Editorial: When all the lies are exposed

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert self-righteously declared last week, " Except for the families of those in the military, most Americans are paying very little attention to these conflicts. I've brought this matter up a few times on college campuses and the response has been, in essence, a collective shrug." That facile 'explanation' overlooked the reduction of Iraq coverage offered by the press and continued the media's long pattern of blaming everyone for any problem except themselves. And let's get something straight, they're not just ignoring Iraq at their outlets, they ignore it in the White House briefings and the State Department briefings.

It also overlooked Congress.

Last week, the US House Armed Services Committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held a hearing entitled "Afghanistan and Iraq: Perspectives on U.S. Strategy" and yet, somehow, neither the witnesses nor the subcommittee members remembered Iraq.

And Bob Herbert wants to lecture the public?

Last week, Cindy Sheehan offered an essay that should have resulted in multiple questions and suggestions for the peace movement; however, Cindy quickly pulled the essay from her site. You can still find it at Dandelion Salad. For now, anyway.

What do we do? Keep doing the self-indulgent marches and meaningless symbolic actions; ramp up the efforts (with very few "troops"); or just fold our tents up and go home and try to enjoy what’s left of this country and world.
Boycotts? That would be asking Americans to sacrifice and that's un-American!
Elect better Democrats? Don't make me laugh, although I need a good laugh right now.
Strikes? Labor is in the pockets of the Democrats.
Shut down DC everyday until our demands are met? Not with a handful of people and no money.
Can we call for Revolution from a people that have been made afraid of their own shadows and the Leviathan that has become the United Police States of America?


And this is where it gets interesting. The Iraq War is not ending, as former US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker made clear in a recent speech at Harvard. What happens when the lies the media and the Democrats have told are exposed?



As Joni Mitchell sings on "Passion Play (When All The Slaves Are Freed)" [Night Ride Home] "Who you gonna get to do the dirty work, when all the slaves are freed?"

Interestingly, last week in the US House Armed Services Committee, it was learned that the Committee had been requesting the administration's 'plan' for withdrawal in Iraq since July and been repeatedly rebuffed on the request. As Chair Ike Skelton and the Pentagon's Michele Flournoy appeared to agree that the Committee would have access to the plan at some point in the near future, the question that should have been asked is why the 'plan' is being kept from the American people?

Then again, Flournoy may have answered that question during the hearing, "Uh, let me start by saying, you know, the draw-down plan that we have, is conditions based and it creates multiple decision points for re-evaluating and, if necessary, changing our plans based on developments on the ground. [. . .] The draw-down plan is not rigid. It is got -- it is conditions based, it leaves room for re-evaluation and adjustment in terms of the pace of the draw-down between now and the end of 2011 so, if need be, we will re-examine things based on conditions on the ground."