Every time we print an article dealing with the mendacity and duplicity that has characterized the Bush administration, we get angry letters.
Back in May, we ran a piece about how the story of Pfc. Jessica Lynch was a load of hooey. She hadn't fought off the Iraqis until she ran out of ammo, she hadn't been shot and stabbed, she hadn't been tortured, and there wasn't an Iraqi soldier anywhere around when she was rescued.
The letters came pouring in. One guy called us Commies and asked how we could possibly know the circumstances surrounding the affair.
Last week, when the Army issued its official report, we felt somewhat vindicated. The Lynch story had indeed been fabricated from whole cloth, and the young woman's injuries were simply the result of a motor vehicle accident.
More letters came when we ran a column stating Bush either lied or repeated a lie told to him concerning Saddam Hussein's alleged attempt to obtain nuclear materials from Africa. One letter writer, an Air Force sergeant stationed in Colorado, said that if we had access to top secret information like he did, we'd know better than to question our president.
Ironically, on the very day his letter appeared in the paper, Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged that the Africa story wasn't true.
You might ask how we came by this information prior to the Army issuing its report or Powell holding his news conference. Do we have high-level sources in the intelligence community? The Pentagon?
The answer is much more mundane. We simply read newspapers and magazines published in countries that aren't completely intimidated or in love with George W. Bush. Britain's Manchester Guardian debunked both the Lynch and Africa stories months before the American media began questioning them.
If both of those highly publicized stories are false, how much of the rest of the propaganda that has so far led to the deaths of nearly 250 young Americans is hokum as well?
Maybe we'll find out and maybe we won't, but one thing is certain:
You're never going to find out watching Fox News and listening to Rush Limbaugh.
Keep those cards and letters coming, folks.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 15 2003 |