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War - with faith as a fellow-traveller

We all know that George Bush is some sort of "convert" to religion and faith. In many instances people like him are like reformed smokers! That aside, Bush has given prominence to his faith in pursuing the Iraq War and the outcome - even if the facts are so opposite to his blind, some would say, misguided, faith of how things are going in Iraq and what the outcome will be.

Saul Landau, in a piece "Faith-Based War" published on CounterPunch, reflects on this notion of "faith" and backgrounds the deceitful actions of people like Henry Kissinger:

"Washington DC made its reputation around the world as the city where nothing succeeds like failure – take Bush and Wolfowitz as examples. Few “realists” tell the truth, especially in matters of public policy. But President Bush has discovered a new way around truth: faith. He has faith that the US military will win in Iraq despite the impressive array of facts that would cause less fervent believers to waver. His style of operating -- classify everything and don’t talk to anyone but absolutely loyal reporters and God – contrasts sharply with the Nixon-Kissinger era.

Nixon recorded his criminal conversations, which showed he knew about the cover up of the 1972 Watergate break-in. During the early and mid 1970s, Dr. Henry Kissinger served Nixon and then Gerald Ford as combined Secretary of State and National Security Adviser. He invited the mainstream press to regular “background briefings.”

Kissinger used these sessions, as the late Larry Stern of the Washington Post explained to me in 1975, “to weave a seamless web of lies and truth so the media would not have a clue as to what he was really up to.” For example, Kissinger swore he had not ordered the CIA to destabilize Chile just as he gave orders to destabilize Chile. A 1975 Senate Sub Committee under Frank Church (D-ID) proved Kissinger lied.

The legendary I. F. Stone advised reporters not to attend such briefings – unless, he said “you want to hear lies.” A New York Times reporter in the 1970s said Kissinger phoned the Washington editor of the Times at 5 PM and advised him on which story to use as the next day’s lead. And Max Frankel usually followed K’s advice."

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