Among the lying liars who lied the U.S. into invading Iraq, Joe Biden stands out as a big reason why the lies swallowed the culture, becoming a damning indictment of a society that would elect him president.
Biden talking up Iraq invasion on NBC’s Meet the Press with Tim Russert. (NBC News screenshot)
By Sam Husseini
Substack
There weren’t just so many lies about Iraq, but there were lies about the lies.
The lies actually swallowed the culture.
There’s the laughable lie that it was all an innocent mistake, bad intel. Or the U.S. establishment got hoodwinked by a couple of Iraqis.
There’s the lie that it was a failure, when in cold, Machiavellian terms, it was a success, as whistleblower Katharine Gun noted in my interview with her on Saturday.
There’s the lie that we found out Bush was lying after the war. I remember lots of Soros-funded groups pushed this after the invasion. It’s a total lie, because it was clear Bush and Co. were lying before the invasion. I put out a series of news releases at the time: “White House Claims: A Pattern of Deceit” and “Bush’s War Case: Fiction vs. Facts at Accuracy.org/bush” and “U.S. Credibility Problems” and “Tough Questions for Bush on Iraq Tonight.”
There’s the lie that Bush and Cheney started the lies. No, they go back at least to the Clinton administration, and arguably to the now “respectable” first Bush administration. [See my piece on Madeleine Albright.]
Biden presided over rigged hearings on Iraq but he recently claimed when talking about the Russian invasion of Ukraine: “The idea that over 100,000 forces would invade another country — since World War II, nothing like that has happened.”
Indeed, Biden is a large reason for how the lies swallowed the culture and it’s a damning indictment of the society that he would be elected president:
?It wasn't just Bush & Cheney who lied their way into the Iraq invasion 20 years ago. Possibly the most important Dem, who had been threatening and falsifying about Iraq for years, was Biden. See clip from his war speech and my piece on his endless lies: https://t.co/PuZTFI3Wrs pic.twitter.com/AvxzkNHvnM
— Sam Husseini — subscribe: husseini.substack.com (@samhusseini) March 17, 2023
Perhaps Biden’s biggest lie was from April, 2007. He claimed on “Meet the Press” about Saddam Hussein’s alleged WMDs: “The real mystery is, if he, if he didn’t have any of them left, why didn’t he say so?” Of course, Hussein did say exactly that, and his claims were derided and dismissed by Biden and his ilk. Biden’s lies interestingly closely paralleled John Kerry’s and much of the establishment media.
I tried to question Biden in January 2007, but he dismissed criticism of his rigged hearings and now-Secretary of State Tony Blinken ran interference, absurdly claiming “every hard question was answered” at Biden’s hearings.
In a July 2019 presidential debate Biden claimed: “From the moment ‘shock and awe’ started, from that moment, I was opposed to the effort, and I was outspoken as much as anyone at all in the Congress.” In fact —
But moths after the invasion, Biden said: "Some in my own party have said it was a mistake to go to Iraq." He warned of the cost of "not finishing this job". Adding: "The president of the United States is a bold leader and he is popular. … I and many others will support him." pic.twitter.com/jMPP1nv4cb
— Sam Husseini — subscribe: husseini.substack.com (@samhusseini) March 18, 2023
And there were others of course —
The establishment exalted John McCain actually pretended the Iraq was forcing the issue in 2003, an unhinged lie: pic.twitter.com/cNXNt49lV7
— Sam Husseini — subscribe: husseini.substack.com (@samhusseini) March 18, 2023
Powell, like McCain, would make a great show of being allegedly against torture, but he actually used false confessions gotten from torture at his infamous presentation at the U.N. — and refused to acknowledge it years later when I questioned him:
Mike Pence 20 years ago showed complete projection regarding Iraq's alleged violence, mishmashing not just 9/11 but Oklahoma City (!) and nuclear threats — "when and not if. When Saddam uses nuclear weapons" — pic.twitter.com/6qvNzJxyBA
— Sam Husseini — subscribe: husseini.substack.com (@samhusseini) March 18, 2023
Pelosi played a notable role, like other “liberals” that nominally voted against authorizing the invasion, but pushing the lies to propel it — and then ensuring Bush was never held to account, ensuring the system continued:
I questioned Pelosi about claim that in 2004 (and wondered how her weak position could possibly hold Bush accountable).
