![]() They realized they’d been lied to about the conflict because neither Johnson nor Nixon wanted to take responsibility for losing an unwinnable war that we never should have undertaken in the first place. After Johnson left the White House, President Nixon continued the pretense, even secretly expanding the war into Cambodia.Īmericans were furious when, in 1971, defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg released military intelligence - known as the Pentagon Papers - that showed the extent of the deception. Johnson’s statement began a long campaign by our government to lie to the American people about the fact that almost everyone who knew the facts - from the soldiers to the bureaucrats to the president himself - knew that the war was unwinnable. Despite his words, the following March, he began shipping Americans by the tens of thousands to Vietnam. On October 21, 1964, President Johnson assured the country, as he was running for president, that they had nothing to worry about. In 1964, Americans were concerned about the country’s growing involvement in the Vietnam War. “We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.” Result: In 1998, the four largest tobacco companies reached a settlement with 46 states to pay $206 billion over 25 years to help cover the medical costs of smoking-related illnesses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 480,000 Americans die every year from cigarettes. The reality, of course, is quite different. Reynolds, told a congressional committee, “Cigarette smoking is no more ‘addictive’ than coffee, tea, or Twinkies.” The makers of Old Gold cigarettes claimed “Not a cough in a carload.” And in 1994, James W. “Cigarette smoking is no more ‘addictive’ than coffee, tea, or Twinkies.”įor years, the tobacco industry assured customers that cigarettes were neither unhealthy nor addictive. America and the world are still living with the war’s consequences. defeat of Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War, would later bitterly denounce his own speech in 2003 as U.N. Result: Thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands, if not more, of Iraqis have died in a war that lasted eight years and cost $2.4 trillion. ![]() Regardless, the financial and human cost was devastating. It’s not clear who knew the evidence for WMDs was false, or when they knew it. In 2003 the United States launched war against Iraq. In 2002, President Bush told the country that Saddam not only had stockpiled deadly chemical and biological agents, but that he had also been building nuclear bombs. The informant was soon discredited, and the uranium documents were discovered to be obvious fakes, but the wheels were already in motion. But many people in the Bush administration were convinced that the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein in Iraq was not only conspiring with Al Qaeda but was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction to use against the United States (illustrated in the above quote from Dick Cheney).ĭespite there being no credible evidence that this was true - most intelligence and on-the-ground inspections revealed no WMDs - the Bush administration chose to pin its reasons for going to war on information from an Iraqi informant nicknamed “Curveball,” as well as on documents that showed Iraq had obtained a large quantity of uranium for the purpose of making a nuclear bomb. In the aftermath of 9/11, the United States immediately struck back at the terrorist masterminds in Afghanistan. “There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.” (To date, $11 billion of the lost $18 billion have been recovered and restored to Madoff’s victims.) 2. ![]() Result: After confessing that his firm’s asset management was “one big lie,” he was arrested, tried, and sentenced to 150 years in prison. When it came crashing down the following year, the investment advisor had bilked 4,800 clients of $18 billion. Even as he spoke, he was operating the largest Ponzi scheme in history. That’s what Bernie Madoff said in 2007, addressing a conference on illegal practices in Wall Street. “In today’s regulatory environment, it’s virtually impossible to violate rules.” It’s important that we never forget how easily and how often mankind has been played for suckers, with disastrous results. No doubt there are very many more evil fabrications we have overlooked. Here are eight lies that had serious, large-scale, long-term consequences. It’s important that we do not forget these terrible deliberate deceits - lies that were responsible for unspeakable suffering and, in some cases, millions of deaths. But other lies in history not only were whoppers, but also caused untold damage.
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