Is
Truth Bush's Number 1 Enemy?
Why the Best American is a Misinformed American
October 10, 2002
By Maurreen Farrell
 Last
spring, BBC News ran a segment on depleted uranium. Featuring
an Iraqi doctor discussing increased cancer rates in areas
where depleted uranium-tipped artillery shells were dropped
during the Gulf War, the report chronicled the plight of 13
and 14-year-old girls undergoing mastectomies. In doing so,
it delved into territory rarely seen. The clincher wasn't
just that the BBC addressed uranium-associated horrors, which,
in itself, was a TV-Land rarity, but that they did so without
some British Paula Zahn accusing them of "drinking Saddam
Hussein's Kool-Aid."
Sans Fox Newsian experts discrediting testimony, the piece
was entirely convincing. Though, admittedly, it was hard for
this American to fathom that the U.K was seriously considering
discontinuing its use of depleted uranium ammunition, due
to ethical concerns. Would another nation actually admit it
might have made a terrible mistake? And that it could somehow
be culpable? Here in the Land of Pentagon Infallibility, where
we export seeds for germ warfare (and act shocked afterwards),
that was hard to imagine. And frankly, one felt "anti-American"
for noticing.
Dancing with Depleted Uranium
Certainly, though some journalists, scientists and citizens
struggle for clarity, it's as if caring about the fate of
Iraqis or suggesting the U.S might be harming its own soldiers
is treasonous - even if it's true. Thankfully, some forge
ahead regardless. The Christian Science Monitor, for example,
should be commended for its valiant efforts with its "Trail
of a Bullet" series, while Gulf War veterans should be applauded
for their untiring search for answers.
And despite the government's aversion to inquiry, Dr. Asaf
Durakovic, former research scientist with the U.S. Department
of Veterans' Affairs, is a hero for investigating the link
between depleted uranium and Gulf War Syndrome. Now a professor
of medicine, this former U.S. Army colonel has found a "significant
presence" of depleted uranium in the bones of Gulf War veterans
and estimates that tens of thousands of Gulf War veterans
suffer the effects of radiation. With veterans of the conflict
in Croatia showing similar symptoms, this can't be blamed
on Saddam.
Moreover, if depleted uranium is "safe" why do military safety
regulations call for those working near depleted uranium sites
to wear heavily insulated clothing? And why have cancer rates
risen 400% in Iraq since 1991? Are American tax dollars paying
for mass genocide, as some suggest?
"I believe that Americans are basically decent people," former
U.N. humanitarian official Denis Halliday said, in a recent
Salon interview. "If they understood that Iraq is not made
up of 22 million Saddam Husseins, but made up of 22 million
people. . . they would be horrified to realize that the current
killing of innocent Iraqi civilians by the U.S. Air Force,
or what happened in the Gulf War, is being done in their name."
That may be so, but when well-meaning souls try to inform
Americans, Americans don't believe them. And those who speak
out are often vilified and shouted down. Rep. Jim McDermott's
latest statements on Iraq's depleted uranium-related birth
defects confirm others' ethical concerns. But as politicians
and pundits depict McDermott as a traitor (even though, unlike
the squawking chicken hawks, he's a Vietnam vet), few listen
to what he has to say. It's anti-American to have a conscience,
it seems.
Misrepresentations
Representative McDermott is in hot water for other "sins,"
too, especially for suggesting President Bush would mislead
the American people in order to drag them into war. Though
the Guardian's Simon Tisdall calls Bush "America's
great misleader," and CIA officials say the president is using
"cooked information" to falsify Iraq's threat, American pundits
cry foul. Why, one wonders, is McDermott's observation such
a shocker? Is it really so outrageous to suggest that Bush
would say or do anything to make sure the war progresses as
planned - especially when government insiders confirm that's
the case? Whether today's excuse is "weapons of mass destruction"
or "regime change" or "disarmament," or Saddam's alleged attempt
to snuff Bush the Elder, war is on the agenda and has been
since before the 2000 selection. Not only did pre-election
think tank studies form national policy, but the GOP included
"regime change" as part of its 2000 platform.
