Was it truth or propaganda afterall?

Question

Bush used three soundbites in his speech to the nation to win support for war.
1. axis of evil
2. weapons of mass destruction
3. war on terror

Now that North Korea is making nuclear weapons (weapons of mass destruction) and is a global threat, was Bush right or was it all just propaganda?

Answer 1

Yes they were used as propaganda.

I will explain.

1. axis of evil - Bush said Iran, Iraq and N. Korea

A. Iran - is a member of the NPT therefore has every right to enrich uranium for energy purposes as long as inspectors have full access. They have repeatedly stated they have no intentions of enriching uranium metal that is required for nuclear weapons. When you hear Bush talk on tv about Iran and nuclear weapons, those are his words.. propaganda.. not what Iran has said. Also, Iran has no history of being the aggressor during any military conflict.

B. Iraq - Saddam was contained due to very successful sanctions. Contained, as in, he had absolutely no WMDs, his military was next to nothing and posed no threat to any other nations.

C. N.Korea in the late 90s stated it desired to created nuclear missiles but after testing one in 1998, there were a lot of negotiations so they backed off. In December, 2001, Bush removed the USA from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (treaty that states you will not make long range nuclear weapons). Consdier the following sequence of events:
1. Bush removes the USA from the ABT in Dec, 2001
2. Bush stated N.Korea, Iraq and Iran are on his axis of evil - 2002
3. Bush asked the UN to invade Iraq but UN says not yet
4. Bush ignores the UN and invades Iraq -2003
Once N.Korea saw this they immediately restarted their nuclear weapon program.

Axis of Evil conclusion - there is no axis of evil
- Can you blame any of those countries for reacting the way they have?
- Who is the evil? The one who is taking threatening actions, Bush? Or the ones attempting to defend themselves?

2. WMDs

A. There were no WMDs.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darkside/view/

B. Refer to Axis of Evil under C.N. Korea for explanation of their creating nuclear weapons.

3. War on Terror

A. By unjustiably occupying Iraq, Bush has created more terrorists than we ever could have imagined.

B. Bush could have ended the war on terror on Sept 18 and 19th, 2001 when the Taliban offerred to hand B.Laden over to a nuetral country to be put on trial. Bush said no.

C. You can't wage war on an ideology. You have to have a physical enemy. The enemy has now been named, Islamic Fascists. Fascism is a political ideology. Islam is a religious ideology, and one in which government and religion are one and the same, in its most fundamental application. And no matter how you define it, Islamic fascism is still just an ideology. It can be anywhere and everywhere. So does this give the USA the right to invade any country it feels like, just because thery are Islamic nations?

War on Terror Conclusion:
- This so called 'war on terror' is a farce. It is not really a war but merely a means for Bush to increase his executive powers and authority.
- Terrorism that exist today has been the direct result of Bush's actions.
- We were attacked on 911 by the Taliban. We had the Taliban dismantled and defeated with 3 months after 911.

Answer 2

Well, I think even Bush himself will admit that the 2nd one was a lie. All of it is propaganda. The war on terror began with September 11th, then suddenly the US was at war with Iraq, why? Iraq had nothing to do with the terror plots. The "axis of evil" is a ridiculous, overused term that Bush has used purely as propaganda to maintain support from ignorant people. The "axis of evil" has become synonomous with the Muslim world which is tragic. I am not denying that there are global threats, and I beleive North Korea to be one of them, but most of the propaganda we have seen has targeted the Middle East and Bush's quest for imperialism. Sure, Saddam may have been a tyrant, but he's not the only one in the world, and Iraq was better off with him than without him. Look at what has happened with this war... thousands of people are dying and the situation is not getting any better. The US can provide no solution to the crisis there, the Iraqi people didn't want their assistance and they will not be self sufficient until Bush gets out. Meanwhile, all of the tax dollars of US citizens are being poured into the rebuilding of Iraq which is an impossible conquest. That money could be used in the US to better the US infrastructure and provide services to the people in the US. ---- And what about these other threats that exist in the world: North Korea, Iran? What if they decided to become aggressive with the US at this moment that all of our resources are in Iraq? That is a scary thought because the US has put themself in a vulnerable situation. Iraq was not necessary, now if North Korea decides to start something, so time, energy, money, resources, soldiers, and morale has been lost in an unnecessary Iraq that the US would be in real trouble when strength is actually necessary for the real protection of "US Freedom." Iraq was in no way threatening the US freedom, once Bush admitted there were no weapons of "mass destruction," he used the argument: "we are here to liberate the Iraqi people!" Do you really think Bush gives a rat's *** about the Iraqi people, I seriously doubt it. And the Iraqi people were better off before, now they actually seek liberation.

