fleischer said, “The president did not receive information about the use of airplanes as missiles by suicide bombers. This was a new type of attack that had not been foreseen.” Condoleezza Rice echoed this statement.
But, on page 139 of his book, ěDereliction of Dutyî, about president Clintonís security failures, the author, Lt. Col. Patterson, states, ěDuring the summer of the 1996* attacks, I myself learned firsthand that the administration knew that terrorist were plotting to use commercial airliners as weapons.î
On the same page he also says, ěI opened the PDB** to rearrange the notes and noticed the heading ěOperation Bojinkaî. I keyed on a reference to a plot to use U.S. airliners as weapons, and another plot to put bombs on U.S. airliners. Because I was a pilot, this naturally grabbed my attention. I can state for a fact that this information was circulated within the U.S. intelligence community, and that in late 1996 the president was aware of it.î
Posted by Dan on May 26, 2003 at 7:30 PM part 2 of 2
I am not saying that the president knew anything. I am not a mind reader. I am saying that there are parallels in history for the sort of things that are going on in this country right now. I would also like to point out that after close to two years after the event there has been no public report, or publicly disclosed investigation, as to what went wrong on 9-11. It is a matter of National Security that we determine why we failed to stop the attack so we can learn from our mistakes.Of course the news is propaganda, has been for years, but it is mostly by omission. They donít tell you anything that goes against this White House, or their corporate interests. Len Lay, a personal friend of this president, has not, and in my opinion, will not, go to jail for stealing millions, if not billions, of dollars from the American people.
Strange the so-called Liberal press hounded Clinton, a Democrat and therefore one of ěThemî, for years but still missed his, and the Democratic partyís, dirty campaign contributions from foreign countries, a truly impeachable offense.
As I said, for a better understanding of the events that are taking place right now read ěThe Grand Chessboardî, written in 1997 by Zbignew Brzezinski, the former National Security Adviser to President Carter. And no, he isnít a liberal by any stretch of the imagination.As far as your comment on us still having a Constitution and a Bill of Right, unless you have read the USA Patriot Act you have no basis for saying I am wrong in regards to my comments. Read the Patriot act and get back to me when you can form a coherent rebuttal.
Regards,
Dan* Bomb attack on Khobar Towers in Saudia Arabia which killed 19 US Servicemen.
** Presidential Daily Briefing
Posted by Dan on May 26, 2003 at 7:31 PM First of all, I could say whatever I want, and you should stop saying false things. Like I said before, Freedom of Speech means that you can’t be PROSECUTED for what you said, but you can still be held responsible for what you say.
The media defended President Clinton when saying that it “was just about sex” when in fact was about him lying under oath.
Who was President in 1996? Bill Clinton, not the president in 2001, George W Bush. That’s a big deal, you show no evidence in your ramblings of Bush having any knowledge of 9/11-type attack. You also say we’re making no efforts to prevent another 9/11. What’s heightened security (in airports specifically) What’s an effort by many conservatives to militarize our borders? What was the invasion of Afghanistan? All of the aforementioned things were a way to prevent another 9/11.
I agree with you completely on Ken Lay. Lay is a dispicable person and should go to jail. But what he did appears to be technically legal, and Bush standing by him is wrong, just like it was wrong for Clinton to pardon Marc Rich.
I’ll explain why you’re worng about the Constitution being suspended, if it had been suspended, people who were outspoken agaisnt the war would have been shut up, probably with force. You can still speak against the administration.
You talked about the NSA under Jimmy Carter. I don’t care if he was a liberal or not but he certainly was the NSA for one of the worst presidents we’ve ever had.
Most people do determine policies in this country, the half that didn’t vote shouldn’t count because they don’t care. Bush won the election according to the rules that run the election (I think Gore should have won). If 75% of America were against this war, then there would not have been a war.
Dan don’t insult my intelligence, you are no smarter than me.
You said that you didn’t vote for Bush or Gore, so I’m assuming you voted for Nader or some other far-left candidate. None of those guys had a shot at winning and would have disaster presidency. Nader supports a 100,000 dollar max-income. Do you really think that’s a good idea?
