6) Lie # 6 - Criticism should not come during a time of war. Protestors do not support the troops.
Truth - This is completely nonsensical. By definition then, all wars are good. I can point to plenty of GOP quotes against Clinton going into Bosnia, including from Mr. Bush himself. In fact, during a time of war is when we should be the most critical as lives are at risk and we need to ensure the utmost of integrity for the lives that will be lost. The fact of the matter is that the antiwar lobby supports the troops more that the pro war lobby. We want the troops home alive, whereas the pro-war folks want to continue to risk their lives for what we now know were lies. You can absolutely support the troops, but protest the policies that put them in harms way when they should not be.
7) Lie # 7 - The anti-war crowd is advocating "cutting and running".
8) Lie # 8 - Leaving Iraq would send the wrong message to "the enemy".
Truth - Booga-booga! The enemy is the insurgents, who are Iraqis. If there is an international effort to pull the country together that might actually be the best way to avoid civil war. The notion that most of the fighters are from other countries is not supported and not accurate. Iraq has three majority ethnicities. Under Saddam one ruled and one was persecuted. Under us, we have flipped those two groups. The group that was in control does not like that, so they fight for their country. We in turn call them "insurgents." Leaving Iraq would send the right message to everyone, most importantly the troops.
9) Lie # 9 - The Iraq-911-al Qaeda connection that isn't.
Truth - A favorite of the right wing, they often mix their message to confuse you. When discussing the need to continue the war, they will invoke 911, which had absolutely nothing to do with Iraq, as even the stacked 911 commission had to admit to. Not satisfied with perpetuating that lie, often you will hear about how al Qaeda was in Iraq because that was where Zarqawi was prior to us taking Saddam out. What they omit is that Zarqawi was in the northern territories, which Saddam had no control over. In fact, we were in charge of that section and could have take Zarqawi out whenever we wanted to, but Bush did not. The facts are clear. Bin Laden and al Qaeda hated Saddam because of the secular nature of his country. There simply was no connection between Iraq and terror against this country.
10) Lie # 10 - We must honor the sacrifice of the dead, by killing more people.
Truth - This is at the heart of Cindy Sheehan's protest. There is nothing honorable about killing more young men and women to somehow make up for the others who died before them. The issue is simple. If you have a just cause, and the mission is not over, then you honor your dead by completing the mission. In this case however, the war was based on lies, making the mission dishonorable. You do not honor the fallen by allowing anymore unnecessary deaths to occur for the same lie. Instead, you honor the dead by prosecuting the criminals who lied to congress to go to war, that led to their deaths. You honor their memory by assuming their mother knows a bit more about them then you do. You honor them by bringing them home before one more child dies for the lies that started this war.
Be prepared America. The war machine will stop at nothing to continue to perpetuate their wars. They will wrap themselves up in the flag while they gut your civil liberties. They will lie again to cover up the lies they have already told. A nation has been stirred from its slumber from a most unlikely of sources, a grieving mother who simply wanted to ask why her son had to die. She knows the answers she would have received would have been untruths and she was prepared to call the president on those lies. Knowing this, Bush decided to take what he thought was the easy way out and just ignore her, hoping she would go away after some time in the blistering sun of Texas in August. What he had not anticipated was her plight, her grief, and something he does not understand, her honesty has galvanized this nation. The more they lie about her, the stronger she becomes. The more they smear her, the more desperate they appear. America is on to the talking points and spin. They are no longer persuaded. The next time someone tries to spout these lies to you, use this as your response and always end with giving them this link:
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/images/military_enlistment.pdf
This is the official enlistment form for the armed forces. If this war is so damn noble, then ask them to put their blood where their mouth is. The quickest way to silence a bully is to challenge them directly. It is always someone else's kid that has to die for their cause. Old men make war, but it is young men that die in them. Not one more drop of the blood of the innocents should be shed for the lies of men who will not risk their own, knowing the cause is ignoble at its core.
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