I remember seeing Bush on TV at some point in time, telling his tale of how he came to God.  Had that been almost anyone else telling that story I might have believed it.  What I was seeing was a man who realized that a story of this kind would tug at America’s religious heartstrings and maybe we wouldn’t be able to see the monster lurking beneath the surface.  In my opinion, this was one of the greatest motivational lies, told by one of the greatest liars of modern times.

Remember when Bush, the Rice, then Cheney, then Rumsfeld all stood berfore the camera’s at one point or another and not only told the nation that we would get even with those who attacked us, but if we didn’t…..there could be “smoking guns” in the form of mushroom clouds over (name your city).  These were outright motivational lies.  And they worked!  We wanted revenge! And how else could they get us to not only  condone but to send our family members to war on the side of the world, especially one against a country that had no part in 9/11?  And when the lies were exposed? Well……they just mispoke. But we remained motivated, most of us preferring the lie versus the truth.

Other motivational lies have come in the form of statements such as “if you’re not with us, you’re against us”.  We had a president and entire administration along with a cadre of corrupt individuals who had already decided to act unilaterally and if they could induce other countries via monetary donations or quid pro quo, so much the better.  They didn’t care if anyone was with us…..they weren’t the ones who would have to go to war; they would just be those who reaped the rewards.

Another motivational lie was, “if you don’t support the war, you don’t support the troops.”  And how many of us jumped in behind that one?  Then the caskets starting coming home and it became apparent that we were destroying a country that had done nothing to us.  But all of that meant nothing because Bush claimed “God” told him to strike Iraq.  At this point, if you didn’t support the war……you obviously didn’t support God either.  Talk about motivation!

The night Bush appeared on TV and announced that we would wage a pre-emptive war of aggression against Iraq, his concern was not the number of innocent Iraqi’s that might be slaughtered.  He wasn’t concerned that many of our soldiers would likely forfeit their lives or be horribly wounded.  No…..he looked directly into the camera and addressed the American public with a mesaage really intended for the Iraqi people and said, “Do not destroy the oil wells”.  Apparently Bush’s God needs oil for some reason.

I personally believe that if God ever were to speak to George W. Bush, it would be something more along the lines of …..”George! Shut up! You’re lying!”

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Under this presidency, a fraud in itself, one fraud after another has been purpetrated on the American people.  It’s our own fault.  We allowed this to continue.  We have allowed ourselves to be lulled into compliance by the notion that government wanted only to protect us from those “terrorists”, while never admitting that those we needed to fear most were walking around unhindered in D.C. 

Many of us also tuned into hate radio and the continuous vomit inducing ramblings of Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter and Bill O’Reilly among many others.  And didn’t they make some of feel good with constant pandering to the worst in humanity and continuing the motivational lies.  They almost made you feel like it was OK to be stupid, to hate without reason and to spread unfounded lies and misinformation……right up to the point that listening to them, believing them, started costing you your freedom; right up until it was your son or daughter, your husband or father who had to go fight a war for oil, knowing that they were not being sent to war to bring freedom or demcracy to a country that desired neither, but rather, to help Mobil/Exxon, British Petroleum and Dutch Shell gain access to the massive oil deposits they had been prohibited from accessing prior to the war. 

And here we are today, just months from the next presidential election and what has changed?  Bush no longer claims God speaks to him, but congress sits on its collective rear ends and pretends that it would be a waste of time to hold Bush & Co. accountable for the lies and deceptions that lead us to war.  All our hopes for accountability and punnishment for the mass murder of 1.2 million Iraqi’s and the deaths of more than 4,000 of our soldiers all for the sake of oil cartels and greed…..is a waste of time.  So says our congress.  So says Princess Pelosi and Senator Reid.

The success of the 2006 elections which brought Democrats into control of both houses was premised on the greatest of all motivational lies.  The premise and promise of change.  Change predicated on correcting the corruption of this administration, changes that would reinstate our constitutional liberities and protections and repeal the eggregious actions of the last seven years.  Instead, we got a new majority that has been just as active in assaulting our liberties, just as protective of corruption and deception.

And now as the summer comes into full swing, we have to watch for another motivational lie that will mark the beginning of the war with Iran.  At some point, we will be told motivational lies to meant to make us support war on Iran.  At what point will we motivate ourselves to stand up and say “enough!”

Marti Oakley (c)2007-08