Posted by Brad on May 26, 2003 at 8:14 PM Brad,
I vote Libertarian, which is anything but a liberal party. I am bored with this conversation.
Good day Sir
Dan
Posted by Dan on May 27, 2003 at 8:18 AM Joel,
Clever, funny, sarcastic humor.But seriously though, you need more accuracy. The three seemingly contradictory reports are not necessarily contradictions.
“Scud-type” does not necessarily equal “Scud.”The absence of “absolute evidence” of the British serviceman’s execution is not evidence of absence. It’s not even reasonable doubt.
Do you really believe the absence of WMD evidence means the absence of WMDs? Tell that to the families of the Kurds killed by WMDs.
Who would have thought a museum needs protection? Although maybe we should have watched Lawrence of Arabia, wich I saw recently. The Arab penchant for looting hasn’t changed in 50 years.
Sorry, I can’t give my email because I can’t afford unsolicited mail.
Posted by Dana DeLuca on May 27, 2003 at 2:56 PM “The USA PATRIOT Act effectively abolished large portions of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the name of “Security”
Could you state which parts of the Constituion were abolished and show how?
Posted by Nus on May 28, 2003 at 3:31 PM Google earch on “Patriot act violates the Constitution”. The Act itself is hard to decipher unless you have access to all the other Federal laws it refers to. Information on The US PATRIOT Act can be found at http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/
Posted by Dan on May 29, 2003 at 6:37 PM Instead of beating each other up over information none of you or I can have access to, (all secreted under the aegis of, “national security”, by Dubbya), let’s all agree to agree that all our sources, irrespective of their political agendas are, to the entrenched extent their ideological basis, necessarily biased. But there is evidentiary information that is unavailable, over and above any political apologetics and rabid posturing. There is adamant refusal to allow even the mourning families of the disasters of 9/11 access to this information. There exists a climate of secrecy surrounding everything that occured that day and every subsequent day. There is no truly independent investigation wherein ALL possible leads are followed to wherever they must. The debris and detritus from the sites that were destroyed have been either tainted or sterilized. We have a president who won’t accept he is the servant of ALL the people and not just those who stuffed his campaign war chest with financing from those who demand a return for their largesse, (like all politicians). There exists a climate of fear engendered by the Patriot act and the formation of homeland security on a premise that was never proven because no investigation into what happened has yet determined who exactly was responsible and irresponsible for the calamity. In the absence of forthright and corroborative disclosure, all we are left with is our critical scrutiny of what’s told us and especially what’s not said. All we have are historical precedents and the unending historical confirmation of the corruption of power and the inevitable predeliction of human nature to plunder and murder when not checked. At the very least we can look honestly at ourselves and not accept that those in power somehow are suddenly made altruistic and concerned with the common weal. History and human nature scream the opposite of this fallacy. In the absence of hard facts, testimony from those involved, comprehensive, corroborative evidence, and honest leadership we are left with a duty to scrutinize every word, each deed with critical and probitive, unrelenting interrogatory. Without this, we are become mere pawn and can never be citizens of the democracy most of us long for.
Posted by Dom Mastroserio on Sep 6, 2003 at 11:18 AM Page 1 of 1 pages -
register a new account »Posting Security
Also by Joel Bleifuss
- Keep the Heat on Obama
- EPA on Trial
- Bush’s Selective Mourning
- Piling it High
The sewage sludge industry meets the light of day - Political Vice Squad
- Red-Boating Obama
Popular Discussions
- The 9/11 Faith Movement
Many Americans believe 9/11 was a conspiracy by the U.S. government
1968 posts since Jul 11 06 - What’s the 411 on 9/11?
891 posts since Dec 21 05 - Democrats: It’s the War
659 posts since Nov 1 05 - Was the Presidential Election Stolen?
459 posts since Jun 19 06 - A Fundamental History Lesson
The rise of National Socialism proved politics and religion don't mix
426 posts since Oct 10 05
© 2003 In These Times | Reprint Policy | Privacy Policy | Powered by Expression Engine | RSS Feeds
