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War Is A Lie

By dswanson - Posted on 31 October 2010


The updated second edition of War
Is A Lie will be published on April 5,
2016, by Just World Books. Here's
a flyer.
Please support your local bookstores,
but if you buy it from Amazon, please
buy it on April 5th to put it at the top
of the charts on day one.
War Is A Lie is a thorough refutation
of every major argument used to
justify wars, drawing on evidence from
numerous past wars, with a focus on
those that have been most widely
defended as just and good. This is a
handbook of sorts, an engaging, always
informative manual that can be used to
debunk future lies before the wars
theyre deployed to justify have any
chance to begin. For this edition of the
book, the original 2010 version has
been updated and expanded with
material on lessons from the United Statess most recent wars, more pointers on
what can be done to end warmaking, and an epilogue that analyzes new trends in
war lying and in resistance to it. No one to whom you give this book can claim
they haven't been warned!
David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. His books
include When the World Outlawed War, and War No More: The Case for
Abolition. Swanson serves as director of World Beyond War, and host of Talk
Nation Radio. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He was a
2015 and 2016 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Swanson was instrumental in exposing
the Downing Street Minutes and other evidence of Iraq war lies.
The first edition of War Is A Lie had a huge impact in 2010 and was published in
the United States, Europe, and China. It has been taken out of print in
preparation for the new one.
At events Swanson will speak about and take questions on a variety of
approaches to resisting, reducing and eliminating war, from counter-recruitment

in schools, ending the draft, and conscientious objection, to lobbying, protesting,


and dramatically disrupting the machinery of war. He will focus, however, on the
process of educating people to recognize false justifications for war and to
reject them. Swanson argues that, while the prevention of a U.S. bombing
campaign in Syria in 2013 and the upholding of a nuclear agreement with Iran in
2015 left much to be desired, they also provide grounds for encouragement, and
were built on the public understanding of the lies about Iraq that had been
promoted in 2002-2003 by such public figures as Dick Cheney and Hillary
Clinton. Swanson argues for a different understanding of current U.S. wars in
Western Asia from that most often promoted on television. Frightening
beheading videos, he suggests, were intended to draw the United States into
war, and succeeded only because the U.S. public is not yet sufficiently resistant
to such manipulation.
The new leader of the Labour Party in the UK recommends this book.
More recommendations:
"A terrific tool for recognizing and resisting war lies before it's too late."
Daniel Ellsberg.
"David Swanson, a dynamic and powerful anti-war writer, speaker and organizer,
provides a sharp and critically important update in this expanded edition of War

Is a Lie. Swanson eloquently demonstrates both how people power prevailed in


stopping the US drive to war in Syria and Iran and the immensity of the work
still to be done to demilitarize our society and put an end to permanent warfare.
Elucidating, lively, and thought-provoking, War Is a Lie is a must-read for all
Americans who bear responsibility for the actions of our government both and
home and abroad which are eviscerating human rights." Josh Ruebner, author
of Shattered Hopes: Obama's Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace .
"May be the most comprehensive antiwar statement available in the English
language." Kevin Young, journalist.
"David Swanson is a truth-teller and witness-bearer whose voice and action
warrant our attention." Cornel West.
"David Swanson is the most consistently great writer of this generation."
Jean Athey, peace activist.
"The world needs more true advocates of democracy like David Swanson!"
Thom Hartmann, author, radio host.
Listen to Thom Hartmann tell a caller he needs to read this book: mp3.
"David Swanson predicates his belief that nonviolence can change the world on
careful research and historical analysis." Kathy Kelly, author, peace activist.

"David Swanson is a longtime friend and one of my personal heroes because he is


relentlessly and uncompromisingly against war. This is an important book that
dispels any myths about 'good wars.'" Cindy Sheehan, peace activist, author,
talk show host.
"Our times cry out for a smart, witty and courageous Populist who hasn't
forgotten how to play offense. Luckily we have David Swanson." Mike Ferner,
author, peace activist, veteran.
"David Swanson's War Is A Lie should be required reading. It lays bare the
hypocrisy of American 'do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do' foreign policy, exposing the
lies and the deliberate glorification of military disasters. Swanson advocates for
endless diplomacy rather than endless war, a much cheaper and less bloody
alternative to present U.S. militarism. War Is A Lie gives you the arguments,
outrage and inspiration you need to take action. Read it. Medea Benjamin,
author, peace activist.
"Not since General Smedley Butler's War is a Racket has a simpler, more
brilliant, or truer book been published." Geoffrey Millard, peace activist,
veteran.
"Debunks every argument you've heard used to justify, glorify, instigate,
promote, prolong, and expand war." Kim Carlyle, peace activist, veteran.
"There are three insightful books I've read that explain how and why no good
can come of the current U.S. reliance on military force and war in seeking its
desired 'Pax Americana': War Is A Racket by General Smedley Butler; War Is A
Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges, and War Is A Lie by David
Swanson." Coleen Rowley, peace activist, whistleblower, retired FBI agent.
"If you stop and think, and genuinely wonder, and long for a new, better world, I
urge you to read a book I've just finished. It's brilliantly and passionately
written, and while being truthful is full of hope of destroying the militaryindustrial-media-congressional-imperialpresidential-complex." Mumia AbuJamal, author, radio commentator.
"In his usual meticulous, forthright style, Swanson does us a tremendous service
by outlining, in detail and with a large body of examples, the lies behind all the
U.S. wars, the money behind them, and the politicians who sell them to the
public. If you want to know why and how U.S. wars are truly waged, read this
critically important book. Dahr Jamail, journalist, author of Beyond the Green
Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq.
This book is every Americans best defense against the greatest danger we
face as human beings: the threat of war. Swanson reveals how American leaders
(from both major political parties) have confused the public to create the