Answer 3

As usual he said the right thing in a wrong way. He's certainly not stupid.
1.The three countries in the axis of evil Iran, Syria and North Korea are states that support terrorism or are totalitarian. Two are nuclear, one supports Hezbollah. All have the potential to develop into a threat for Israel and the west.
2. Iraq certainly used WMD on Iran and the kurds. Although the factories and stocks might have been gone, not the knowlegde of how to produce them quickly.
3. To call for war on those who killed 3000 civillians is not propaganda, it is a national interest.

Answer 4

Propaganda right out of his book, "My Pet Goat."

Go Double Mint Go! I am now a Green Double Mint party supporter.

Paul K quoted on 9/7/06:
"Double Mint. Both the R and the D seem to attract the "extreme". I believe the answers are usually in the middle and I recognize the need for compromise. I also think it is important to know the person. When I vote, it is usually 1/4 R, 1/4 D, The remaining are Independent or left blank."

Answer 5

Well, what axis? Little North Korea backed by China!

He hasn't found a WMD yet and it has been almost 5 years!

Does shooting ourselves in the foot, getting 2,889 military KIA in a country that had nothing to do with any of that, count as a "war on Terror! If there ever was such a thing, as it can't be measured and you can never tell when it is over! That just sounds like an open ended license to rip us off!!

Answer 6

Is North Korea a threat to the U.S.? Yes.
Was Iraq a threat to the U.S.? No.

Are we negotiating with North Korea? Yes.
Did we negotiate with Iraq? Not really.

Is our nation's foreign policy backwards? Yes.
Does the fact that North Korea is dangerous give any justification to our invasion of Iraq? No.
Does this fact mean that nothing Bush said was actually propaganda, but rather all 100% true? No.

Answer 7

don't be worried with those mind washed American's. maximum of them nonetheless trust Saddam change into behind 911. they're going to settle for trust and look after to their deaths something their authorities tells them through the authorities propaganda networks. Fox, CNN, CNBC and the different significant information resources. depending on the fool above who claims united statesa. has a loose and self sustaining press. take heed to what Scott McClellan is affirming. the former Press secretary less than Bush W stated the White domicile sends speaking factors to FOX information. Russian peacekeeping troops were in Ossetia for years and were licensed in international agreements with a view to guard the electorate of the area from attacks through the Georgian militia. Georgia's acts of warfare were ordered through the Minister of protection who merely occurs to also be an Israeli citizen, pass figure! the very reality and reality is this warfare, like all wars, is yet another Jewish/Zionist initiated warfare. Russia knows this and replied for this reason. so a concepts as many of the responses the following is going, do not enable the actual undeniable reality that ninety 8% of human beings are about as wise and suggested as a tree stump quit you from asking authentic questions and spreading the reality.

Answer 8

Bush is now trying to sway public opinion prior to the November elections. The only card he has left to play is the "we'll keep you safe" card. In order to play that card successfully, he has to make you afraid.

A good salesman always does two things: 1) creates a desire in the mind of the customer (realize a gain / avoid a loss) and 2) fulfills that desire based on the thoughts previously planted in the mind of the customer.

Be prepared for an onslaught of "be afraid" so that "we can protect you" over the next 60 days. ABC is running a two night "fraud" on Sunday and Monday - designed to prop up the Republicans. The poorly educated will suck it up like nectar, if they're not watching football, that is.

You also have to create someone to be afraid of. In this case it's the axis of evil. How would you, as a citizen of any of these countries, like to be labeled that way, and how would it make you feel - especially if your government doesn't represent you. It would piss me off, because it's painting me and my neighbors in these countries with the same brush. The vast majority of them love freedom, just as we do.

No weapons of mass destruction - another invention to scare the public into supporting the war in Iraq.

War on terror - no link to Iraq until we invaded the country. After invading Iraq, the terrorists came to us, from all around the middle east. Self fulfilling prophecy - now the administration is saying "see - I told you so - there are terrorists in Iraq". Now we have to stay the course, to the tune of $11,000,000 an hour. By the way - all of it is on our credit card - to be paid off by your children. Who holds the credit card ? Communist China -who sucks up your dollars every time you walk into WalMart. What are they doing with your dollars - you got it - expanding their already huge military and improving their nukes.

North Korea - got it right - they learned from us that you only get respect when you have a huge army and nukes. Iran has the huge army - now they're working on the nukes - just like we taught them. By the way, they're paying for the nuke technology with billions of our oil dollars - ain't it great ? We drive - they spend our oil dollars for nukes. How many Americans would limit their driving to starve the Iranians of our oil dollars ? Zero. What goes around comes around.

Answer 9

the media in the US is all propaganda

I think its foolish of us to not focus more of our attention on N.K. since they already have nuclear weapons and were already stopped by S.K. and China from doing testing.
We are focused more on Iran for obvious reasons (OIL) even though they are years away from having the capacity to have a nuclear weapon.

If we were really about going after the nukes we would be going after NK not Iran. Buts its not realy about the nukes, now is it.

Answer 10

He said that the axis of evil was Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. Sounds right to me. Maybe we just didn't deal with them in the right order.