War Crimes, Exploitation, Abuse, and Suffering Brought to You by the 'Big Lies'

As one of those that took to the streets in protest months before the attack on Iraq, it was obvious to those of us with some sense that the US government was using the excuse of 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' as a way to occupy that country and get control of the oil. I remember the propaganda was that Hussein had weapons that could hit the continental US and that they might even be able to carry nukes. Then there was Colin Powell and the non-evidence offered up to the United Nations and the world. As I recall he had some pictures of train tracks and some buildings.

This is what passed as evidence for war when the Bush War Criminals were creating the illusion of threat.

But if you tell a lie big enough then there are those that are going to be more apt to believe it.

In the end, Bush War Crimes Inc. has left us a legacy of over a million deaths in Iraq and a trillion in war costs for Iraq and Afghanistan.

It just goes to show what happens when people choose to believe the 'Big Lie' and abandon reason. But history shows us numerous examples of this. Most notably the "Big Lie" was used in Nazi Germany to whip up war hysteria and hatred.

But in a deeper sense, Americans have been raised on Big Lies.

From the supposed sneak attack on Pearl Harbor,

"...On November 25, 1941 Japan's Admiral Yamamoto sent a radio message to the group of Japanese warships that would attack Pearl Harbor on December 7. Newly released naval records prove that from November 17th to 25th, the United States Navy intercepted eighty-three messages that Yamamoto sent to his carriers. Part of the November 25 message read: ". . . the task force, keeping its movements strictly secret and maintaining close guard against submarines and aircraft, shall advance into Hawaiian waters, and upon the very opening of hostilities shall attack the main force of the United States fleet in Hawaii and deal it a mortal blow . . ."

to the need for Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the Communist Hysteria, the Gulf of Tonkin and Vietnam, the War on Drugs, the Wonders of Free Market Capitalism and Corporatism, the Bubble Economy, 9/11, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Americans innately know that they are fed lies and Big Lies, but they excuse them in the interest of security and in the hopes the lies may somehow benefit them.

But as true unemployment reaches 20% and as over 35% of young black Americans are without a job, Americans are beginning to see the ultimate effects of the Big Lies on them.

In TV reality, the suffering and the exploitation offered by the Military Industrial Complex to the world is ignored or sometimes even applauded by Americans. Unfortunately, Americans can no longer hide behind the entertainment, the booze, and the pills.

If we continue to deny our Empire of Pain created so that the very few can benefit from the exploitation of much of the world, we will continue to suffer at the hands of our own willful ignorance.

Or we can wake up to the 'Big Lies.'