Presidents Lie About War

A Truth We Desperately Need To Remember

Presidents lie about war.
All of them.
If you’re not clear on this point, you’re not really paying attention.

Donald Trump —a man who’s never served in the armed forces— is apparently mulling options that include entering the war between Israel and Iran. Some might argue, we’re already a part of that war, in that the vast majority of Israel’s military might comes from the United States.

Trump promises it will be swift.

This is a lie.
Because, Presidents lie about war.

The last president to promise swift war was George W Bush —another president who never served in the armed forces— who assured Americans we would be greeted as liberators in Iraq.

We were not.
We were greeted as unwanted imperial invaders.
Which is exactly what we were.

So badly did George W Bush yearn to fulfill his own foolish fantasy of a quick, clean, deathless war…that he took a ridiculous photo op on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

Six weeks after a morally unjustifiable war began in Iraq, Bush declared “major combat operations in Iraq have ended….In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed…”

Except, he was lying.
Because, Presidents lie about war.

The United States would be in Iraq for years more. 98% of all US deaths in Iraq happened AFTER the “Mission Accomplished” speech. Hundreds of thousands more Iraqis would die, after the foolish moment too.

Because, Presidents lie about war.

Even four years later, Bush’s press secretary couldn’t admit what a lie “Mission Accomplished” was. Speaking during 2008, Dana Perino served up this steaming hot plate of PR lies:

“President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said, 'Mission accomplished for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission.’”

What a steaming hot plate of bullshit.
Because, Presidents lie about war.

Even Barack Obama, he ended up a liar about Afghanistan. He promised to end that war. He did not. That fell to Joe Biden, and there are voters who remember this still, and blame Biden for the messy exit he shouldn’t have ever even had to make.

What Iraq and Afghanistan taught me was this: American’s have about a one generation’s “memory” of how badly we’re always lied to about war.

Because a generation before GWB, Nixon also lied about war. LBJ did too. They promised the United States would be greeted as liberators in Asia.

As everyone knows, we were not.
Because, Presidents lie about war.

Time and again —in about fifteen to twenty year cycles— some new American president promises swift and decisive action against foreign enemies far away.

That is what is happening again, right now. Donald Trump —the clueless narcissist who pretends to create his own reality-field, ignoring true facts in almost every political calculation— promises swift action in Iran.

He is, most certainly, lying. He wants to be seen as a liberator. A hero.

Some of Trump’s own supporters already aren’t buying it. One of the more interesting parts of the MAGA coalition are the many folks who are as sick of America’s foreign wars as I am.

They’re sick of the generational trauma these wars have caused their own families…the generations of young soldiers forever scarred…the harm this has caused to their children and the next generations. No amount of valorizing soldiers can make up for the facts that their lives are forever changed.

And, in the case of our recent two wars, a generation of young soldiers survived, thanks to new heoric battlefield medicine; but lost limbs and healthy brains. Some, to this day, have not been fully reassimilated into American life. This is a further sin on the shoulders of us all. We learned how to save the bodies of our soldiers in that war. We have still not healed their souls.

And so, many MAGA are sick of being lied to too.
Guess what? Me too.

They signed-up for a president who promised an end to foreign wars. Again, I knew Trump was lying when he promised no foreign wars. But apparently many MAGA wanted to believe.

Recent polls show that something like 9% of Trump’s MAGA base is ready to get off the enthusiastic bandwagon now…mostly because of the horrific policies regarding immigration and tariffs. So, just wait until Trump lies about his promise to stop senseless foreign wars, and gets us into one.

Presidents lie about war.

The people of Israel have also been lied to about their war in Gaza. And just as it was never “un-American” to criticize American political action in the run up to Afghanistan/Iraq…so too it is not anti-Jewish, or anti-Semitic, to criticize the current actions of the government of Israel.

The comparison is very compelling, in that both countries were traumatized by a horrific event…

September 11th for the United States…October 7th for Israel.

Trauma creates a situation where those most closely involved in a situation cannot clearly see that situation.

The Bush Administration clearly took advantage of the trauma of Americans in the early 2000s, just as the current Israeli Administration has taken advantage of the trauma of the international community and their own people in our day.

