List o' war lies: Keep for handy reference

Please refer to this list of lies when the drums for war on Iran and/or Syria (or, for that matter, Venezuela) become unbearably loud. From the preface to Normon Solomon's book War Made Easy.

A lot of people want to believe that the current war on Iraq is some kind of aberration—a radical departure from the previous baseline of U.S. foreign policy. That's a comforting illusion.

Yes, the current administration in Washington is notable for the extreme mendacity and calculated idiocy of its claims. But -- decade after decade—the propaganda fuel for one U.S. war after another has flowed from a standard set of lies.

• America Is a Fair and Noble Superpower
  
• Our Leaders Will Do Everything They Can to Avoid War
  
• Our Leaders Would Never Tell Us Outright Lies
  
• This Guy Is a Modern-Day Hitler
  
• This Is About Human Rights
  
• This Is Not at All About Oil or Corporate Profits
  
• They Are the Aggressors, Not Us
  
• If This War Is Wrong, Congress Will Stop It
  
• If This War Is Wrong, the Media Will Tell Us
  
• Media Coverage Brings War Into Our Living Rooms
  
• Opposing the War Means Siding With the Enemy
  
• This Is a Necessary Battle in the War on Terrorism
  
• What the U.S. Government Needs Most Is Better PR
  
• The Pentagon Fights Wars as Humanely as Possible
  
• Our Soldiers Are Heroes, Theirs Are Inhuman
  
• America Needs the Resolve to Kick the "Vietnam Syndrome"
  
• Withdrawal Would Cripple U.S. Credibility