Despite repeated questions, she STILL refused to admit it was a false statement & the moderator cut me off.
Full video & transcript: https://t.co/ZG5g6NC08p pic.twitter.com/zVvP6O2j46
— Sam Husseini — subscribe: husseini.substack.com (@samhusseini) March 18, 2023
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
AGREED!!! “Indeed, Biden is a large reason for how the lies swallowed the culture and it’s a damning indictment of the society that he would be elected president.”
—- ‘REPEAT the Line:’ “Its a damning indictment of the society that he would be elected president.”
“Welcome” to The “MALARKY” Factory! Where manufacturing “A Reign of Terror,” under the guise of good will, rules the day. A beyond Extreme, MEGA-MAGA “Partner$hip” btwn the WH, the M.I.C., Congress, & Corporations. Specializing in lies, lies, & more lies; PLUS, “RIGGING” Elections and jack’n w/Plant, Animal & Human Life. Basically, manufacturing fascism masquerading it as “democracy.”
Twenty years after, the occupation, it’s the same players in different roles. It’s ike its 2014, w/the old, demented, still perverted Joey “Patriot Act” Biden; &, his Apprentice, Volodymyr “El Chapo II” Zelensky, a Comedian, A Crisis Actor, A Grifter; AND Ukraine’s “Selected” POTUS. “They” share, “Selected NOT Elected.” The Pay Out is the bomb! W/Curbside pick-up!!! In 180 $econds, Zelensky banked $40 Million Big One$ from the Keeper of the Purse, Congress. And, the cash flow into Ukraine $teady & lucrative.
Meanwhile, the Dollar Dives! & the Rouble & the Yuan, Rise!!! The world’s currency is changing. The world is changing. Biden-Harris, their Board of Executioners & Congress are NOT on board. Someone, oughta ask POTUS, wtf YEAR it is?!? Obviously, Biden-Harris are NOT in command of their respective Role, President & Vice President. It’s deplorable. Consequently, there is Zero-NO “LOVE” between the Nation & its POTUS, Biden-Harris. They’re f/bankrupt!!!
Therefore, “WANTED, A LEADER!!! A Peacemaker NOT “The Big Guy,” PUTIN “pegged as an unreconstructed warmonger and longtime advocate of NATO expansion, someone who’d act on his MADness,” (Mutually Assured Destruction). Ciao.
So how did the three major aggressors in the 2003 invasion of Iraq celebrate the 20 years?
By signing/ratifying the Aukus pact but one day before.
Speaking of our nuclear stockpile and the US as the only country to have bombed the crap out of innocent fellow humans without remorse. From my residence here in northern New Mexico, I need only look to my northwest, about 30-miles, to see the Los Alamos National Laboratory or LANL. They are getting ready to fooly develop their plutonium pit production to upgrade our nuclear weapons systems. At LANL we employ the very best and brightest minds in the country to ultimately kill our fellow human beings, wherever and whenever we see fit. How fucked up is that ?
A very good peroration. I really can’t believe how spot on Pompous was with his we lied, we cheated, we stole. Unfortunately that doesn’t just describe the CIA, it describes the entire US government. One wonders how long this can go on. Outside of our vassal states, the rest of the world actively distrusts us. The USG has successfully hoodwinked the populace but as reality separates itself from government narrative the USG is going to be caught in a crack. How does a political entity continue when everybody distrusts it? I suspect we are going to be able to find out.
There will always be enough people to vote for one of these two wings of the war mongering, corporate party to give it legitimacy.
Lets be honest for a change.
