For Bush, lies follow lies

[dArKeR]

For those who backed Bush, the argument over the Iraq war has moved beyond facts and on to pure fervor

By Sidney Blumenthal
THE GUARDIAN , LONDON
Monday, May 03, 2004,Page 9

Perhaps the most important divide in the US presidential campaign is between fact and fiction. There are, of course, other sharp distinctions based on region and religiosity, guns and gays, abstinence and abortion. But were the election to be decided on domestic concerns alone, US President George W. George Bush would be near certain to join the ranks of one-term presidents -- like his father after the aura of the Gulf war evaporated.

But one year after Bush's triumphant May Day landing on the deck of the USS Lincoln and appearance behind a "Mission Accomplished" sign, his splendid little war has entered a Stalingrad-like phase of urban siege and house-to-house combat. April was the bloodiest month by far -- 122 US soldiers killed compared with 73 last April in the supposed last month of the war. The unending war has inspired among Bush's backers a rally-round-the-flag effect, a redoubling of belief.

They believe in the cause as articulated by Vice President Dick Cheney, this week in his speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, where Winston Churchill delivered his "iron curtain" oration. "You and I are living in such a time" of the "gravest of threats," Cheney said. Once again, he explained the motive for the Iraq war, implicitly conflating former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein with al-Qaeda and oblivious to the failure to discover weapons of mass destruction.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2004/05/03/2003153981

[Miss Authoritiva]

1. "The idea of proof has shifted from fact to fervor."

This is always the most dangerous time. Those in rapturous fervor cannot be reasoned with; you pretty much have to wait until they exhaust themselves.