March 16, 2004

More Fakery. "TV news reports in America that showed President George Bush getting a standing ovation from potential voters have been exposed as fake ... The US government admitted it paid actors to pose as journalists in video news releases sent to TV stations intending to convey support for new laws about health benefits. Investigators are examining the film segments ... to see if they could be construed as propaganda." (More here and here)

George W. Bush, January 23, 2002: "I have no ambition whatsoever to use [national security] as a political issue." ... March 2004: "Administration sources tell TIME that employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been asked to keep their eyes open for opportunities to pose the President in settings that might highlight the Administration's efforts to make the nation safer. The goal, they are being told, is to provide Bush with one homeland-security photo-op a month."

The Iraq on the Record Report is "a comprehensive examination of the statements made by the five Administration officials most responsible for providing public information and shaping public opinion on Iraq (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell and Rice). ... This database identifies 237 specific misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq made by these five officials in 125 public appearances in the time leading up to and after the commencement of hostilities in Iraq."

"Two US Army medics in Iraq have applied for conscientious objector status and want to be honorably discharged from the military because the idea of killing is "revolting" to them ... News of the two soldiers' requests follow another application for conscientious objector status by Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia of Miami Beach, Fla. He surrendered Monday at an air force base in Massachusetts five months after failing to return to duty while on home leave after serving in Iraq." ... Another report says 600 soldiers have avoided service in Iraq.

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