Why is it that Americans have such a problem admitting their mistakes? It's like Fonzie from "Happy Days". Remember when he would try to apologize and say he was wrong and could only get out, "I was Wrrrrr...." I think it is the image of being number one and being on the winning side is all that counts. No one remembers who came in second, right? When I talk of being able to admit a mistake I am not talking about this (mis)administration, because we know they will never admit a mistake. I am talking about the American people being able to admit they made a mistake in trusting this (mis)administration. As I read these two articles today: Facing the truth about Iraq and Bush Was All Too Willing to Use Emigrés' Lies, they made me wonder if anyone is paying attention. Now that it has become obvious that we were lied into this war has anyone noticed. There was a CBS news poll released last week that says, "61% think the Administration has usually told the truth but has hidden some things." I have always thought it interesting the way they ask poll questions. Think about that statement! "Usually" told the truth, "has hidden some things." To me that statement means they tell the truth except for when they lie.

Not only do we want a winner, we also do not want to admit we were scammed. This is the reason, I believe, that most Americans still have not come around. If what that poll says is correct, a majority of Americans believe some things have been hidden. But can they actually admit that they were duped and told lies to get them to acquiesce to war? I don't think most who trusted Bush can admit this to themselves yet. The question now is what has to happen to get them to admit it. Never forget the power of the "The Big Lie".

This story exposes the untold story of the wounded in Iraq. Number of Wounded in Action on Rise.

This is an excerpt from a post on www.juancole.com. This site has some really intersting stuff on Iraq and the Middle East from their point of view.

*The excellent Australian program AM reports a secret United Nations document that details a rise in the number and sophistication of attacks on US troops in the Sunni Arab triangle. Former military intelligence official Pat Lang reacted in an AM interview: "Well if you read down through the body of the rest of that report, they list all these incidents. And if you brought them out on a map, and I believe there were actually a couple of diagrams in that report that showed the distribution, you've got these attacks all over the area from just south of Baghdad all the way up to Mosul and pretty far over in the west beyond Fallujah – this is you know, about a third of the country, that's a bad thing, you know. I mean, it shows that this is not going away at all, in fact it's getting worse. When American authorities say they don't want any more troops there, that gives me pause because you need to saturate the country with troops in order to put a stop to this."

The same report says a soldier at the al-Rasheed Hotel sent them an email that is scathing about the civilian Bremer administration. He said that the civil administrators are chasing skirts and "hooking up with nice-looking gals from US and Iraq," and that they worry about "running out of Coke and Diet Coke to go with their steak and crab leg dinner." Meanwhile, the soldiers "look like hobo's and live like pigs". AM paraphrases, "Those within the Mr Bremer's authority have created a sterile ivory castle that distorts their view of the country." The message signs off, "there's no Iraqi representation at the levels making decisions on Iraq's future. The message we are sending is pretty confusing to the Iraqis. Their provisional government even has to come to Saddam's old palace for meetings. Go figure." See this link

It's good to see that the "Ugly American" is still holding his own.

This is a good summation, with explanations, on the lies we have been told about 9/11. September 11th And The Bush Administration.
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 7:46 AM