America has been in a shooting war in the Middle East since Jan. 17, 1991, when the bombing of Iraq began to drive Saddam Hussein’s army out of Kuwait.
An entire generation of Americans has become adults without seeing or knowing of a time when their country was at peace. And hope is diminishing that they will ever see peace in their lifetime. Washington and its NATO allies lied about Iraq; they lied about Libya and Syria and will lie about future wars.
After the 1991 bombing of Iraq, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was interviewed by Lesley Stahl on 60 minutes (5/12/96). Albright was questioned regarding the fact that the invasion and subsequent sanctions caused the death of a half a million children and if the price was worth it?
Albright responded, I think this is a very hard choice, but the price, we think the price is worth it. The numbers have been challenged and were probably inflated, but the callousness of the statement shows the ugly side of a war that was launched based on lies.
On March 20, 2003 Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing the use of military force in Iraq, a costly war that was predicated on “disarming” Iraq of its (non-existent) WMD, overthrowing Saddam Hussein, and “freeing” the Iraqi people. From that bogus war most of the infrastructure in the Middle East has been destroyed as the wars continue. Yeah, we have really improved their quality of life. And we wonder why they hate us. You can’t burn your neighbor’s house, invite him to come live with you and expect him to be friendly towards you.
Charles Lewis explains in “False Pretenses” that “President George W. Bush and seven of his administration’s top officials made at least 935 false statements about the national security threat posed by Iraq.
After the U.S. invasion, an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of a campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and led the nation to war under false pretenses.
On August 26, 2002, in an address to the national convention of the Veteran of Foreign Wars, Vice President Cheney flatly declared: “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.” President Bush’s National Security Adviser, Dr. Condoleezza Rice. … But we don’t want the smoking gun to be amushroom cloud.”
A declassified CIA document confirms that there was no justification for going to war in Iraq. It also reveals that there was “no operational tie between Saddam and Al Qaeda” and no WMD programs, but the invasion occurred regardless, thanks to a multitude of lies.
Although a contributing factor, the stealing of petroleum resources was not a stated goal of the invasion.
Americans have not only come to accept war, they’ve come to love it. I fear for our country when I see comments from some who are rational thinking individuals advocating total war including nuclear strikes on Middle East or African nations simply because: Fill in the blank.

By Jeff Smith