MB Civic

TRUTH AND THE WAR
Spring 2008 - LACDP
Democratic Issues Forum

Remarks by Brad Parker

Democrats - Consider these remarks on Truth and War:

Legacy of Truth 

In war, truth is the first casualty.
~Aeschylus
 
All wars are fought for money.
~Socrates
 
The worst crimes were dared by a few, willed by more and tolerated by all.
~Tacitus 
 
General Truths
 
It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood…War is hell.
~General William Tecumseh Sherman
 
Our country is now geared to an arms economy bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and an incessant propaganda of fear.
~General Douglas MacArthur
 
War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious.
~General Smedley Butler
 
Presidential Truths
 
Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.
 ~George Washington
 
Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.
~John Adams
 
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
~James Madison
 
Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible go vernment owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.
~Theodore Roosevelt
 
Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.
~Franklin D. Roosevelt
 
Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly, I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing.
 ~Dwight D. Eisenhower
 
Military glory–that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood–that serpent’s eye, that charms to destroy…
 ~Abraham Lincoln
 
American Truths
 
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.
~Edward R. Murrow

No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.
~Barbara Ehrenreich
 
You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong no matter who does it or who says it.
~Malcolm X
 
I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.
 ~James Baldwin

The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is my own government.
 ~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
 
To some degree it matters who’s in office, but it matters more how much pressure they’re under from the public.
 ~Noam Chomsky
 
The Department of Defense is the behemoth…With an annual budget larger than the gross d omestic product of Russia, it is an empire.
~The 9/11 Commission Report

The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media.
~William Colby, former CIA director
 
World Truths

The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.
~ Montesquieu

Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.
~Mahatma Gandhi
 
What a country calls its vital… interests are not things that help its people live, but things that help it make war.
~Simone Weil
 
A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.
~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Now consider these:

Lies, Delusions and Tyranny
 
It’s not a matter of what is true that counts but a matter of what is perceived to be true.
 ~Henry Kissinger

I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.
 ~George W. Bush

Evil men, obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience, must be taken very seriously–and we must stop them before their crimes can multiply.
~George W. Bush
 
Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.
~Donald Rumsfeld
 
There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that’s just a fact.
 ~Donald Rumsf eld
 
Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths…I mean, it’s not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?
~Barbara Bush

Here is what we do know about the truth and this War in Iraq:

·        There were no weapons of Mass Destruction left in Iraq

 ·        There was no Al Queda in Iraq

 ·        There was no danger of a mushroom cloud from Iraq

 ·        There was no purchase of Yellow Cake uranium from Niger by iraq

 ·        The President, Vice-president, Secretary of State, head of the CIA and much of the Executive lied about all of this as a pretext to wage war in Iraq

 ·        The Vice President and the WH COS Karl Rove outed Valerie Plame thus committing an act of treason

 ·        The Patriot Act and Illegal Wiretapping were not legal or necessary to insure our security and have robbed us of our liberty

 ·        There were and are many High Crimes and Misdemeanors that were committed by the Executive up to the Top

 ·        Congress has abdicated its duty to the American Public and its oath to defend the Constitution by not stopping the War and Impeaching the President and Vice President

 ·        A disappointing number of Democrats in the Congress have been complicit in this dereliction of duty in the name of National Security

 ·        Pragmatism, not enough votes and we can’t be seen as not supporting the troops are the hollow reasons espoused by far too many Democrats for not stopping these continuing crimes and the War

 ·        The American public has lost faith in both the Congress and the Executive with the lowest approval ratings in history

Then there is this:

Congress is finally moving to shut one of the more egregious forms of Iraq war profiteering: defense contractors using offshore shell companies to avoid paying their fair share of payroll taxes. No one will be surprised to hear that one of the suspected prime offenders is KBR, the Texas-based defense contractor, formerly a part of the Halliburton conglomerate allied with Vice President Dick Cheney. According to a report in The Boston Globe, KBR, which has landed billions in Iraq contracts, has used two Cayman shell companies to avoid paying hundreds of millions in payroll, Medicare and unemployment taxes. Unfortunately right now there is nothing illegal about this.

To which, our friend Sam Park replies:
 
Pals,

Here’s what gets me steamed. The Iraq War is being paid for with money borrowed from foreign countries. We then have to pay them back with interest. This is the first time since the Revolutionary War this has EVER happened (smell that fishy odor?). And the wealthiest elite aren’t being taxed more (as in every other past war) but had their taxes CUT!  But if you think that is bad, read below! Please note. The company that is dodging taxes WHILE TAKING OUR TAX MONEY is KBR, a company formerly a part of Dick Cheney’s Halliburton. Another thing I HATE HATE HATE about this war is how all the people involved in starting it are making billions off of it! And if you question them, they claim you are being unpatriotic and “How dare you threaten our troops by being disloyal and questioning a defense contractor!” Man, these people are the wickedest of the wicked! We have military men and women dying and getting maimed and screwing up their minds and these companies are shortening them in taxes while making a profit!

Sam Park
Valley Democrats United Board

And that dear reader is some of the Truth that has been murdered in this War in Iraq…  

END THE WAR NOW !!!!