How you can tell when the President's lying

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Barbara Putnam, Kwame M.A. Somburu, Sylvia Weinstein.

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2 SOCIALIST ACTION FEBRUARY 199 During the Vietnam war, a standup comic told this joke about President Lyndon B. Johnson. Question: How do you know when the president is lying? Answer: His lips are moving.

This is no joke when it comes to President Bush, who for many years headed the CIA. After all, you don't give a guy the secret Rolodex files unless you can trust him to keep his mouth shut on every dirty trick ever turned by the U.S. capitalist class and their war machine.

In fact, Bush created the "contras," the El Salvador death squads, and who knows what else. Let's look at some of the lies he has been spewing forth since he attacked Iraq.

Who spilled the oil?

The first TV announcement of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf said that a Kuwaiti oil storage tank had ruptured and spilled thousands of gallons of oil. Bush immediately went on the air and denounced Saddam Hussein as a madman for turning on the oil spigot and trying to destroy the environment.

What is the truth? Hussein has said that he is not responsible for this disaster and that the spill is a result of the massive U.S. bombing raids. Even though I have no reason to take anyone's word in such a situation, the circumstantial evidence tends to support Hussein.

The fact is that the U.S. has been trying to blow Kuwait and Iraq to smithereens. The generals have been on TV announcing the relentless "surgical" air and sea strikes against Iraqi "military targets." Given the admitted 2000 daily bombing runs, in the first 10 days alone that adds up to 20,000 "surgical" strikes. That's some surgery!

It seems more likely that the oil spill resulted from this unrestrained bombing, which is designed either to demoralize the Iraqis and get them to quit, or to soften up Kuwait in preparation for the ground assault against Iraqi troops dug in there.

Two years ago, the Alaskan oil pipeline ruptured-and it wasn't even bombed. It had been pronounced as the strongest, safest pipeline in the world; nevertheless, it ruptured and spilled oil. Kuwait is surrounded by massive oil storage tanks; some of the pipes are so large you can drive a car through them.

Isn't it more likely that U.S. bombs, and not "madman" Hussein, caused the damage to the oil storage tank? I believe it is "Madman Bush"—not Saddam Hussein—who is destroying the ecology of the Gulf.

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expressed in editorials. is, in my opinion, the workings of the U.S bombing raids. First of all, U.S. generals were complaining about low cloud cover over Kuwait two weeks before the oil storage fire. They were crying that it made "surgical bombing" difficult. The Iraqi troops did not need the huge oil fire to provide cloud cover.

In fact, that massive oil fire is probably doing more damage to Iraqi troops than it is providing cover. Common sense says it is the U.S. bombings, and not the Iraqi troops, that have set-off these fires.

From the very beginning, Bush has portrayed Saddam Hussein as another Hitler in order to justify his cold-blooded "desert storm" on Iraq. In order to do that he has constantly referred to the "fact" that Hussein used chemical and gas warfare against the Iranians and his own people, the Kurds.

In the Jan. 30 San Francisco Chronicle "Briefing" section, an article by Knut Royce, a reporter in the Washington bureau of New York Newsday, gives a different view of the so-called "poison gas" war of Saddam Hussein. Royce writes: "The evidence that Iraq purposely gassed Kurds is flimsy, according to officials who have reviewed the classified material and a U.S. Army study of the Iran-Iraq Royce continues: 'The evidence relates to two episodes, both in 1988. The first was in mid-March when both Iran and Iraq used chemical weapons in attacking the Iraq border city of Halabja, which each side mistakenly believed was being By Royce says that the second episode of poison gas warfare occurred in late August 1988, shortly after the war with Iran ended. Republican Guards had been sent to northern Iraq to crush an insurrection by the Kurds, who had earlier teamed up with Iran to form a second front against Iraq.

"Kurdish refugees who fled to Turkey, " Royce writes, "reported incidents of explosions that 'released either white or yellow gas which quickly dissipated...that smelled of bitter lemon, bitter orange, or apple.' "However, Turkish doctors told the U.S. officials that they were unable to verify that the Kurds they treated for various ailments had been victims of chemical attacks."

"The Army War College study completed in February concluded, 'Having looked at all of the evidence that was available to us, we find it impossible to confirm the State Department's claim that gas was used in this instance (late August 1988).'"

George Bush has announced that the United States armed forces are prepared to use "nonlethal gas" 10 "save lives" in this war. This vio lates all UN and even U.S. treaties COVERLY FOR on conduct during a war. It is really a threat in the hopes that Saddam Hussein will use chemical or gas weapons so the United States can try out its nuclear bombs (1000 of them) stored on U.S. warships in the Gulf.

In order to carry out a nuclear war, the U.S. must again paint Hussein as a "mad Hitler."

What's it all about, Alfie? Bush and the imperialists are using the Iraq war to warn all Third World countries that the United States will use any means necessary to stop any movement for freedom or self-determination. They are also warning Gorbachev that he had better continue to play ball, or else.

So the next time you hear of a poll showing how the majority of American people support Bush and his war, just remember his lies. And remember how you can tell when the president is lying-when you see his lips move.

PRESS POOL

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HELL, THIS ISN'T JUST ABOUT OIL! IT'S ABOUT BASIC HUMAN VALUES FOR KUWAITIS... FREEDOM TO TRAVEL, FREEDOM OF SPEECH, A FREE PRESS... AND YOU CAN QUOTE ME ON TIAT!.. THATS AN ORDER.