By Kenneth J. Theisen, 4/8/07
In a radio interview with Rush Limbaugh on April 5th, Vice
President Dick Cheney repeated his lies that al-Qaeda was connected to Saddam
Hussein. He did this despite the fact
that the Department of Defense on the same day released a report with more
evidence that Saddam and the Iraqi government did not cooperate with the terrorist
group.
In the interview, Cheney contended that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
was head of the al-Qaeda in Iraq
before the 2003 invasion. The VP stated, “He took up residence there
before we ever launched into Iraq,
organized the al-Qaeda operations inside Iraq
before we even arrived on the scene and then, of course, led the charge for Iraq until we
killed him last June. As I say, they were present before we invaded Iraq.”
This then justifies the invasion in order destroy those who attacked the U.S. on 9/11 or
so goes Cheney’s argument.
But the Pentagon report which was released Thursday directly
contradicts Cheney. The report cites
interrogations of Saddam Hussein and his former aides. It also cites Iraqi documents seized by U.S. forces
after the invasion. According to the
report, the interrogations and documents confirm that al-Qaeda and the Iraqi
government were not working together prior to the U.S.-led invasion. In addition the 9/11 Commission report issued
in 2004 also found no evidence of a relationship between Saddam and al-Qaeda. And
as we know now, the CIA had also concluded before the invasion that there was
no evidence of the existence of ties between the Iraqi government and al-Qaeda.
So why does Cheney keep insisting that ties did exist? Is he just stupid or stubborn?
One reason is that it works to mislead at least some people
into supporting the actions of the Bush regime.
Just one example – an April 2004 poll taken by the University of
Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes found that 57 percent of
Americans surveyed believed that Iraq was helping al-Qaeda before the war,
including 20 percent who believed Iraq was linked to the 9/11 attacks. The overwhelming majority of those that
believed these two lies supported the invasion of Iraq.
Various other polls taken since 9/11, confirm that a
significant segment of the population believe these lies, despite all the
evidence to the contrary. This should not be surprising. Right-wing talk-shows, magazines, blogs, and
books continue to emphasize the ties between Iraq and al-Qaeda. Many of them continue to insist that weapons
of mass destruction also existed. In some polls as many as 20% of those
surveyed actually believe that WMDs were discovered after the invasion even
though none were found. Many of those who support the Bush regime only get
their news from these “news” sources.
Cheney and other top supporters know that these allegations
are not true. But they also know of the
quote of Joseph Goebbels – “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it,
people will eventually come to believe it.”
In Mein Kampf, Hitler also promoted telling the big lie. “All
this was inspired by the principle – which is quite true in itself – that in
the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad
masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of
their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily;”and they would not
believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so
infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought
clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to
think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie
always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact
which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire
together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use
falsehood for the basest purposes.”
Cheney does “have the impudence to distort the truth so
infamously” and “to use falsehood for the basest purposes.” We must have the
courage to continue to expose these lies with truth no matter how many times
the Bush regime repeats them. And the only way to halt these lies and stop the
policies which they support is to drive the Bush regime from power.