Repeating the 'Progress in Iraq' Lie ... Until it Becomes Mistaken for the Truth

Repeating the 'Progress in Iraq' Lie ... Until it Becomes Mistaken for the Truth

A. Alexander - April 28th, 2007 Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes mistaken for the truth. More than an old axiom, it is how Republicans win elections and rule. Despite every U.S. and global intelligence report proving beyond a doubt that so-called 'foreign fighters' -- those Mister Bush and Cheney call 'al-Qaeda' fighters -- make up only 2-to-6 percent of all enemy combatants in Iraq, the ...more Progressive Daily Beacon Opinion Piece Repeating the 'Progress in Iraq' Lie ... Until it Becomes Mistaken for the Truth A. Alexander, April 28th, 2007 Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes mistaken for the truth. More than an old axiom, it is how Republicans win elections and rule. Despite every U.S. and global intelligence report proving beyond a doubt that so-called 'foreign fighters' -- those Mister Bush and Cheney call 'al-Qaeda' fighters -- make up only 2-to-6 percent of all enemy combatants in Iraq, the administration and its supporters have repeated the 'al-Qaeda in Iraq' scam so often that the corporate-owned media has begun to report the line without clarification. Another Republican success story...another lie told enough that it has become mistaken for the 'truth'. When Mister Bush, Cheney, Republicans and even the administration's handpicked lapdog military Generals initially began referring to Iraqi insurgents as 'al-Qaeda terrorists', the corporate-owned media had made an effort -- at least from time-to-time -- to point out that there really weren't very many foreign fighters operating in Iraq. Now, however, the corporate-owned press unquestioningly parrots whatever administration-related people tell them. If Dick Cheney or General Petraeus blame an Iraq bombing on bin-Laden's al-Qaeda network, the media simply repeat it verbatim. No mention whatsoever that al-Qaeda, if it has a significant presence at all, accounts for less than six percent of all enemy combatants in Iraq. No mention from the corporate-owned media that it is much more likely that any given attack had been perpetrated by the much larger 94-to-98 percent indigenous Iraqi insurgents. Nothing. Not a peep! Still, this is a vital and important lesson. This is a perfect example of how Republican, especially Bushist Republican lies are repeated ad nauseam and then told again and again and again, until everyone simply gives up trying to correct the record and the lie becomes a non-truth truth. This is exactly how the Bush administration was able to con the American people into believing Saddam had WMD, that he had ties to al Qaeda and played a role in the attacks on September 11, 2001...they told the lies over and over and over again, until people assumed they had to be true. Sadly, the Bush administration and Republicans have managed to pervert the military and its Generals...turning the services and leadership into nothing more than political props and puppets. Mister Bush and Cheney have shamelessly prostituted the honorable sacrifice of common soldiers such as Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman, but mostly they've pimped out America's Generals as though they were nothing more than a bunch of common 'love you short-time' prostitutes. The difference, of course, is that most of the Generals have enjoyed prostrating themselves, their honor, and the military so that they could prove their loyalty to the Bushist cause. The latest 'love you short-time' prostitute is General David Petraeus, commander of Bush's latest 'surge' plan. The lie that Mister Bush and Republicans now want the American people to believe, is that "progress" is being made in Iraq. They all use that key phrase, "progress in Iraq." Mister Bush uses it whenever he steps before the cameras; Dick Cheney uses the phrase whenever he isn't accusing Democrats of working for al Qaeda; every Republican Senator and GOP Congressperson mutters the sound bite; and now, too, General 'love you short-time' Petraeus repeats the phrase at every turn. When asked what he had discussed during his meeting with Congress, Petraeus said "What I did highlight was one of the areas in which there has been progress, and that is in the reduction in sectarian murders in Baghdad..." What the good General did not highlight, however, is the fact that: a) The sectarian murders did drop briefly, but have risen again...and b) As the violence in Baghdad decreased, it increased everywhere else in Iraq...and c) Mister Bush and the General simply ignore the 4,000 people killed by car bombs since the 'surge' began...they don't include car bomb deaths in their figures The General didn't mention those inconvenient facts, because they wouldn't have helped move forward the "progress" lie that Karl Rove and George W. Bush are determined to make into their latest non-truth truth. So, the General did what all of Mister Bush's handpicked Generals have always done - prostrated himself, his honor and the military for the Bushist cause. For the rest of America, remember how Bush and Republicans use the willing corporate-owned media to repeat a lie until it becomes mistaken for the truth...don't be conned into believing there is real "progress" taking place in Iraq. The mere notion of this so-called progress is proven a lie, simply by their need to repeat it over and over and over again.