A Brief from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper
What I am about to say is by no means an opinion of mine. It is a fact.![maddow-hubris-3098-20130216-115[1]](https://niagaraatlarge.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/maddow-hubris-3098-20130216-1151.jpg)
If Stephen Harper and his coalition of Reform and Canadian Alliance followers had formed a Conservative government that was holding the wheels of power in Canada a decade ago, they would have joined then-U.S. president George W. Bush’s so-called “coalition of the willing” and enveloped Canada in a war in Iraq. They would have engaged brave young Canadians in uniform and an entire country in a war a majority o Americans now agree was unnecessary and cost far too much in lives and treasure.
There is absolutely no doubt about that as Harper and his Tea Party-like breed of Conservatives went so boldly on record 10 years ago this winter – in the months, weeks and days leading up to Bush-led “shock and awe” assault on Iraq in March of 2003 – attacking Canada’s then-governing Liberals for not joining in this debacle.![maddow hubris promo]](https://niagaraatlarge.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/maddow-hubris-promo.jpg)
This Monday, February 18 at 9 p.m. on MSNBC – a cable news and commentary television channel we on the Niagara, Ontario side of the Canada/U.S. border may get on Cogeco channel 133 – one of the network’s leading journalists, Rachel Maddow, will be hosting a special documentary called; “Hubris – Selling the Iraq War.”
This is a documentary that, from the advance clips I’ve seen, should be mandatory viewing in our schools and in every home, if that is possible. It is a documentary that focuses on the misinformation and lies spun by the former Bush administration and believed, without intelligent analysis or question by the American media and people, and by the Harper Conservatives in Canada. This misinformation and the lies about weapons of mass destruction, that there was never any real evidence to support, and about links between Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussien and Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda (who were, in fact, mutual enemies) was used by the Bush administration and, by proxy, goffers in Canada like Harper to go to war.
And keep in mind. At that period of time – in the wake of the terrible attacks of 9/11 – it was relatively easy for the Bush administration and for toadies like Harper and his war-like neo-cons to stoke up a fire of fear among the populace to go to war against almost any country they said might have something to do with those attacks.
We’ve got Harper and his most stupid and incompetent defense minister, Peter MacKay – a pair of chicken hawks that never volunteered, in their earlier days, to suit up in an armed forces uniform for possible war duties themselves – who are still determined to spend multi-tens-of-billions of our taxdollars on a new fleet of F-35 jets from a military-industrial contractor in the United States that is in bed with that country’s Republican Party. The fact that numerous reports from defense experts, including recent reports in such mainstream media organs in the U.S. as Time Magazine, says buying jets like this is blowing money on 20th century war technology seems to mean nothing to Harper, MacKay and company. So we may see the spending of tens-of-billions of our tax dollars on this war-related shit while our country’s education and health-care services circle the drain.
I’ve said enough. Try to watch this MSNBC documentary, and if you can’t get the channel on your regular package of Cogeco garbage of channels that invest a good percentage of their time assaulting you with commercials , then Google MSNBC following the showing of the piece and see if you can watch it online.
Watch it as an American who found your populace sucked in to a war that should not have been fought, or watch it as a Canadian who would have been sucked in had the Harper neo-con, reform bunch been the government at the time.
Journey to the following video of Harper going after the then-governing Chretien government to go to war in Iraq at http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPVOhva_cwI .
Click on the following for a brief promo of the documentary from MSNBC – http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/17/the-co-author-of-hubris-on-torture-secrets-and-what-we-still-dont-know/ .
(Niagara At Large invites only those who care to share their first and last names with their comment to comment below.)
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Niagara At Large 
Dr. Rachel Maddow, Rhodes Scholar has been a favourite of mine for several years. I watch her show every night and she will deliver a fact-filed essay on The Big Lie that Americans were told to get us into Iraq. I have always said that it was a bogus war. I distinctly remember a network reporter interviewing a female Iraqi student just prior to the war. She and her fellow students were seen in their university classroom, going about their lives, just like university students everywhere. When asked what she thought of the impending invasion, she simply said, “We just want to go to school here.” I have often wondered what became of her and her classmates. America looked the other way while other tyrants abused their people, but went after a former ally because he threatened the president’s father. And destroyed a country in the process.
