I Used To Be a Neocon by Drew O'Neill

I Used To Be a Neocon by Drew O'Neill: "This
is a difficult trick that requires the media to be an active participant
in government deception. To imply that they do so knowingly would
be too conspiratorial, and it would be too grand an operation to
be plausible. In truth, the mainstream media does not believe they
are participating in lies.

During the build-up to the war they were being pulled without knowing it,
by the engine of the U. S. government. This swarm of nationalism
begat a pro-American media, a complacent media, a lapdog media and
a corporate media that to this day will not inform the American
public.

When the Bush Administration was found to be creating fake news propaganda
for public consumption the media did not inform the public. When
the Bush administration marched towards pre-emptive war with Iraq
the media was a lapdog instead of a watchdog. When the Bush administration
described the assault on the Iraqi public as Shock and Awe, the
media used that phrase to scroll alongside the words 'War on
Terror' without questioning if the assault on Iraq had anything
to do with terrorism. When the Bush Administration tore into the
U. S. Constitution with the Patriot Act, causing the illegal imprisonment
of American citizens while denying them counsel, the media acted
more like a timid cocker spaniel than an aggressive Doberman pincher,
and failed to defend a sacred American document. When the Downing
Street memo implicated the Bush Administration as being hell bent
on a pre-emptive invasion on Iraq before even going to the UN, the
American media was silent and once again failed to inform the public.

But the tiny wheels still want to call the media liberal. The tiny wheels
still want to say the media is not reporting the good things happening
in Iraq. Most of all the tiny wheels do not know about the big wheel
that is pulling them. But now I do. That is why I am an ex-neocon
and I am in recovery. It is more clear to me now than ever that the
most American thing one can do is speak out against the actions
of their country because it means you love your country.

And in the end it does not matter if we are liberals or conservatives
because all that matters is that we are on the side of the U.S.
Constitution and of international law. Both of which have been thrown into the
toilet by this administration. At least the Quran has company."