By strange coincidence - and I swear this is true - this morning while rooting around in my bag for my book on the way to work I pulled out my bookless hand to discover it was stained red. A red pen had exploded over the book I'm re-reading for the purpose of this post, War is a Lie. I kid you not. It were positively metaphorical!
War is a Lie deconstructs all the arguments put to the public as the case for war. David Swanson compellingly makes the case that all such arguments are put forward solely for the purpose of pulling the wool over our eyes.
He picks apart the claims made in favour of wars from the US War of Independence to WWII and Afghanistan, of wars fought against 'evil', launched in defense or in the name of security and freedom to those that are 'unavoidable' and every other imaginable argument.
It's a powerful polemic written by an expert on international issues and historical and modern wars – particularly those of the US and Britain. David was also instrumental in exposing the Downing Street Minutes and other evidence of Iraq War lies.
I mentioned in my previous post, that War is a Lie is as relevent a polemic today as it will ever be. As David said in his article - Libya: another neocon war - in the Guardian two weeks ago: "Hatred of a single individual is great propaganda" and this sentiment is echoed in the book:
"The focus on rulers in wars is not motivated by humanitarianism so much as propaganda. People enjoy fantasizing that a war is a duel between great leaders. This requires demonizing one and glorifying another."
You dont need to look far to find examples of both. The Sun today describes one as 'the leader of the free world' and the other as 'the terror leader' - which would you lend your support to?
War is a Lie is available now, priced £9.99.