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President George W. Bush was AWOL during the Vietnam War 18 months, Dick Cheney stayed in University through out much of that war, got married and made babies, so he escaped the draft board. these two were the warmongers who said Saddam Hussein had WMD’s even though all had been removed by United Nations inspectors, Cheney once said that Indianapolis Indiana could be nuked by Saddam Hussein scared the living daylights out of many gullible Americans. Dick Cheney reaped millions from Haliburton , they received huge no bid contracts from Dick Cheney, Dick had been on the board of directors of that company, lots of stock options which he also collected while Vice President..conflict of interest and blood stained hands for having American troops killed by the thousands. This is corruption in the highest office in America.
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Doug
This, Your article describes reality as it would have been imposed on us if those NOW goons in Ottawa had been the Party in POWER.
Your description of the “so called” Canadian Defense Minister, should read “OFFENSE MINISTER” for he has denigrated “ALL” that was sacred in this country. He is a liar and a thief and David Orchard will verify this statement in spades. While running for the leadership of the venerable old “PROGRESSIVE” Conservative, MacKay needed the support of David Orchard and to get this he signed a contract with David, a contract stating he would NOT merge the party with Harper’s goons NO SOONER than he was elected he was in almost instant negotiations with Harper and the rest is “OUR” sorry history. When Belinda threw him over she must have realized what an as…… He truly is and I laughed all the way to the bank Chuckle.
He is from my part of the world, the east coast and he is in my eyes just another disgrace to the Maritimes an area where God and Queen reign supreme.
I have a CBC documentary chronicalizing Chaney’s rise in the Republican Party and his seeming corrupt association with Haliberton then and still for while as VP he exempted Halliberton from complying to EPA standards for chemicals used in “FRACKING”
This letter could go on and on and includes the once top cop Fantino as the head man in the Canadian Police Chief Association and who supported the Canadian gun registry but after being approached by Harper’s goons and elected he opted out and into politics where he voted DOWN the Gun Registry.
Would you trust YOUR life to these goons????? I certainly would not and I was proud as well as in total support of Canada’s once military role as “PEACE KEEPERS” Not war mongers as the Harper gang has made them into trained by Blackhawk a mercenary warring gang operating of hoods operating from the Carolinas.
Thank You Doug and I will attempt to tape the show tonight.
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Will watch Doug. Thank you. Why shouldn’t these creeps be tried for war crimes. They invaded a sovereign nation without just cause. They used torture against international law. They lied to an entire nation and the rest of the world. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Any different from past war criminals? NAH!
BTW, next Saturday W5 has the TRUE story, as bastardized by the movie “Argo”, about the Iran hostage crisis. It seems American movies and falsifications create their own versions of history which, sadly, become folklore and then truth.
Examples,
“The Great Escape” and Steve McQueen on his motorcycle. There wasn’t a single American in that POW camp.
“U 571” . Americans captured a German sub and the Enigma Code. Wrong, it was the Brits.
“Argo”. The Americans almost scuttled the operation by stupidity and the CIA agent spend 1.5 days in Iran while Canadians, on definite penalty of death, sheltered them for months, no car chases or shoot-’em-ups. The CIA almost blew the whole operation by providing documents on the hostages’ departure that had them leaving Iran BEFORE they entered. Of course Canada was portrayed as a casual participant.
Canadians took most of Italy and Rome but were made to stand back while Clark, the American general “liberated” Rome.
I’m ranting off topic but Canada seldom gets its due. I’m so glad we didn’t get sucked into Iraq by the “You’re either with us or against us” Bush dialogue.
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If International Criminal Court laws were applied to the U.S, as they are to so many other countries, then the US would be correctly deemed a leading terrorist state. The UK and US initiated a criminal war of aggression in Iraq, and so many innocent men, women, and children were killed. IraqBody Count details the ugly statistics. Prior to the war, there were huge protest rallies (esp. in UK), but the lamestream ignored them to a large degree.
Gives new meaning to the song “War Pigs”.
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