The sun came up today, the truth remains worth fighting for. I have seen over the past few weeks the evolution of the GOP talking points to confront the very real saga of Cindy Sheehan, the failings in Iraq and the horrific nosedive in the poll numbers for this administration. It is time to cut through the most popular talking points with the realities.
1) Lie # 1 - We are spreading democracy.
Truth Iraq was a secular Islamic nation prior to our intervention, in fact it was the only secular Islamic nation in the region. Women did not have to cover their faces; kids listened to secular music, etc. It has now been confirmed that the drafts of the new Iraq constitution is in fact setting up a theocracy based on Islamic fundamentalism, similar to the system set up in Iran. Today GOP Senator Mitch McConnell tried to mislead about the upcoming constitution saying that while Islam was "mentioned ", it was not the controlling law of the land. Well, reading the constitution finds this direct quote: "No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam."
2) Lie # 2 This is about freedom and the Iraqi people.
Truth While certainly multi-faceted, it appears that this is largely an economic venture. I urge you to review this article:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9698.htm
To sum it up, Saddam Hussein had decided in 2000 to stop using the dollar as the currency for buying and selling his oil. The US had a monopoly on the dollar as the currency for oil trade and this move by Hussein was potentially devastating, especially when you consider the decline of the dollar versus the euro. As soon as we took over the country after ousting Saddam, we switched the exchange back to dollars to protect the hegemony. By the way, Iran is planning on not only doing the same thing, but they will be opening the Iranian Bourse in 2006, which will allow other countries to choose if the would prefer a petroeuro or a petrodollar. Given the continued decline of the dollar and the fact that the Euro is now beating the dollar, this will be far worse than what Iraq had tried to do. Think about that when you start hearing nonsense about Iran having nuclear ambitions.
3) Lie # 3 - We Must Finish the Mission
Truth - The "stay the course " defense is fatally flawed. We live in a system where the war powers reside in Congress not the president and while the right is fond of pointing out that we voted on this already, they omit a large secret. We voted on the war based on the rationale Bush used, which was Weapons of Mass Destruction. Now that we know there are no WMD, the mission, is over. The Machiavellian response of "Saddam was a bad guy " is not American. You cannot give a president that much power where he can decide after a war, why he led the country to war.
4) Lie # 4 There were free elections in Iraq
Truth The elections were as free as ours, which is to say they were rigged. The ultimate goal was not to have free elections, but to put a puppet regime in power that would be friendly toward the administration in Washington. Here is a link to these facts:
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/050725fa_fact
If you want to know what is going on in Iraq for real, check out this link:
http://www.juancole.com/
5) Lie # 5 Protestors weaken troop morale.
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