Lie of the Week
This weeks lie...
Bush's claims about troop morale actually contribute to troop disillusionment
Soldiers have the closest sight to war. They don't read the paper to find out what the enemy might be doing; they see it from their tents, marching in front of them and sneaking behind
them. Most of them have an incredible faith in their leaders, in the job they are doing, and in the abilities of the other soldiers around them. A group with positive morale can withstand the
harshest conditions, keep each other motivated to wake up each day.
Disasters occur though when the soldiers look around them to find desperation. Desperation in the enemy who is willing to kill himself for a small tactical gain, desperation in the soldiers around them who no longer want to live. The Pentagon recently admitted troop suicide is triple the normal rate, and are investigating another dozen possible suicides. One soldier in particular was not shy about his death; he killed himself immediately after talking to friends or family back in the US, in front of the line waiting to use the telephone.
Bush says troop morale is good. Suicide, although far too common in a peacetime , rips morale in half, reminds people how difficult their situation is, disassembles trust in those around you, shakes every confidence soldiers have in their fight. When the army is sending mental health professionals to Iraq to examine the increasing problem, morale is nowhere near good. When soldiers hear their leader proclaiming the lie that their morale is good, it lowers morale even more, forces them to realize the distance between them and their leaders and question the judgement of the men who put them in their position.
Sources: USA Today and Telegraph, UK
Lie of the Week
This weeks lie...
Bush continues to misread Iraqi resistance.
As the violence of Iraq continues to claim approximently one U.S. life per day the Bush administration continues to insist that the U.S. is welcomed in Iraq. Blaming the violence on remanants of Saddam's regime and "foreign terrorists" Bush continues to suggest the U.S. is a 'liberating', not occupying force in Iraq.
Unfortunately, what Bush fails to see is that U.S. forces have failed to achieve popular support in Iraq. He fails to understand how the inablity of U.S. forces to return a degree of normalcy to Iraqi daily life has alienated the Iraqi population from U.S. forces. He fails to see the damaging effects of roadblocks, house searches, curfews, and most of all the failure to establish a roadmap towards an independant and locally ruled Iraq. All of these actions have created the feeling of an occupation, not liberation, in Iraq. It is his failure to understand this that causes Bush to misread the current growing resistance in Iraq.
While the resistance certainly ranges in what it does want, what it does not want has become an increasingly unifying theme. "We do not want to see our country occupied by forces clearly pursuing their own interests, rather than being poised to return Iraq to the Iraqis." As U.S. claims of liberation are shown to be false, the resistance only increases. "The inhabitants of Mosul still have the means to resist, as this is not the promised liberation but an occupation."
As Bush continues to misread the causes of the resistance movement in Iraq he continues to make inappropriate responses to it. An increase of U.S. military control over daily Iraqi life has not and will not solve the problem. While Bush's lies continue to suggest an unpopular foreign resistance fighting in Iraq, our soldiers are forced to face a grim reality; the resistance does enjoy some local support. Failing to grasp this point Bush continues to needlessly sacrifice American lives in order to support his illusion of a popularly supported U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.
*quotes taken from The Guardian
Lie of the Week
This Week's Lie...
Rumsfeld launches new "War on Ideas"
Defence Sectretary Rumsfield recently announced a new war, this time a “war on ideas” . Certainly, controlling information has been a staple of wartime, whether securing our own secrets or trying to influence the minds of others, war leaders have always sought to have control. The more interconnected our world becomes, the less governments are able to control ideas, which benefits people in the longterm by exposing government lies. In this case, we can’t help question Secretary Rumsfield motives in his blatant attempt to convince people their ideas are wrong.
Many Americans and people worldwide already distrust him because of his comments in the past, based on the examples he has shown us. Will we target everyone who already has their own opinion of the American dream, attempt to step off of our very shaky grounds for this war and convince them that we are always right, that we play this fight fairly?
From reading commentaries around the world and from seeing thousands of people demonstrating against our President wherever he goes, it’s obvious people dislike us, average everyday people who are looking at the evidence themselves. Evidence like the detainment of people at Guantanamo Bay, evidence like the way we ridicule our allies, evidence like the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, evidence they can see right through.
How much damage will America do to itself trying to convince other people that our judgement is morally surperior to theirs, if we start a war on their ideas? If what the world has already heard from the mouths of our leaders are known to be lies, how can a new American government agency expect to speak and be heard? If they don’t laugh in derision, they will suspect us of something more sinister, of actually expecting to be able to control their collective minds. In an already distrustful world, in a world that has increasing control of their own information, trying to spread slanted disinformation makes a mockery of our ideals.
Information gathered from Wired News
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