Bush's Lies To Troops To Blame For Haditha

By MARC McDONALD

At first glance, the following two stories about Iraq seem to be about totally different topics:

• 90 percent of U.S. troops believe that the Iraq war is retaliation for Iraq’s role in 9/11
  
  
• Iraqi civilians killed by U.S. soldiers
  

If you stop and think about it, the above two seemingly unrelated stories may well be connected.

I don't pretend to know what may have caused the troops to kill women and children. But it might be possible to get insight into this by taking a look at what it is that motivates our troops in Iraq, period.

And just what does motivate our troops in Iraq?

Vengeance. Hatred. Seething anger. A desire for "payback" for 9/11.

As Mark Crispin Miller notes in his 2004 book, Cruel and Unusual:

"Bush sent a very different message to our troops....by harping on Iraq's alleged complicity in 9/11, and by hyping the fictitious `terrorist threat' posed by that nation. Because of such inflammatory propaganda, our troops were motivated mainly by a craving for revenge, as after the destruction of Pearl Harbor. Throughout the march to war, and through the first year of the war itself, payback was on everybody's mind. `The only thing that motivates all the soldiers fighting in Iraq is payback for Sept. 11, 2001,' reported Reuters."

Miller continues:
"That lust for righteous vengeance has helped push our troops toward barbarism---which is often frightening even to themselves."

Personally, I find it astonishing that, to this day, 90 percent of U.S. soldiers believe the Iraq war is retaliation for Saddam’s non-existent role in 9/11. The fact is, the Bush White House has deliberately lied to our soldiers in Iraq. By feeding them a steady stream of BS about Iraq's "ties" to 9/11, our corrupt leadership has created a situation in which our troops are filled with rage and hell-bent on vengeance: a situation that has been directly responsible for the barbaric acts that we've seen committed by U.S. troops in Iraq.

In the weeks ahead, our media can be counted on to ponder endlessly about "what could have led to the tragedy at Haditha?" But I think the finger of blame should be pointed at the Bush White House for the steady diet of lies and deliberate misinformation it has fed to our troops.