The Truth Shall Set You Free

Murray Sabrin

Last Wednesday evening Bill Moyer’s 90 minute special, Buying the War, aired on PBS. It is must viewing. Several well-known journalists were interviewed, including Dan Rather, Tim Russert and Bob Simon. Virtually all the mainstream journalists reporting on foreign policy blew the coverage of the Bush administration’s prevarications regarding the need for invading Iraq. The journalists who should have been asking the tough questions are now trying to resurrect their reputations. Hopefully, they will be more vigilant in the future than they have been in the past, and not accept government officials’ statements as fact.

So-called neocon journalists who whooped up the drums of war refused to be interviewed by Bill Moyers. The shameless liars known as neoconservative pundits and policy makers should be ostracized by all media outlets, let alone be given any credibility as a serious commentators. Instead, William Kristol, editor of the neocon Weekly Standard is now writing a column in Time magazine. What does this tell us about Time’s devotion to truth?

One Internet analyst, Justin Raimondo of www.antiwar.com, wrote yesterday how the deceit and deception of Bush administration officials have reduced America’s prestige in the world to a fraction of what it was after the attacks on September 11, 2001. While virtually the whole world sympathized with us because of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Bush administration squandered a glorious moment when the world was united for us to advance the greatest foreign policy disaster in American history.

On 60 Minutes tomorrow evening, former CIA Director George Tenet will discuss his new book about the events leading up to the Bush invasion of Iraq in March 2003. According to Friday’s New York Times front page article, Tenet will give a no-holds barred assessment of the Bush administration’s key figures.

Could this be the ‘tipping point” for the Bush administration? Will the American people now demand the removal of the Bush-Cheney-Rice cabal? A cabal that cannot tell the difference between reality, truth, lies, deceit, and fantasy.

On May 3rd the first GOP presidential debated will be held at the Reagan Library and moderated by Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s Hardball. The ten candidates will have 90 minutes to “debate” the great issues of our time. This format, to put it bluntly, sucks. Future “debates” should have no more than five candidates chosen randomly so they can get more time to explain their vision for America. All the upcoming debate will hopefully do is showcase Ron Paul’s free market, limited government, non-interventionist foreign policy credentials. If GOP registered voters want a party that opposes the big government Democrats, then it has to be led by Ron Paul Republicans.

Ron Paul has been telling the truth about the welfare-warfare state for more than 30 years, in and out of Congress. If the GOP voters do not embrace his candidacy, then they will, in effect, reject the principles of the Founding Fathers and everything they sacrificed for to create a free America.

And then liberty will take a back seat to a “secure,” “safe,” and authoritarian America led by President Clinton or Obama or Giuliani, or McCain. That’s what is at stake in the upcoming presidential election.

Murray Sabrin, Ph.D., is Professor of Finance in the Anisfield School of Business, Ramapo College of New Jersey, where he is Executive Director of the Center for Business and Public Policy.