Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

"to yield to the power, control, or possession of another upon compulsion or demand; to give up or agree to forgo especially in favor of another; to give (oneself) up into the power of another especially as a prisoner; to give (oneself) over to something (as an influence)."

So that the term surrender can be equated with a precise and accurate meaning it would be helpful to visit the field of contract law.  This is an important area to traverse since a war declaration or any type of statement pertaining to such subject matter can be equated with the legal formalities arising from a contract.

An important element of any contract involves consent and how it arises.  An essential principal familiar to those who know contract law is that "fraud vitiates consent."  Reduced to its simplest specifics, consent must be derived from honest intent.

McCain and other demagogues such as those residing at Fox News state and repeat a fulsome lie when claiming that those who favor ending the Iraq War are advocating "surrender."  

They in fact are the proponents of a type of surrender by advocating this falsehood, seeking to equate their position with protecting the nation from external enemies.  This surrender involves the U.S. Constitution as well as the basic precepts of international law, not to mention fundamental decency.

The Iraq War was conceived in fraudulent deceit, resting on the disputed and ultimately proven lie stated and restated by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and other members of the administration that it was necessary to attack Iraq to prevent Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein from unleashing weapons of mass destruction on America.

Another massive lie equated with the ultimate attack of Iraq that has been sadly repeated by many progressives is that the conflict constituted a "pre-emptive war."  Wars falling under that category are conflicts involving self-defense and are justified under international law, including the Geneva and Nuremberg protocols.  

The war that is being waged in Iraq, which was devoid of legitimate proof, is defined as "preventive war" by a deceitful administration.

Preventive war is a violation of the international legal precepts that America had a major shaping hand in creating relating to Nuremberg and Geneva respectively.  To wage preventive war is to risk, should the force of international law be carried out, trial at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.  

The charge is that of "war criminal defendant" and all that pursued such a pattern along with the aggression that resulted should according to international law be subjected to trial.

What a current mainstream media of pathetic timidity will not tell us is that prior to the inauguration of George W. Bush, following his selection by a one vote U.S. Supreme Court majority, is that the ideologically powerful Project for the New American Century advocated attacking Iraq.  

Bill Kristol, editor of the neoconservative Weekly Standard, was a forceful advocate for war with Iraq.  The Weekly Standard's editorial of November 16, 1998 issue advocated war with Iraq.

Once that the neocons took office a vigilant Dick Cheney took charge following the 9/11 disasters, seeking to tie those attacks to Saddam Hussein and Iraq.  Cheney even told a blatant lie that al Qaeda boss Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were ideologically and politically linked, a falsehood that was quickly refuted.

Being caught in a lie was nothing new to Cheney and business continued as usual.  Veteran State Department hands were pressured by Cheney to quit for failing to toe the attack Iraq scenario.  Meanwhile Cheney delivered a "full court press" at the CIA, pressuring its Middle East hands to lie about Iraq's military might.

When Ambassador Joseph Wilson exposed a major Bush-Cheney neocon propaganda ploy, the alleged attempt by Saddam Hussein to purchase yellow cake to enrich his Uranium supply in facilitating his nuclear weapons enhancement, Karl Rove's attack team got busy.

Wilson's wife, CIA Middle East nuclear weapons intelligence operative Valerie Plame, was outed by reliable neocon journalistic hack Robert Novak.

When a full-fledged inspection was launched by the UN to determine if the alleged weapons of mass destruction existed, Bush and Cheney sped up the war effort, refusing to wait for the team headed by Hans Blix of Sweden to finish its work.  

When Blix along with then French president Jacques Chirac made an articulate case for additional time to complete the inspection effort, the neocons unleashed their booboisie-directed smear machine led by predictable Fox, America's answer to the Goebbels machine of the Third Reich.

France and Sweden were denounced as "wimp nations" while on Air Force One, exemplifying the ultimate in childish perversity, "French toast" was renamed "freedom toast."

A "shock and awe" aerial assault was launched on Baghdad that the neocons and their Fox propaganda machine insisted contained "smart bombs."  They were so smart that they would only kill Saddam's soldiers and leave civilians unharmed.  Fox steadfastly refused to show any human or property damage.  

At last count, as the bloody conflict continues, between 600,000 to 1 million Iraqi civilians have lost their lives while some 2 to 3 million have fled the battle torn nation with predictions extending that number to as high as 5 million refugees.  Some 4,000 American service personnel have made the ultimate sacrifice while 50,000 have been badly wounded.

Governor Mitt Romney, John McCain's chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination, was featured a few months ago on CBS' "60 Minutes," one of the few television programs that dares to report on the demolition job the Republican neocons are doing to America.  Mitt has all these robust-looking sons, who were proud to say that they are practicing Christians who have completed their Mormon missionary work.

When the question was asked whether any of the Romney sons had served in the military or were contemplating service duty in Iraq in the future an embarrassment suddenly arose that enveloped Mitt Romney as well.

We know the answer to that question, Governor Romney.  Service in Iraq consists largely overworked National Guard members, with a strong emphasis on minorities and whites living in some of the poorer regions of America.

The privileged from the Republican elite are not expected to serve in Iraq.  The privileged are those that give the orders and keep the steady propaganda machine pouring forth, committing the blasphemy of accusing those who seek to save lives and remove American troops from a conflict predicated on lies of "surrender."

The response should long ago have been impeachment.  Following an impeachment, should the next move be a trial of those involved in launching a war based on lies at The Hague?