Last Wednesday marks the 5th anniversary of Iraq war, the war US President Bush called a noble, just and necessary battle. 5 years ago this battle was supported by many, with the likes of Tony Blair and Hillary Clinton, but now many condemned President Bush for his decision on going to war with Iraq. Why is this so?I have to say it was because of the 900 plus false statements President Bush and his administration made as part of the propaganda before the war. President Bush claimed Iraq possess weapons of mass destruction and had link with Al-Qaeda but was later found out he was lying. It was all these false statements that made Americans had the wrong perception that Iraq was a country to be fear of and war is necessary to protect themselves.
Was President Bush abusing his freedom of speech? It was his and his administration’s freedom of speech that had caused 5 years of unrest in Iraq, killing innocent locals and American soldiers. Was that the correct way of exercising freedom of speech? From the Iraq war, we can see that President Bush definitely cannot deem himself as an ambassador of freedom of speech. He either practices it wrongly or did not practice it. He also controlled the media on reports of the Iraq war; reports were always about how the Americans are victorious in Iraq and never about American soldiers’ bodies being sent back to US.
Freedom of speech is present but is it practice in the world? This is a question one must answer on his/her own based on their judgments. For me it is largely not practice as media nowadays are restricted by government on what they can showcase to the public.
To conclude, I will like to give a piece of advice those who want to practice freedom of speech; get your facts right before you cause another “Iraq war”. And I salute Tommy Ray Franks and his brave soldiers, who are always committed in serving their nation, fighting the war even though they know the war was a mistake.
Quek Sheng Quan
|6:05 AM|