Truth can be buried in a grave but it won’t stay there.
That doesn’t mean those left holding the shovel won’t temporarily profit. Judas got his 30 pieces of silver and President Barack Obama got his second term, thanks to those in his administration like Susan Rice, who buried truth and misled the American people.
The barbaric chemical weapon attack on innocent children, women and men that took place in Syria on April 4 seemingly contradicts what Rice, Obama’s national security adviser, said a couple of months ago.
During a Jan. 16 NPR interview, Rice claimed the Obama administration was “able to find a solution that didn’t necessitate the use of force that actually removed the chemical weapons that were known from Syria …”
She said they accomplished this “by virtue of the diplomacy that we did with Russia …” (yes, Russia!)
“We were able to get the Syrian government to voluntarily and verifiably give up its chemical weapons stockpile,” she added.
Pitifully, the truth about chemical weapons came out by way of those succumbing to the horrific effects of the sarin gas attack. Might the Obama administration’s so-called “diplomacy” really be collusion with Russia to keep Bashar al-Assad in power to secure the Iran “deal”?
Years back, Rice seemed to grab rationalizations from thin air to explain away the attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
She stood by the ludicrous claim that Benghazi burned and people died because of an Internet video until, truth rose from the ashes like a phoenix to show the catalyst was really a terrorist attack, inconveniently contradicting Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign rhetoric suggesting al-Qaeda was of little threat and on the run.
A Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Judicial Watch suggests the Benghazi lies came from the top. Six weeks before the 2012 election, Ben Rhodes, an assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, instructed recipients to communicate: “… the protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broad failure of policy” and “to reinforce the president and administration’s strength and steadiness in dealing with difficult challenges.”
Most recently, Rice is in the news for her alleged ties to the unmasked identities of campaign associates of President Donald Trump who were incidentally swept up in surveillance of foreign targets.
On March 22, Rice said on PBS she knew nothing about surveillance of Trump officials, apparently assuming nothing would come from the freshly turned dirt uncovered by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Not long after, the truth surfaced that Rice not only knew about it, The Daily Caller reports she submitted the requests for unmasking.
Called out on it, Rice claimed the request to unmask several Trump campaign and transition officials wasn’t politically motivated.
Fred Fleitz, a former CIA analyst, says it’s “hard to fathom” how it wasn’t politically motivated. In a Fox News op-ed, he wrote, “Rice’s denials don’t add up.”
For those living in Mythomania, facts don’t need to add up because truth is a moving target. They’ll tell you two plus two equals five if it gets them closer to their goal.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., believes Rice committed a crime and should be forced to testify under oath. Even if she does testify, she’ll probably plead the fifth, as did so many Obama administration officials.
For the rest of us, it’s important to remember there is such a thing as absolute truth, and it is not relative to mood or circumstance or public perception or personal preference or political party. Therefore, we haven’t the luxury of customizing it to our liking, despite how much something is accepted by society. Wrong will never become right and lies will never become truth.
In short, truth is truth.
If we believe otherwise, we may get what we want temporarily — like Obama got his second term — but we’ll lose ourselves along the way, as we slide down that slippery slope toward Mythomania.
— Susan Stamper Brown writes about culture, politics and current events from her home in Alaska, and is syndicated by Cagle Cartoons. Contact her through Facebook or at writestamper@gmail.com. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are her own.