MYTH OF JUST WAR IN IRAQ MAY BE FADING AWAY

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ucas/20041213/cm_ucas/mythofjustwariniraqmaybefadingaway&cid=1317&ncid=1501

Never underestimate the power of myth. It can solder broken resolve, fuel astounding acts of courage and overwhelm evidence and reason.


That's why the U.S. military struggles so hard to create myths to shore up support for its dubious enterprise in Iraq (news - web sites). Jessica Lynch -- young and blond -- seemed to come straight from central casting to play the part of courageous heroine. Only later did we learn that she never fired a shot. Never mind. The myth served its purpose.


So has the Bush administration's convoluted explanation for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). It doesn't hang together logically; its internal contradictions are too great, its fabrications too obvious. Nevertheless, the fanciful tale of a heroic and just America tracking down and killing the terrorists who struck us on 9/11 -- or, even if they didn't, who would strike us if they had a chance -- served well enough to get President Bush (news - web sites) re-elected.


It has also served to keep rank-and-file soldiers and their families back home squarely behind the president. Few soldiers or their families have publicly expressed doubts about the Iraqi mission, despite clear evidence of a con job -- from pre-war assurances they would be greeted as liberators to a post-invasion back-door draft that will keep many overseas past their tours.

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[Paleocon]

1. I hope you are right...

It would be nice if the rest of America would wake up and figure it out!

[NNN0LHI]

2. It is up to us not to take the bullshit. Even if it costs friendships

I am damn tired of humoring intelligent and supposedly sane people. If they can't take the truth, I say fuck them and the horses they rode in on. Someone has to break the cycle of violence.

Don

[StClone]

3. So we were right Freepers -->WRONG

Iraq Invasion --> WRONG
Tax Cuts --> WRONG
Environmental Roll Backs --> WRONG
Bush --> WRONG as ever and always

[kclown]

4. Thanks for the update.

What part of this wasn't predicted by all of us two years ago?

[peacebird]

5. one can only hope, but i haven't much faith in the sheeple anymore

short of an outright draft, i think they will believe the soundbites bushco and the pentagon spew. further i think as it gets to be an even greater cluster f**k than it is already the msm will begin howling once more that "those who aren't with us are unpatriotic".

look for a fresh round of magnetic ribbons.

argh...

[LifeDuringWartime]

6. theyll only wake up

if the draft includes women...the fundies wont like that!

[peacebird]

7. you did see that the Army is looking at using its women in combat now?

if that's what it takes to push the fundies over the tipping point - yippeeee!!!

(it's in the latest breaking news area)

[Swamp Rat]

8. Though the first clause in the second sentence makes no sense to me

I rated that story a 5.

[NNN0LHI]

9. "solder" As in welding two pieces of wire or metal together

Thought that might help?

Don

[Swamp Rat]

13. Oh crap!

I've been up all night... last 72 hours... running on fumes... final exams, six papers, diss proposal... busting the chops of a few bigots posting in GD over the weekend. I can't see straight anymore as my eyes are practically soldered shut.

Thanks for being kind. :)

:boring:

[donkeyotay]

10. It's a mystery alright. How did these folks ever get so misinformed?

<<snip>>

These burdens are borne by a relatively small sliver of the American population -- the working class. Enlisted men and women tend to come from households earning between $32,000 and $33,500, according to a 1999 Defense Department study. (The median American household income is $43,300.) The poorest of the poor don't go; neither do the affluent.


It is odd enough that so many working-class Americans have been seduced by Bush's claims that he's a regular guy looking out for their interests, when, in fact, his policies overwhelmingly benefit well-off families and wealthy corporations. It is downright weird that so many of them have been taken in by his story of a just war when their sons and daughters, husbands and wives -- not the scions of the wealthy -- are the ones paying the ultimate price for it.

[NNN0LHI]

12. The republican party is like a pyramid scheme where everyone gets rich

Thats right. Most of these knuckledraggers honestly believe that if they vote rethug they will become rich too. They don't realize that just like in a pyramid scheme, everyone can't be rich. Only the people who are involved in perpetuating the scheme get rich. The suckers just get bent over. Bottom line is the greed gets them every time.

Don

[Tsiyu]

14. Isn't it funny that the kids in families with that income bracket

are now going to lose their Pell grants. Hmmmmm......

[donkeyotay]

11. Also, I don't think "myth" is accurate; it's really propaganda

Myth is a story a culture tells itself, something that resonates with how a people want to see themselves. For example, the myth of America as the land of the free, home of the brave. But when you have a bunch of propagandists filling your head with false information, that's not really a myth. More accurately, it's brainwashing.