Forget facts; it’s time to get your war on

by J Scott Christianson, Columbia Daily Tribune Columnist

As the Bush administration focuses its eye on Iran, I’m determined not to make the same mistakes that I did with Iraq. The last time President George W. Bush was beating the drum for war, I read books by Scott Ritter and others who knew that Iraq had no WMD stockpiles. I listened to the BBC and other media outlets that questioned the real motivation for war, and I believed that we needed a plan to get out before we got in.

America is known as the land of second chances for good reason, and with regard to Bush’s Iran policy, I’m not going to make the same mistakes twice. No more questioning, no more facts, no more cognitive dissonance for me. Perhaps I was not born with the mental capacity to reconcile the facts with our government’s actions. After all, we can’t all be John Boltons or Condi Rices.

This time, whatever action Bush takes, I’m behind him. Special forces in Tehran, airstrikes against oil tankers, carpet bombing, tactical nukes or full-scale invasion, I’m behind him 100 percent.

Yup, it’s time to get my war on.

But mindlessly following the administration is not as easy as you’d think. It seems like every day I run into another person whose mind has been clouded by living in a “fact-based” reality bubble. Just the other day, I got stuck having lunch with one of these jokers who just wouldn’t shut up.