Here is a great book for those of us in the “I told you so” crowd or whatever name Tricky Dick apologist William Safire calls us. Rampton and Stauber are pros at proving point by point, reference by reference, what a great load of BS the invasion of Iraq was. This is not some made-up list of accusations a la Ann Coulter. These two have actual proof through their news-article references that somehow were buried in the American media. They also go back to the recent history of the conflict and we are not talking since late 2001, more along the mid to late Eighties to make their point on the mainstream media took the sucker bait earlier. A great example of something I always knew but many need to be reminded about is how the “star” witness regarding Iraq’s invasion was a complete liar when she told a yarn over how incubators from hospitals were stolen. Firstly, Nayirah’s (if that was her real name) story was an outright fabrication since she was not present during the events. She is the daughter of Saud Nasir-al-Sabah, Kuwait’s ambassador to the US and has been in America for years. Secondly, the UN and Amnesty International followed up with investigations when Kuwait was “liberated” (for the same undemocratic government which still reigns today) and found absolutely nothing to confirm such events. Thirdly, Kuwait is the size of a small New England state. Does anyone think a country so small has 300 incubators let alone that many children being born under any conditions? How this happenened is where the authors shine in their investigations. Kuwait affected public opinion through lies, deception and spin courtesy of PR firms, which is what they have argued in their past books on toxic waste and BSE (mad-cow disease) in the US.
Fear not oh Republicans and Liberal-haters. The book has venom for the Democrats’ failure on the Middle East and using or getting used by the PR Lie Machine. However, this fraudulent invasion was dreamed up and constructed by Right-wing think tanks while they were pushing Clinton to jump into this quagmire. He was content to just lob some missiles at them to distract us from Lewinsky, boredom and/or bad advice from his cabinet. It does not matter now. The invasion happened, the country is a mess and the US will have to be there for a generation or else leave it a disaster for another brutal dictator to take control of. At least this very-well written and researched book takes the lead in the post-mortem of foreign policy blunders.
Let us see the Coulter-Limbaugh crowd squirm out of this as these facts put them on the ropes. I really enjoy books that give me ammo to back what I have always felt and known. Shuts down the Right’s tactics of using Jesus, screaming, red-baiting and violent threats.