www.agp.org | archives | war & peace | When the 'Big Lie' Becomes the Truth

When all the dust had settled after the US/UK invasion of Iraq, it quickly became apparent to everyone that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). Visibly embarrassed and facing an impending scandal, the Bush cabinet proceeded to mount its own face-saving WMD 'hunting expedition', under the so-called Iraq Survey Group (ISG), headed by Dr. David Kay, an intelligence insider, hand picked by the CIA.

In his January 20, 2004 State of the Union Address, President Bush intimated, amidst applause, that the 1400-member ISG team had finally found the WMDs: "Already, the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the UN. Had we failed to act, the dictator's WMDs programs would continue to this day."

Ironically, three days later, Bush's trusted appointee Dr. Kay not only resigned from his position as 'special adviser' to CIA Director George Tenet, he also refuted, in no uncertain terms, the very substance of the President's State of the Union address: "I don't think they existed. What everyone was talking about is stockpiles produced after the end of the Gulf War, and I don't think there was a large-scale production program in the '90s." (Reuters, 24 January 2004).Two weeks later, George Tenet went on record to say that the CIA "never said there was an imminent threat" from Iraq. That idea, he said, emanated from the White House. Needless to say, the CIA not only briefs President Bush on a daily basis, it is also one of the major sources of fabricated intelligence.

Moreover, former Treasury Secretary, Paul O'Neill confirmed earlier in January on CBS '60 Minutes' that Bush had planned the invasion/occupation of Iraq well before September 11, 2001. (See p. 51) What the Bush administration (including the Pentagon and the CIA) wanted was to find an excuse – any excuse – to invade and occupy Iraq.

What these revelations suggest is that President Bush has now been exposed as an outright liar and war criminal 'from within', by several of his trusted appointees and close collaborators. And that he's going to be running for office, in November 2004, with this record.

Meanwhile in Britain, the Hutton Inquiry, which had been set up to investigate the apparent 'suicide' of bio-weapons expert Dr. David Kelly, released its report. Referred to by the British media as 'a whitewash', the Hutton report has, as expected, served to vindicate Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had been accused of having 'exaggerated' the Iraq WMD threat in the months leading up to the invasion. The report, however, remains evasive on the cause of David Kelly's death. Was it a suicide or a political assassination? (See Global Outlook, Issue No. 6 for our feature story on Dr. Kelly.)

After the release of the report, Prime Minister Tony Blair demanded an apology from the BBC for accusing him of 'sexing up' the intelligence documents to sell the war. The two top executives of the BBC have since resigned as a protest to government interference.

The Bush-Blair lies concerning Iraq's alleged WMDs are extensive – from the outright forging of the WMD intelligence presented by Colin Powell to the UN Security Council in February 2003, to the faked Niger uranium dossier and to the numerous fabricated stories on the alleged links between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. But also, let's not forget the 'dirty tricks' revealed by whistleblower Katharine Gun (a translator at Britain's electronic intelligence monitoring center), who leaked a highly classified US National Security Agency memo (31 January 2003) outlining Washington's plan to spy on delegates to the UN Security Council. The idea was to gain valuable "information that could give US policy makers an edge favorable to US goals" to invade Iraq. The intelligence ploy was not only directed against the 'swing six' non-permanent Security Council members (Angola, Cameroon, Guinea, Chile, Mexico and Pakistan), it also targeted China, which is a permanent member of the UN body.

We have reached a new phase in the evolution of Bush Senior's 'New World Order' – a functioning global police state is unfolding before our eyes. (See ps. 45 & 46 for the Mahar Arar story.) Freedom of the press is practically dead. The mainstream media has been transformed into an instrument of the State reminiscent of Pravda back in the days of the USSR. More seriously, whoever challenges 'the official version' of the truth, faces jail or 'accidental death'. For example, Katharine Gun could face a two-year prison term "for acting on her conscience and helping to bring the spy memo to light." Dr. David Kelly supposedly committed suicide (according to the findings of the Hutton report) and John J. Kokal, a weapons' expert with the intelligence and research division of the State Department (involved in the Iraq weapons' dossier) also apparently committed suicide. (See p. 31.)

So there we have it – Bush and Blair, common liars and war criminals, get away with breaking all sorts of international laws, committing mass murder of innocent civilians and leading us into a century of 'wars without end', while the whistleblowers are either punished for their deeds or "pushed over the edge".

The 'big lie' has now become the truth ... and the truth has become a 'conspiracy theory'.

To express your opinion on this article, join the discussion at Global Research's News and Discussion Forum , at http://globalresearch.ca.myforums.net/index.php

The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at www.globalresearch.ca grants permission to cross-post original CRG articles in their entirety, or any portions thereof, on community internet sites, as long as the text and title of the article are not modified. The source must be acknowledged as follows: Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at www.globalresearch.ca. The active URL hyperlink address of the original CRG article and the author's copyright note must be clearly displayed. (For articles from other news sources, check with the original copyright holder, where applicable.) For publication of CRG articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: editor@globalresearch.ca.

When the 'Big Lie' Becomes the Truth

by Michel Chossudovsky and Ian Woods