To the Editor,
January 20, 2021 was greatly anticipated around the world, with millions tuning into televised comings and goings at the Oval Office in Washington, D.C.. After viewing the departure of one president and the inauguration of another — with less pomp and circumstance but far more fortifications than usual — I quite accidentally happened upon a marvellous movie on cable television that evening.
The movie was Shock And Awe made in 2017, a docu-drama which detailed political events leading up to the Iraq War in March 2003.
Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and others were mentioned for ignoring Senator Robert Byrd’s plea for politicians not to be tricked by fallacious information emanating from the White House and Pentagon yet again, remembering the phoney Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution that sent America into the Vietnam War in the 1960s.
The movie ended by listing an estimated number of lives lost on all sides, as well as so many more maimed and displaced during the ongoing Middle East conflict that resulted. The actual number of WMDs found being a Big Fat Zero.
Many politicians and commentators seemed to blame the outgoing president for leaving a divided country behind him as he flew to Florida. Of course, it’s left for observers to recall those words of wisdom from George Santayana : “Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.”
Bernie Smith,
Parksville