"Conservative" Means Never Letting Go Of A Lie

Not only does "conservative" mean never letting go of a lie but given half a chance they will make shit up to try to justify the lie anew at a later date.

The rightwing bloggers are all agog today over a "revelation" in the New York Sun by ex-Iraqi Air Force deputy, Georges Sada, who alleges that Iraq's WMD were flown to Syria prior to the invasion by two stripped down civilian aircraft.

Of course, the former general didn't see or know of this first hand, despite being the number two man in the air force - the military arm that would most likely have used any WMD. No, he supposedly got the information from two men who were the pilots of the aircraft involved.

"I know them very well. They are very good friends of mine. We trust each other. We are friends as pilots," Mr. Sada said of the two pilots. He declined to disclose their names, saying they are concerned for their safety. But he said they are now employed by other airlines outside Iraq.

Jumpin' Jeebus...and the wingnuts accuse liberals of jumping to conclusions based on what they say is second-hand evidence (such as the Downing Street Memos). Why are they so keen to believe an ex- Saddam crony but not the Head of British Intelligence, I wonder? Could it be because they don't want to admit to themselves that they got taken in by the sociopaths in charge of the White House?

Anyway...there's no "there" with this story. A moments investigation discovers that the basis for the story is a circle-jerk by neocons and the Christian Right.

The first thing to notice is that the NY Sun handily provides a link to the general's new book, which contains these allegations for the first time. Sada says he's known about this stuff since mid-2004 but hasn't shared the knowledge until now. Shades of the NY Times and Snoopgate! But there's no cries from the right about possible monetary motives this time. Oh no...it's bypassed utterly in the rush to believe!

Then notice Mr Sada's co-author, or should I say ghost writer, for that book - Jim Nelson Black. Black is a member of the Religious Right with titles such as "Equipping & Empowering Christians to Restore America's Biblical Foundation - America Adrift" under his bible-belt. He's also written about "how our colleges are corrupting the minds and morals of the next generation" and has collaborated on audio tapes about America's "destiny" with uber-dominionist D. James Kennedy. Not surprisingly, some of his work appears on the lists of Tyndale Publishing. Get the feeling the right is setting things up for itself here?

Sada, who describes himself as a "devout christian" was accompanied to the NY Sun offices by Terry Law, "the president of a Tulsa, Oklahoma based Christian humanitarian organization" called World Compassion. Mr. Law is Mr. Sada's new employer and spoke for his honesty.

The book's publishers are Integrity Publishers, a division of Integrity Media. They describe themselves as "an established, worldwide force in Christian music, owned by Christians committed to a strong book publishing program as a strategic component of its overall mission statement" and adds that every staff member has "a sense of calling and deep conviction".

Of course we all know Ira Stoll, the author of the NY Sun piece and the Sun's managing editor. He's a neocon through and through, having written for the likes of Front Page as well as the Sun. He's the man who famously demanded, on August 20th 2003, that Washington finish the war against the Arabs. Even so, you would think that he could see he was being led by the nose by the religious Right with a story that has no meat to it...unless he really wanted to be led, that is.

Stoll even has the temerity to write:

Short of discovering the weapons in Syria, those seeking to validate Mr. Sada's claim independently will face difficulty.

Hah!

Good try, folks, but not convincing.