I often make reference to the biased, or warped, perspectives of the mass media—the Establishment media—although I do realize that some of its misinformation is not intentional, but simply due to journalists blindly accepting falsehoods as truth.

I have recently come across two instances of such misinformation, both in the same city publication, both on Memorial Day weekend, both attempting to accommodate the U.S. "War" on Terrorism.”

The first writer lamented that so many Americans have retreated from their burst of patriotism following September 11th, and seem to show little interest in what is happening in Afghanistan and in the Middle East. He tried to compare America’s lukewarm response to this war with their responses to past wars.

He spoke of the pride and unity Americans displayed in the efforts to defeat Nazi Germany and Japan. But the Korean and Vietnam Wars were different, he said. All of these wars were fought in countries Americans knew little about, and although 37,00 Americans were killed in Korea and more than 60,000 in Vietnam, "there was little anger," he said, "towards the enemy in our homes and on our streets," as during WWII.

What the author didn't do, is clarify that the war against Nazi Germany and Japan were wars against aggressor nations that had attacked other nations and that these wars were forced upon us as "wars of survival."

He spoke of North Korea attacking South Korea, and of "Americans dodging the military draft and demonstrating against it in the streets," during the Vietnam conflict. He predicted also that the current war in the Near East "will be every bit as brutal and last longer than any of the past wars."

Perhaps, the lukewarm reception to the Korean and Vitnamese conflicts is because—neither was originally our concern, but France's—both of which were arbitrarily adoptted by the U.S. Establishment to gain sources of vital raw materials and new markets for this country’s giant corporations. He didn't mention that "fighting communism" was merely a public relations ploy to justify the U.S. invasion of both countries.

Nor, did the author mention that Korea and Vietnam had both been "whole" countries before U.S. involvement, and that it was the United States that devised the psychological strategy of dividing each country into two parts to make it seem as if the people of the "communist" North were the enemies of their "democratic" relatives in the South. Both truths known by many Americans of those days, and subsequently verified by published memoirs.

The second article in the same newspaper was distributed by the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service. The writer began with the astonishing remark that "the United States has never fought a war of conquest. The Revolutionary War was waged to gain freedom from the tyranny of King George. The Civil War was fought to end slavery in this country......the Spanish- American war was fought against the brutal colonialism of the Spanish Empire...."

The journalist goes on to admire this country’s greatness and the wisdom of its leaders. The article is a perfect example of Establishment propaganda at its most effective. Effective, because of its outright misinformation, and because millions of Americans—ignorant of American history—and deprived of truth, still believe such claptrap.

To set the record straight, never can it be said that King George was such an oppressive tyrant that the only solution for the colonists was brute-force rebellion. Our Revolutionary War was, indeed, a war to gain freedom. But it was a war instigated by a small group of American businessmen who wanted the freedom to keep all of their profits, and not have to share it with the King of England, nor reduce it by having to pay taxes to cover the costs of protecting the colonies from French and Indian aggression.

The claim that Americans have never fought a war to conquer others is pure poppycock.

What about our war against the American Indians to conquer their lands? What about our failed invasion of Canada during the War of 1812, or our instigation of war with Mexico to acquire their nothern lands?

As for the Civil War—a wise man once remarked that there are two reasons for every event—the noble reason broadcast to the masses, and the true reason known but to a few. The noble reason for the republic’s devastating Civil War was to free the slaves. This was meant to appeal to the goodness and righteousness of northern Americans, and to make war acceptable to them. But the true reason was that northern industrialists feared that truly independent southern states would compete for western lands and western labor, and thwart many of their profit-making opportunities.

What about the American invasion of the Philippines in 1899 and the thousands of Fillipinos who were driven from their homes, or placed in concentration camps and treated so brutally that the camps have often been compared to the Nazi concentration camps of World War II? What about the U.S. entry to World War I, despite having been asked by belligerants to stay out of the war? What about the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in response to the destruction of New York City's Twin Towers, despite Afghanistan having nothing to do with the event, or the U.S. Invasion of Iraq justified by the lies of the White House?

Haven't all of these "wars" been falsely instigated by the empire builders of the United States?

When Mr Bush told the American people "We face an enemy of ruthless ambition, unconstrained by law or morality," doesn't it now seem as if he were speaking of himself, his Administration, and the people they represent?