The headline was outrageous: “U.S. details Iraqi missile fire” (The Oregonian, Sept. 30). Iraq shooting missiles at American aircrafts patrolling the no-fly zone? Those pesky Iraqi citizens trying to shoot our brave American soldiers out of the sky? What nerve! Who do they think they are?
For some reason, I don’t buy it. The story made me immediately think of two things. The first is a movie, “Wag the Dog.” The second occurred in 1964 and was named the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
“Wag the Dog” is a movie starring Robert De Niro as the president trying to convince the American public that they are at war in Albania when, in fact, there is no such war. De Niro and his aides hire top Hollywood producers, directors and actors to star in “war footage,” which is then distributed to news organizations who then broadcast to a dismayed American public.
In the end, the American people are never the wiser, the president wins re-election and all is well at the White House.
About 38 years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced to a shocked public that Vietnamese torpedo boats had launched an “unprovoked attack” against a U.S. destroyer on “routine patrol” in the Tonkin Gulf.
The story said that North Vietnamese PT boats “deliberately attacked” a pair of U.S. ships. Not long after, Johnson announced air strikes against North Vietnam, a huge escalation of the war.
In truth, the “routine patrol” was not routine, but rather a coordinated maneuver that aligned the United States with the South Vietnamese Navy and the Laotian Air Force. Years later, the truth came out and America discovered that Tonkin did not happen as the President said it had. The story was manufactured to draw America into a war that the White House had already mapped out.
As of a few days ago, the White House released never-before-seen footage of U.S. planes being fired at in Iraq. The tapes show a two-missile battery swiveling in a circle, then launching a missile at the pilotless spy plane which was shooting the video. The tapes were once confidential but now, for some odd reason, are available for the voting public to see.
The question here is: Why? Why did the government decide to suddenly publish this new, previously
classified information? The
most likely
reason is to give
the Bush
administration all of the support it needs to
declare war and bomb the hell out of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
Since Iraq is now actually firing at United States aircraft, potentially endangering American citizens, isn’t that cause for war? That’s exactly what President Bush wants the American public to think.
On Wednesday, Bush reached an agreement with House leaders authorizing him to use force against Iraq. The agreement read, “The president is authorized to use the armed forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq.” (The Oregonian, Oct. 3). President Bush may be authorized to use military force as he sees fit? What a scary thought. I hope Congress is scared, too.
One part Gulf of Tonkin, one part Wag the Dog? I truly hope not, but something makes me think that the folks in charge of running America are not above this kind of action. Bush wants to declare war so bad he can taste it, and this may just be the event that will give him the consensus to do it.
Trust the government? Not me. Hollywood shows that this kind of thing is more than possible, and history shows it has been done before.