The situation in Gaza is horrific. I’m grateful that our own Horizon Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church has said this:

“we unequivocally deplore the October 7, 2023 attacks carried out by Hamas, including the killing and kidnapping of over 1,300 Israeli civilians, which we recognize as acts of terror and violations of international law; and…we also recognize that the scale and scope of the Israeli military response has been grossly disproportionate, resulting in the death of toll in Gaza and the West Bank currently stands at over 50,000 Palestinian civilians, nearly a third of which are children under the age of 18.”
“…the Horizon Texas Annual Conference joins the United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops in calling for an immediate and permanent cease-fire and condemning the “bombardment,” “displacement,” and “deprivation and starvation” occurring in Gaza; and …the Horizon Texas Annual Conference joins the 140+ Global Christian Leaders and global organizations in naming these atrocities as a genocide against the Palestinian people…”

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During the early 2000s, I preached a series of sermons against our involved in Iraq. I called that then-potential war “unjust, under Christian just war theory.”

Believe it or not, I am not a pacifist. There are moral situations when one nation state is morally justified in taking action to protect its right to exist, or to build coalitions to do so. There is a moral theory that suggest war is sometimes necessary. It’s called “Just War theory.” Thoughtful Christians debate this theory.

You can learn more about it here.

Most modern wars do not live up to this theory. The war in Kuwait was, to my mind, the last war that was morally justified in any real sense. Those opposed noted that our entering into that war was likely about “oil,” which it likely was. But nobody could deny the moral injustice of Kuwait being invaded. And the war itself was also “prosecuted” with a kind of restraint we have not seen, before or since.

In other words, I didn’t like that war…any more than I liked any other war…but in a world of moral justification…it had one.

Iraq had none.
Not a shred.

Israel also had the right to defend itself, for sure. But it’s non-credible to suggest that bombing Gaza to extinction has made it, or the world, safer. It’s been horrific.

In the early 2000s, I clearly stated that the Iraq War had no moral justification. As I’ve just noted, I preached sermons to this affect. Our church lost members because of this, and a tension arose even between me and my parents.

Our church even lost a gay couples who were angry because I was not “supporting the President” and told me I was “not supporting the troops.”

There is rhyme here to our past few years.

I know of no serious American who seriously questions Isreal’s right to exist. But I know of plenty, including myself —and now the Horizon Texas Conference— who question the clearly unequal response the State of Israel has used.

Just as in our nation, Christian Nationalists conflate “The State of the United States” with being “Christian;” so too it has been far too easy to conflate “The State of Israel” with being Jewish.

But a nation state is fundamentally different from a race or religion.
Or, at least, it should be.
It has to be possible to criticize the former and not be seen as being as anti the-latter.

I was never, for one day, being “anti-American,” or “anti-troop” during the early 2000s. And so too many thoughtful critics of Israel today —including many Jews— aren’t being “anti-Jewish” either. This continues to be a hard point to make, given the trauma surrounding all of these issues.

One of the points missed in the early 2000s, and clearly also missed today, is that Just War Theory posits that nation-states have higher ethical obligations than do terrorist organizations.

Again, this point was obliterated during Iraq/Afghanistan…as the United States gleefully adopted the tactics of terror to fight terror. That is a violation of Just War theory.

So now, the United States —already the largest military funder of Israel— is considering entering this war. Our own homegrown religious nationalists —Christian Nationalists— have some twisted vision of the future, based on a literal interpretation of holy scripture.

They believe the State of Israel should exist…not beause they love Jewish people…but because the Bible tells them it has to exist in order for Jesus to come back.

Their violent fantasies of a literal Biblical armageddon are actually confirmed by everything that’s happening now. And they are whispering into the ear of our already gullible President.

You can hear it when President Trump says “We control the skies above Iran”

First off, the use of “WE” here is a “tell.” He’s likely already decided to get us into this war.

I’d only remind you of this: That at the moment George W Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq….we…the United States also controlled the skies above that country too.

And the point here is: It didn’t fucking matter. The true and immeasurable harm of that war will be like the true and immeasurable harm of this one as well.

About once a decade, some US president oversells the ability of American military might to solve the world’s problems, undersells the cost of human misery that comes to the poor and marginalized, and foolishly listens to the whispers of the “hawks” surrounding them.

But every nation —including any we will invade now and in the future— will “defend” itself against invasion. And then, as Collin Powell said, “You break it, you buy it…”

Should we “break” Iran, the cost…the “buying it” will be born by a new generation of America’s young. Never once in our history has a military solution bought us lasting peace. Never once has it done anything but create the next generation of our enemies —usually more violent than before— and the next generation of our own wounded warriors —usually more cynical and broken than the ones before.

Because, Presidents always lie about war.