Iraq and the legacy of lies. Donald Kagan said it was our High Noon Gary Cooper moment.

[madfloridian]

Kagan was a professor of classical Greek history at Yale and an "influential advocate of a more aggressive foreign policy."

The Atlanta Journal Constitution printed his words in 2002.

The President's Real Goal in Iraq

Donald Kagan, a professor of classical Greek history at Yale and an influential advocate of a more aggressive foreign policy -- he served as co-chairman of the 2000 New Century project -- acknowledges that likelihood.

"If our allies want a free ride, and they probably will, we can't stop that," he says. But he also argues that the United States, given its unique position, has no choice but to act anyway.

"You saw the movie 'High Noon'? he asks. "We're Gary Cooper."

Accepting the Cooper role would be an historic change in who we are as a nation, and in how we operate in the international arena. Candidate Bush certainly did not campaign on such a change. It is not something that he or others have dared to discuss honestly with the American people. To the contrary, in his foreign policy debate with Al Gore, Bush pointedly advocated a more humble foreign policy, a position calculated to appeal to voters leery of military intervention.

The upcoming MSNBC special with Rachel Maddow reminds me of all the times we talked about all the lies in 2002 and 2003.

Iraq was a legacy of lies told and lies believed. A confused time. A tragic time.

In a November 1997 Sunday morning appearance on ABC, Defense Secretary William Cohen held up a five-pound bag of sugar for the cameras to dramatize the threat of Iraqi anthrax: "This amount of anthrax could be spread over a city -- let's say the size of Washington. It would destroy at least half the population of that city. One breath and you are likely to face death within five days."

"It could wipe out populations of whole countries!" Cokie Roberts gasped as Cohen described the Iraqi arsenal. "Millions, millions," Cohen responded, "if it were properly dispersed."

A year later, at a nationally televised town hall meeting on Iraq at Ohio State University, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright brought home the dangers: "Iraq is a long way from Ohio, but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risk that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face. The evidence is strong that Iraq continues to hide prohibited weapons and materials."

So much more at Mother Jones, the timeline they made in 2006.

Lie by Lie A Timeline of How We Got Into Iraq

Just some excerpts:

1/30/01

Saddam's removal is top item of Bush's inaugural national security meeting. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill later recalls, "It was all about finding a way to do it. The president saying, 'Go find me a way to do this.'" Date the public knew: 1/10/04

9/12/01

According to counterterror czar Richard Clarke, "[Bush] told us, 'I want you, as soon as you can, to go back over everything, everything. See if Saddam did this.'" Told evidence against Al Qaeda overwhelming, Bush asks for "any shred" Saddam was involved. Date the public knew: 3/22/04

9/21/01

Justice Department lawyer John Yoo declares Fourth Amendment flexible, writing: The government may be justified in taking measures which in less troubled conditions could be seen as infringements of individual liberties." Date the public knew: 10/24/04

Also on 9/21/01

Bush briefed by intel community that there is no evidence linking Saddam to 9/11. Date the public knew: 11/22/05

MJ kept the list updated online up through January 2012.

[madfloridian]

1. Love this article by Gary Cooper's daughter from July this year.

I doubt he would have appreciated being used by Donald Kagan to promote a war based on lies.

The Tao of Cooper: Why High Noon Still Matters

The great power of High Noon, I believe, was that very simplicity. It was the story of a lone man who does the right thing at the risk of his own life. Period, full stop. And it was just the right role for my father to play. He was born in the town of Helena, Montana in 1901. He worked the family’s small ranch, went to a small town school and befriended the Native American children who lived in the area. His father—my grandfather—was a state Supreme Court judge, and he taught his son to value a code of decency and justice. “I knew the role of Will Kane was a natural for me,” my father said more than once. “My dad used to tell me stories about the sheriffs he dealt with in his days on the Montana Supreme Court Bench.”

But that Western code has ranged far beyond Helena—and far beyond the U.S as well. In 1989, Poland was holding its first free elections and needed to impress on a public that hadn’t cast a genuine ballot in more than two generations just the kind of power they were being given to wield. Outside of every major polling station a poster was thus displayed—of Gary Cooper in the role of Will Kane, with the name and logo of the Solidarity party added above his badge and the gun in his hand replaced by a ballot.

[sabrina 1]

2. I think they got the roles mixed up. Gary Cooper's role would have been someone like

Kucinich, the good guy who tried to stop Bush/Cheney, the evil guys. Interesting that they are so confused about right and wrong. Seems to be a national epidemic.

[madfloridian]

3. Sabrina, I think you are right.

I find myself comparing the lies of the education reformers to the lies of the Iraq war. For the latter the consequences are much greater in terms of death, but the former are just every bit as blatant.

[madfloridian]

4. Remember when Rumsfeld said "Stuff happens" when Iraq's treasures were looted.

"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Declaring that freedom is "untidy," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday the looting in Iraq was a result of "pent-up feelings" of oppression and that it would subside as Iraqis adjusted to life without Saddam Hussein.

He also asserted the looting was not as bad as some television and newspaper reports have indicated and said there was no major crisis in Baghdad, the capital city, which lacks a central governing authority. The looting, he suggested, was "part of the price" for what the United States and Britain have called the liberation of Iraq.

"Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things," Rumsfeld said. "They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that's what's going to happen here."

Looting, he added, was not uncommon for countries that experience significant social upheaval. "Stuff happens," Rumsfeld said. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agreed. "This is a transition period between war and what we hope will be a much more peaceful time," Myers said."