Trying to expose the lies

Call me jaded, but I don't think it's going to matter that much. Recently I asked a friend if he believed that people would care what's going on if they knew. Oh, yes! he said. I just don't think I have that much faith in us.

Nevertheless, I think it's paramount for those who have the information to get it out there. How can we call ourselves free to make choices if we don't have all the information? So...here's my public and sincere thanks to honor all those whistle blowers and informants who risk their lives and careers, and all those bloggers and independent journalists out there who aren't making a dime from it who are trying to get the truth into the light of day. Thank you all more than I have the words for.

Billmon has this to offer on Col. Sam Gardiner's expose of war lies:

There is more to come. As the United States struggles with a post-conflict Iraq, distortions continue. Probably of more concern, major players in the game are working on ways to do it "better" in future conflicts.

Col. Gardiner is cautious in his assessment of what this all means:

I thought about calling [the paper] Apparatus of Lies, connecting to a title the White House gave a paper on Iraq's decade of fabrication, mostly about weapons of destruction. Although lies were part of the effort, that title would have been off the mark because the story is more about aversion to truth rather than the open lie.

Col. Gardiner, I think, gives the benefit of too many doubts to people who deserve none of them. To me, his work just reinforces a fundamental truth: The war is not a series of discrete scandals (Yellowcake, Wilsongate, Halliburton, etc.) but rather a single, monstrous, unified scandal -- probably the greatest criminal conspiracy in the history of the United States. And it's still ongoing.

You can download a PDF of Col. Gardiner's report here.

But this is part of what amazes me about us Americans (and maybe it's the whole world). No matter what outrage our 'leaders' and others in power carry out, we are always loathe to believe that they are performing another. No matter how many times they are proven to have lied, we still believe them while they're currently lying to us. No matter how many episodes are revealed of their unconcern for us - no matter how many times it comes to light that they have used us for guinea pigs, have performed diabolical research 'on their own people', have screwed the populace to line their pockets, created wars and murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent people, we refuse to believe they are still doing such things. We have the most incredible powers of denial.

The times that I've participated in forum discussions have proven to me that many of us just don't want to know. We're proud of being "super patriotic" (as one fellow put it). If being super patriotic means keeping yourself ignorant, it's an amazing thing to be proud of. Perhaps the idea is that if I don't know, I can't be held responsible. (Although you should try that defense in a court of law some time.)

....hey, do what you want....you will anyway.