By now, it should be dawning on even the most ardent, pro-Bush zealots that the case for Iraqi WMD, and hence the justification for the "pre-emptive" war on Iraq, was a big, fat lie.

Successful lying requires two complicit parties: he who lies and those who believe the lie. While it is true that some lies may be very difficult to identify as such, others are so obviously at odds with the truth that those who continue to believe them are as guilty as the original liar, for the support of blind believers gives life to the lie, and allows it to endure.

The media has played an enormous role in the acceptance of lies as the truth. In this article by John MacArthur, "The Lies We Bought," we read that the media did not challenge administration allegations about Iraq's WMD, even when official UN data and other expert opinion contradicting these claims were in the public record.

As MacArthur puts it, "The American media failed the country badly these past eight months."

Armed with this knowledge, the more curious among us might profit by taking another look at the signal event which marked the beginning of the so-called 'War on Terror" - Black Tuesday itself.

Can we really believe that the indestructable black boxes of the suicide jetliners allegedly did not survive the impacts and subsequent collapse of the mighty towers, but Mohammed Atta's passport did?

Think about it.

And then ask yourself if all the other obvious contradictions and inconsistencies surrounding 911 exist only in the minds of "conspiracy theorists," or if they are, in reality, the tangled webs of an enourmous, terrible lie, a lie meant to stampede the American public into supporting a seemingly never-ending war on terror, while at the same time surrendering its Constitutionally-guaranteed rights?

The courts may have failed us, our elected officials may have failed us, and even our "free" press may have failed us. What remains is the power of free thought and free speech so that the citizens may know the truth and justice may prevail.

The first step is to stop believing the lies.

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