Russell Henderson [02/18/2003]

To the editor: Colin Powell recently gave a command performance before the UN Security Council, in an effort to convince it of Iraqs immediate threat to the world. The fortress of facts that he tried to construct turns out to be built of straw on a foundation of exaggeration and lies.Powell praised a British dossier (Iraq-Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation) as a fine paper... which describes in exquisite detail Iraqi deception activities. The dossier, it turns out, was not compiled from British intelligence sources, but was largely plagiarized from a student thesis, and from articles in Janes Intelligence Review.Powell spoke of a terrorist chemical and poisons factory in northern Iraq. A group of 20 journalists found no signs of such a facility in a recent trip to the site.Powell spoke of ties between Hussein and al Qaeda. British and U.S. intelligence documents and agents claim that it is very likely that no current links exist.These and other exaggerations and lies coming from the Bush administrations public relations campaign for war are harmful to American democracy. Democracy thrives on honest debate, but democracy withers when the public is deceived into adopting a particular, and possibly unjustified, position. The public has been deceived. According to a poll by the Pew Research Center, 66 percent believed (Saddam) was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. There is no evidence to suggest such a link. In another poll, 41 percent of Americans believe that Saddam Hussein currently has nuclear weapons (and 35 percent are not sure). Only 24 percent of those polled know the truth. Iraq has no nuclear weapons.The Bush administrations public relations campaign kicked in again when a new audio tape from bin Laden was poised to be broadcast. The administration preemptively commented that the tape proved that bin Laden and Hussein were linked. Thanks to the mainstream U.S. media, most Americans will accept these comments as true. They are false.Osama bin Laden actually said ...fighting should be for the sake of the one God. It should not be for championing ethnic groups, or for championing the non-Islamic regimes in all Arab countries, including Iraq. And ...there will be no harm if the interests of Muslims converge with the interests of the socialists in the fight against the crusaders, despite our belief in the infidelity of socialists. The jurisdiction of the socialists and those rulers has fallen a long time ago. Socialists are infidels wherever they are, whether they are in Baghdad or Aden. Osama despises Saddam, but he despises the United States more.The government lies, and the people lose.