April 29, 2003
Paul Krugman's op ed piece in the NY Times emphasizes the lies that the Bush administration has been laying on the American pubic, speculating
One wonders whether most of the public will ever learn that the original case for war has turned out to be false. In fact, my guess is that most Americans believe that we have found W.M.D.'s. Each potential find gets blaring coverage on TV; how many people catch the later announcement — if it is ever announced — that it was a false alarm? It's a pattern of misinformation that recapitulates the way the war was sold in the first place. Each administration charge against Iraq received prominent coverage; the subsequent debunking did not.
Krugman also reminds us of various specific times that this administration opted out of supporting health efforts in other parts of the world that could have saved countless lives, claiming it was too expensive.
Like most people, I've had ups and downs in my life, but I've always been able to feel that on a grander scale there was always hope -- that I lived in a country in which the good guys would always ultimately prevail. It's taken a long time for my childhood to end, and it's been ended by the deeds of the evil men who are making these deadly decisions in my name. Not only have they stolen the lives of innocent people on and off the battlefield; they've stolen my voice, my choice, my hope.
As Krugman says, ...a democracy's decisions, right or wrong, are supposed to take place with the informed consent of its citizens. That didn't happen this time. And we are a democracy — aren't we?
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