March 25, 2013
During this 10th anniversary of the Bush invasion of Iraq, I remember well the week that the war started. The JFP was only a few months old and still making a name for ourselves. When we realized that Bush was actualy pushing ahead with the threatened Iraq campaign, we postponed our planned cover story (an interview with then JPD Chief Robert Moore) and published this "myths" of the Iraq War instead. (The other story ran the next week.) At the time, the war was popular, and supporters were lying through their teeth as we now know, even trying to convince Americans that attacking Iraq was, somehow, a way to go after Saddam Hussein (presumably because they had Islam in common).
This was one of those decisions we didn't have to make. We knew it wouldn't be a popular move to publish a cover story and a cover that was clearly against Bush's war, but we started this newspaper to tell the truth, no matter who it perturbs. So in one of our early "do the right thing and wait" moves (which publisher Todd Stauffer now calls stories like these), we put the issue out and waited for the other shoe to fall.
It didn't. The issue after this one had our biggest ad sales as of that time, and we only lost three distribution spots (one of which returned, and the other two are out of business).
The truth isn't always popular, but it is the Fourth Estate's responsibility to tell it. I'm fond of saying that my editorial decisions over the year have kept my conscience clear. This one was no exception.
May all of the soldiers, and civilians, who lost their lives in the Iraq War rest in peace. That includes my cousin, Josh Ladd, who died in Iraq believing he was fighting for a just cause.
In response to:
[JFP Classic] 13 Myths About War in Iraq
13myths.org
The Internet has played a major role in the current debate over war in Iraq. Recently, a group of online "mythbusters" involved in the 13myths.org project went one step further. They posted a summary of key claims made by the proponents of war and then invited hundreds of people to offer suggestions on how to respond. The following is the result of this exchange. The complete document, with more than 120 footnotes from mainstream and primary sources, is online at 13myths.org.
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