CONCLUSION: WHAT TO DO WITH A PRESIDENT WHO IS TRYING TO LIE US INTO A WAR
It is not one single lie that has an effect on the public. It is the cumulative effect of dozens of lies, big and small, reiterated daily and challenged rarely. That is the effect that has brought us to where we are today.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, speaking January 19 on ABC,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/01/25_rumsfeld.html
offered the media splendid advice on how they should handle in their broadcasts and articles a leader that lies:
"Well, first, Saddam Hussein is a liar. He lies every single day. . . . He is still claiming that he won the war. His people are being told every day that they won. It was a great victory in 1991 when he was thrown out of Kuwait and chased back to Baghdad. Now, it seems to me that almost every time you quote something from him, you should preface it by saying 'here's a man who has lied all the time and consistently.'"
That is precisely how Brokaw and company should preface Bush's pronouncements on Iraq.
It is not one single lie that has an effect on the public. It is the cumulative effect of dozens of lies, big and small, reiterated daily and challenged rarely. That is the effect that has brought us to where we are today.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, speaking January 19 on ABC,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/01/25_rumsfeld.html
offered the media splendid advice on how they should handle in their broadcasts and articles a leader that lies:
"Well, first, Saddam Hussein is a liar. He lies every single day. . . . He is still claiming that he won the war. His people are being told every day that they won. It was a great victory in 1991 when he was thrown out of Kuwait and chased back to Baghdad. Now, it seems to me that almost every time you quote something from him, you should preface it by saying 'here's a man who has lied all the time and consistently.'"
That is precisely how Brokaw and company should preface Bush's pronouncements on Iraq.