America is a hateful, militaristic culture that loves war, death, destruction and torture. America not only loves these things above all else, but has organized its society, economy and culture around them. America’s foreign policy and America’s police state say these things very clearly, and America’s ‘culture’ strongly supports violence in both cases.
In the last election, there was one ‘peace’ candidate in only one of the two allowed parties. She struggled to get even 1% support in that half of the electorate. America was a firm 99% pro-war in the last election, and the peace candidate got run out of her party for her crimes. Since the shooting war began, there have been only two, pathetically tiny ‘anti-war’ rallies, and there was a year of utter silence before even they occurred.
America is firmly pro-war. America wants war. America loves war. War is America’s God. America worships war. The only thing that might prevent World War III is that if Americans instead decide to start fighting themselves before they can nuke the world.
If someone stood up for Peace and Love, America would nail them to a cross. That would be the one thing that Team Red and Team Blue would agree on, but they’d fight over who got to hammer in the nails.
“as a big reason why the lies swallowed the culture”
Speak for yourself.
They did not swallow my culture. I refused to allow them.
My culture was strong, strong enough to resist. But then again, my culture had come from a counter-culture.
It is hard to resist a lying, militaristic, hateful and manipulative culture from within. It is much easier to do if you get outside the culture and stand your own ground.
And precisely who is going to hold them “accountable”? Not the American people, who keep voting for these clowns …
I wish that people would stop using the word “illegal” to describe the invasion of Iraq, the invasion of Russia, etc. Recently CN ran a piece where it was stated that there is no law where some states are not bound by it. The corolllary is that there really is no such thing as a “rules-based international order” where one nation or group (like NATO) makes the rules. Why bother calling something “illegal” when, internationally, and sadly in spite of the UN, it means nothing.
A war of aggression is a crime against humanity – refer to the Nuremburg standard. Let’s use that standard and advocate bringing to justice those who commit that crime. Top of my list are those who launched the Six-Day War of Aggression in West Asia in 1967 and the Shock and Awe War of Aggression in 2003.
This is not “whataboutism”. It is nothing less than calling for a genuine abolition of a double standard and the establishment of a world order in which rules apply to everyone. Perhaps that will never happen, but then we might be surprised in a multi-polar world in which the number of nuclear weapons, missiles, aircraft carriers, and foreign bases becomes irrelevant.
Did anyone ever investigate the story that Israel destroyed a cache of hidden WMD materials in the desert a year or two after the first Gulf War? I didn’t know there were forces IN government that seem to make up stuff until this Nordstream 2 business.
Gullible me.
And it all goes down the memory hole, and more lies by the same clowns are trotted out again, for another war . . . .
This time, the propaganda about the evil enemy which has produced such intense hatred of Putin/Russia, and increasingly, China could make it politically impossible to allow Russia to win. But Macgregor, Ritter, Berletic and other military observers say Ukraine has lost the war of attrition and the U.S./NATO would be defeated by Russia or China in a conventional war. Perhaps if the U.S. backs down, or engages and is defeated, the cocoon would burst, and there would be an opportunity for a new party?
It is truly astounding how NO ONE has yet been held accountable for prosecuting this illegal invasion of Iraq. Either in the US or internationally. ………The US behaves as the Mafia don, free from any consequences for anything it does. Combine “Might makes right’ with “You’re either with us or against us”, and there is US foreign policy in a nutshell. ……..Plus, there’s the adage—-> “The killing of one person is murder – the killing of hundreds of thousands is merely war”.
Sadly, in the intervening twenty years since Iraq, the American mind is still under capture by an even more pervasive/sophisticated media environment of propaganda, half-truths and lies. Twenty years ago it was the fear mongering propaganda about WMDs that whipped the US public into standing at attention. …………. Today, it’s the propaganda that rewrites history to excise NATO/US role in causing the eventual war with Russia. The US-led Maidan coup was the start of the US war on Russia, which followed years of provocations by the West. ………… Nothing has changed. The public has been propagandized to such a degree the resulting level of disorientation is too strong to think critically of the US’s role in foreign affairs.
