Beware of Low Flying Propaganda

The war dance has begun, with language creeping into daily reporting that prepares the American masses for another war. This time the target is Iran. It's subtle and it's been building for almost a year, but now we're experiencing the actual priming of the pump. Now, the Bush Administration is informally building its case with the American public and most folks will fall right into lock-step behind the marching orders when they come.

I saw a headline today denoting the missile used in an attack earlier this week on a US military base in Iraq was of Iranian origin. How many weapons used by insurgents in Iraq are manufactured in Iraq? None! We destroyed the Iraqi industrial complex (what little complex there was) when we invaded in 2003. Of course they get their weapons from someone else. How many of the weapons the insurgents use, do you think, are American made? Probably a large percentage, considering we routinely misplace about 1 of 25 weapons. Sure, there's a big difference between an insurgent stealing an American rifle and it being sold to him by Iran.

Let's look at it this way:

• When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, we supplied the Taliban with weapons and military training to resist them. Did the Soviets attack us for doing that? No.
• When Saddam Hussein invaded Iran, did Iran attack us directly for supplying him with ordinance and the weapons of mass destruction he used against them? No.
• Did we attack mainland China during the Korean War or during the Vietnam War? No.

We need to face the facts. Not everyone is our friend. That doesn't mean we need to attack everyone who aids our enemies. We should NOT invade Iran. We talked about this way back in 2005 when Rummy was casting his spell of doubt on why we couldn't slug our way out of the quagmire.

Keep your eyes open for this type of propaganda and when they start saying they have "actionable intelligence," just remember that they've used that line before.