Why wouldn't George II mislead us? From Database Technology
Florida shenanigans to our "humble" foreign policy to corporate
and election reform, he's already told some pretty serious
fibs. Plus, his father was a master of manipulation, contriving
events and perpetuating propaganda to achieve his ends. "October
Surprises" and media strangleholds notwithstanding, can we
ever forget April Glaspie's "green light" meeting with Saddam,
where she told Hussein, one week prior to the invasion, that
the U.S had "no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts, like your
border disagreement with Kuwait?" There were also forged photos
of troops at the Saudi border and discarded babies in incubators
fabrications, which goaded teetering representatives into
supporting Gulf War I. If Bush #41 would subvert democracy
through deceit, why wouldn't Bush #43 do likewise? As Jeb
Bush's recent revelations indicate, "devious plans" seem to
run in the family.
And don't forget war profiteering. According to Seymour Hersh,
Neil and Marvin Bush and James Baker, among others, struck
up sweet post-Gulf War deals. At the time, James Baker represented
Enron, and as one Enron executive asked Hersh, "Is there any
reason American companies shouldn't profit from the war in
Kuwait?" Enron's Gulf War attitude foreshadowed things to
come.
Dirty Secrets
"Profiting from war," of course, is one of Bush Inc.'s dirtiest
secrets. Citizens shell out up to half of their income to
fund a bulging beast while others in this country go hungry
and uninsured. The United States' annual defense budget is
$260 billion, while Russia, next in line, spends less than
$80 billion a year. And guess who profits? Despite being under
investigation for corporate wrongdoing, Halliburton continues
to rake in the government contracts for overseas military
bases and Gitmo cells, while George Bush Sr., James Baker
and other Carlyle Group members make a killing through defense
contracts.
As the Sunday Herald's Neil Mackay recently reported,
the U.S .planned a military attack on Iraq five months before
Sept. 11, in order to "secure control of its oil." Citing
a document called, "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges For
The 21st Century" which has been linked to James Baker, Dick
Cheney and other Captains of Industry, Mackay says America's
'military intervention' is meant to "to fix the [approaching]
US energy crisis" and insure American dominance in the Middle
East.
But Empire and Democracy can't exist side by side, and "we
the people" will become but tools of the state. If developing
revelations about Bush's Enron-like Harken misconduct weren't
bad enough, recently released information about the government's
use of citizens as bio-terror guinea pigs confirms that there's
an "us" vs. "them." If you want to get beyond the Disneyfied
version of reality the networks broadcast daily and don't
trust G.W. Bush (or those he serves) to be on your side, educate
yourself.
Investigate seedier historic moments, for example, by researching
Operation Northwoods, Operation Paperclip and Operation Mockingbird.
Or look up "John Foster Dulles" along with "Prescott Bush."
You can cross-reference "the National Security Memorandum
200," with "depopulation" and "biological warfare," if you
like, or google "Chile, Nixon and Pepsi." And though searching
"BCCI, Bush and bin Laden," or "BCCI , Bush and Iraq" or "BCCI,
Bush and Iran" might make you permanently lose your innocence
and faith, it's fun for the whole family, I swear. If you're
especially ambitious, check out the dubious deaths of Don
C .Wiley or Danny Casolaro, though you might want to save
those for Halloween.
Truth as a Terrorist
Keep educating yourself, and while you're at it, ask: Who
stands to gain by having citizens believe the avalanche of
lies we're fed? Sooner or later, you'll realize that what
amounts to anti-Americanism these days is often an affinity
for Truth. As a Vietnam veteran, Congressman McDermott has
every reason to question the government's official line before
the bloodshed commences. All of us, each and everyone, should
have an idealized vision of what America can be - and work
towards that goal. The neo-cons who've stolen America can't
comprehend that. To them, and their benefactors, the best
American is a misinformed American. But whose country is this?
Theirs? Or yours?
"The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world
and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of
the great propaganda accomplishments of the dominant political
mythology," author Michael Parenti wrote. Push that mythology
aside and endure the howls of anti-Americanism. Because though
Truth is the enemy of the state, it's the only thing that
will set you free.
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