Disorientation is the correct term for most people in the US. It doesn’t much matter if they lean left, right or center with the exception of a small minority. All by design of course. Only a well informed public is capable of holding power to account. The propagandists have made that nearly impossible.
Why?
The same people are still in charge.
America is not a democracy.
There is absolutely nothing that has happened since that would lead to holding any people or institutions accountable.
Nobody ever wanted to make it happen. Certainly not the Pro-War-Gressives and the rest of the fake-left. Millionaire Bernie certainly never said a peep about holding anyone accountable for these crimes. Millionaire Bernie never held a rally leading the crowd in a chant of “lock them up.” Heck, he doesn’t even talk about defunding the military. I can not think of a single political figure who ever said one word about holding people and organizations accountable.
Did people expect it to happen by magic? Puff the Magic Dragon showing up with zip-tie cuffs and hauling away the evil-doers?
“The public has been propagandized to such a degree the resulting level of disorientation is too strong to think critically of the US’s role in foreign affairs.” Must be something in the Kool-Aid . . . I feel I’m living in a Land of Zombies where I know many of them by their first names. Thanks for all of your comments on various sites.
Biden is a monster, but the entire US political system is institutionally corrupt. Many readers of CN already know this, and it has become glaringly obvious.
Since the US is a public relations “democracy” and public preference makes very little, if any, difference on public policy, we can’t put all the blame on “voters”. Noam Chomsky has pointed this out for years. Chris Hedges outlines this very well in Death of the Liberal Class, and other works. Many other authors have outlined this as well. The media, the corporate oligopoly, the financial oligarchy, the politicians, the DNC/RNC and the institutions of power are largely to blame. The public has been misinformed, propagandized and manipulated for decades.
Over half of eligible voters don’t bother to vote since many see it as legitimizing a sham or don’t see any real choices. Then the winner takes all system means that a MINORITY of the public “elect” our leaders. Much has been written about this as well.
The US is an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery. The US has no functioning democracy. The Citizens United case formalized this into law. The sooner folks accept this the better.
Elections Inc. in the USA is merely the world’s most profitable public relations stunt in history.
But it IS the voters who keep putting these clowns back in office – or do you believe all the elections are “rigged” …
If voters don’t see “any real choices”, it’s because they haven’t looked – we have had other, much better, choices on the ballot for decades – I know, have voted for them since ’96
It’s way beyond that: After the Citizens United case, you still believe that the US is a “democracy ” (even loosely defined)?
Please inform yourself and don’t make naive assumptions. Read Sheldon Wolin, Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, Michael Hudson and others
“The US is an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery” (Jimmy Carter 2015) Can you explain how Jimmy Carter is wrong?
Or we can keep living in denial and assume that the US is the #1 democracy in the world.
Politicians do what is beneficial for their personal interests.
A statesman does what is best for the country and the people.
We have too few statesmen in the government at all levels.
If he was EVER against the Iraq War before, during, or after, why in God’s name would he have NEOCONS running any part of his foreign policy?
Also, any old enough to remember the Cold War should have known that EVEN IF Saddam got a handful of nukes, he wouldn’t dare use them since the US has THOUSANDS to retaliate with.
Even though the Soviets had the same or a greater number of nukes than us during the Cold War, they didn’t dare use them because the retaliation and further exchanges would have been the end of both countries and eventually life on Earth.
If a country with a handful of nukes successfully set off one in the US, that country would no longer exist before the mushroom cloud cleared here.
We are the ONLY country in the world to have used nuclear weapons in combat.
The leaders of every country of the world are aware of our nuclear stockpile and what could trigger its use.
“We are the ONLY country in the world to have used nuclear weapons in combat.”
I wouldn’t call it combat exactly. (I like your little piece on choosing a country at random)