Warring as Lying Throughout American History (James Bovard)

James Bovard on how wars and politicians' lies go hand-in-hand:

Americans are taught to expect their elected leaders to be relatively honest. But it wasn’t always like that. In the mid 1800s, people joked about political candidates who claimed to have been born in a log cabin that they built with their own hands. This jibe was spurred by William Henry Harrison’s false claim of a log-cabin birth in the 1840 presidential campaign.

Americans were less naïve about dishonest politicians in the first century after this nation’s founding. But that still did not deter presidents from conjuring up wars. Presidential deceits on foreign policy have filled cemeteries across the land. George W. Bush’s deceits on the road to war with Iraq fit a long pattern of brazen charades.

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Note: In the article, Mr. Bovard mentioned how the the U.S. government vigorously censored photographs of the victims in Hiroshima; in fact, some of the most graphic photos have only been released very recently, and they can be viewed here.