Since 1945 when World War II ended, a bipartisan flock of Presidents — 7 democrats and 7 republicans have gone to the dark side — spewing outrageous lies to serve their political aims and to further their dreams of world hegemony. U.S. presidents have always believed that the oath of office confers on them the “inalienable” right to lie to the world — “We are the indispensable nation. We stand tall. We see further into the future.” [Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State during the Iraq War] The big lie that led the U.S. to invade Iraq and ultimately destroy a country is nothing new. The same scenario has played out in Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine. Lies fed to a gullible American public have the same theme —the U.S. doesn’t invade countries and depose their leaders for selfish reasons, they invade countries and depose their leaders to restore freedom and democracy. Like the U.S. did in the Congo or Iran, deposing democratically elected leaders and replacing them with U.S. approved despots.
The most consequential effect of a war promoted with lies is the destruction not only of a country but a way of life for its inhabitants. No matter, lying is an important part of U.S. foreign policy, probably on page one of the presidential handbook. Not that these prevaricating presidents don’t have a lot of support. Major cheerleaders, besides the mainstream media, are “think tanks” generally funded by the defense industry or major transnational corporations that rely on the spoils of war for their bottom line. Whether it’s the Institute for the Study of War, the name a dead giveaway, or the more subtly named American Enterprise Institute, Foreign Policy Initiative, the Brookings Institution or the infamous Project for a New American Century their funding is dependent upon their vigorous support of U.S. wars.
The business of war has spawned some major whoppers by both republican and democratic presidents. In 1945, Harry Truman catapulted into the White House to his and everyone else’s surprise. In 1950, he sent American troops into Korea to support “the free peoples of the world.” [the Truman Doctrine]. His administration installed a new leader, Syngman Rhee, who was one toke away from being a despot. But where it counts, in the eyes of the Truman administration he got high marks as a tool willing to do the empire’s bidding. Democracy U.S. style. In all,1.8 million American troops were sent to Korea, 38,000 of them and over one million Koreans died. Still Truman told a reporter —“We are not at war.”
A classic example of how lies propel the empire’s war lust.
Not that the Republicans are slouches at lying America into war. The old Gipper, Ronald Reagan had a way with lies that produce wars. Although he was a self-described law and order president, the war he lied the U.S. into brought a resolution from the United Nations condemning it as a “flagrant violation of international law.” (Reagan’s response — the resolution “didn’t upset my breakfast at all”) It started when Reagan and his cabal of neo-conservative advisors were looking for a way to cure the “Vietnam syndrome” which expressed itself as a public thumbs-down to U.S military interventions across the globe. The defense industry and the military had a lot riding on American wars. To build public enthusiasm for war, the U.S. had to win one. Looking around for a war the U.S. could win, in 1983 Reagan found what he was looking for — the tiny island of Grenada with a population of 96,000. Thus began “Operation Urgent Fury.” But it wasn’t only the ghost of Vietnam he was trying to expunge. Two days before American troops invaded Grenada, a truck loaded with explosives crashed into a marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon and killed 200 American marines and injured many others. What was called for was a glorious victory to deflect public attention away from a dismal defeat in Lebanon. Little Grenada fit the bill on both accounts.
How did Reagan pull it off? The tried-and-true American way. He lied. [My] “overriding and paramount” concern [is] to protect innocent lives including up to 1,000 Americans.” Nonsense. Unbeknownst to the public, Reagan had already received a cable from the parents of American students informing him that “their children were safe…” it turned out that no Americans were in danger and the invasion had been condemned by the U.N. as violation of international law. But it was the right thing to do proclaimed Dick Cheney then a Wyoming congressman —the U.S. had regained its mojo and was once again “steady and reliable.” How reassuring is that? In Cheney’s case cheerleading for war became a lifetime vocation. The lies worked. The American public gave a thumbs up.
And so it goes — lies lead to bloodshed, enrich the military industrial complex and propel the empire down its merry path of endless war. Every president since 1945 has made lying a political tool to win popular support and a geostrategic tool to maintain the U.S. as the world’s hegemon. Look no further than Eisenhower who along with his buddy Winston Churchill in 1953 set in motion the overthrow of the democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh that paved the way for over one-half century of turmoil in the Middle East. While we’re at it let’s not forget former president William Jefferson Clinton (aka Slick Willie) who destroyed Yugoslavia in a series of bombing raids the U.N. condemned as an illegal use of force against the territorial integrity of that country. That’s not how Clinton defended his unconscionable campaign. His lies included the usual suspects — protecting human rights, promoting justice and preserving ethnic tolerance. How the unjustified killing of at least 1,500 Serbian civilians fits these lies remains an unfathomable mystery. Weapons of mass destruction that weren’t was George W. Bush’s way of lying the U.S. into the Iraq war.
Lying has been institutionalized in the U.S. It is the stuff out of which foreign policy decisions are made. The U.S. has set the world on fire with its lies for the last seventy-five years. In such an environment, the truth is no longer the gold standard. Ask Julian Assange, languishing in a UK prison for publishing the truth or Chelsea Manning, tortured for publicizing U.S. criminal behavior or Edward Snowden, forced to flee to Russia to escape the long arm of the law. In 2023 America, truthtellers get punished, liars become president.
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