Adrianna Gardner
Arts Editor
About a dozen Claremont community members, peace activists and teachers joined the Peace with Justice Center of the Pomona Valley to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Bill Cook, University of La Verne professor of English, led discussion on a film about the war on terror: “Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War.”
Inside the United Church of Christ, intrigue and outrage at going to war under false pretenses were expressed in a satirical look into the Bush’s administration.
As co-editor of the online journal Counterpunch.org, Cook presented well-researched information about how the American people were misled into supporting this war.
“This was very good…very enlightening, really,” said Imami Ali Siddiqui, one of several directors of the Peace with Justice Center of Pomona Valley. In the controversial piece that featured former members of investigation teams and CIA agents, the film featured clips of the Bush administration’s report to the 9/11 Commission. It questioned the assertion that Sadaam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, the credibility of their location, the sources of intelligence and the overall cost of war. A sound bite, produced by Robert Greenwald, countered the president’s assertions, as the film “Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War,” laid out chronologically the Bush administration’s speeches to the public regarding the war and why, he asserted it was necessary.
For Cook, the timing for the screening of the film could not have been better.
“Given the 60 days to elections, as many Americans as possible should have knowledge of the deception used by this administration to drive it to invade another state,” he said. “That’s an illegal act, one most Americans would not condone if they knew the truth.”
In addition to looking into the war, the film also claimed that the Iraq War was creating a diversion to domestic suffering and poverty.
And it asserted that international terrorism has increased since the Iraq war began.
Dorena Wright, professor of English, led the group discussion. Cook listed “Ten Alluring Lies on Iraq,” namely the reorganization of weapons in Iraq, the amount of chemical agents, and the location of where they were hidden.
Cook pointed out that prior to the administration’s reasonable assurance that Iraq possessed weapons, Secretary of State Colin Powell, in February of 2001, stated that Hussein had not developed any weapons and expressed confidence that U.S. policies had strengthened the war on Iraq.
What is most offensive, Cook said, were the administration’s lies and deceit.
“The lies are blatant and in complete disregard of the facts as supplied by the National Intelligence Council at Langley with its key judgments…this is an impeachable offense against the American people.”
Adrianna Gardner can be reached at agardner@ulv.edu.