illusion of consent for endless destruction and slaughter. This updated version
of David Swanson's classic,War Is A Lie, dispels any notion that the Obama
administration has been more truthful or law-abiding than Bush and Co. On the
most critical issue of our time, 'hope and change' have meant only more
sophisticated lies, secrets and war propaganda, not a new commitment to peace."
Nicolas J. S. Davies, author of Blood on Our Hands: The American Invasion
and Destruction of Iraq.
"Five years ago, David Swanson let us all in on a little secret: Everything we
believe to be true about war is a big fat lie ... actually, a series of lies that are
intertwined and reinforce each other until the lies are the only thing we can see.
In this second edition of War Is A Lie, Swanson provides an epilogue describing
how the war lies have continued perpetuating war over the past five years,
describing one instance after another of unnecessary, immoral and illegal
military conflict. Still, Swanson is hopeful. He believes that war can be
eradicated by exposing the lies that nurture it, and through the coordinated
resistance of the world's citizens. If the global community will unite against the
war interests and reclaim the planet for the benefit of humanity instead of
profit, we can put a stop to the madness of war. Like John Lennon, Swanson
believes that 'War is over...if you want it.'" Leah Bolger, activist, veteran.
"This book is revolutionary, and certainly truth-telling in a remarkable and brave
way." Jennifer Van Bergen, author.
"A vital guide to understanding deadly propaganda, War Is a Lie maps out the
deceptive terrain where people fall into accepting perpetual war as necessary.
David Swanson has done the difficult work of making it easy for readers to
grasp the extent of the lies -- and the horrific consequences. With meticulous
research and moral clarity, this book could transform your view of war and the
real possibilities for peace." Norman Solomon, author, film maker, activist.
"I've been reading a bit of this book every night since I got it. The effect it's
having on me is hard to explain. Like I've been born into a cult whether or not I
want it, but now the lies are being washed away by the rain." John Bostrom,
peace activist.
"Activist David Swanson is well respected in the anti-war community as a man
who walks his talk in a bold, committed, solid way, that he is a principled leader.
Now we must add to that list of credentials authorship of an important, destined
to be classic book. 'War Is A Lie' addresses the web of lies, the taboo subjects,
the false claims, the mythic messages that are hollow and empty and it lays
waste to them." Rob Kall, journalist, radio host.

"If decisions to go to war were really made on the basis of reason and facts,
rather than greed and power, David Swanson's brilliant new book would put a
stop to them. Those of us who know David understand that he writes quickly and
eloquently, speaks honestly and powerfully, and follows a logical point all the way
to its conclusion. He has a philosopher's mind with a computer's precision. And
he always maintains a justifiable moral outrage at the lies of the war criminals -calling out their crimes, detailing their carnage, poking holes in their excuses.
Reading 'War Is a Lie' is like reading Mark Twain's 'War Prayer,' only in book
form." Steve Cobble, political strategist.
"While Americans elect leaders whom they trust are honest, truthful and really
care about the kids they send to kill for our country, War Is A Lie reveals
decade after decade the sordid side of our history that our elected officials
lie us into war with stunning and embarrassing regularity and are little concerned
about the harm to innocent civilians, much less to members of our own military."
Ann Wright, peace activist, author, veteran.
"Swanson offers an incisive examination of the rationalizations, justifications,
and outright lies that have led the United States, and other nations, into battle.
And he shows the personal cost to the current generation of combatants
returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." Cynthia Wachtell, author.
David Swanson has taken the mantle of AJ Muste, who had the guts and the
audacity to declare World War II to have been unnecessary and wrong. Swanson
takes Mustes argument further to make the audacious claim that all wars are
not just unnecessary, but a crime. Dave Lindorff, journalist, author.
"War is a Lie is a must read for anyone who wants to break the centuries-long
cycle of a perennially war-waging United States. In this carefully researched
book, Mr. Swanson exposes the falsehoods that a willing government sells to a
gullible public to gain support for one unnecessary war after another. The profit
motives, power plays and perennial chest-thumping, that have all been given more
importance than human lives, are exposed in all their ugliness. This book should
be required reading in every high school history class in the country." Robert
Fantina, author, peace activist.
"It was a Republican U.S. senator, Hiram Johnson of California, who is credited
with coining the phrase: 'The first casualty when war comes is truth.' ... Were
he serving in the Senate now, Hiram Johnson would go to the floor of the
Senate, hold up a copy of David Swansons essential new book and demand that
the chamber and the whole of the American people recognize the reality of its
title: War Is a Lie." John Nichols, journalist, author.

"In War is a Lie David Swanson carves himself a monumental task: to prove the
truth of this in every historical instance for which background is available. He
accomplishes his task, with a weight of evidence which can only be described as
devastating. Swanson sets forth a deceptively simple yet provocative thesis:
War is never the only choice, and always the worst one." Ralph Lopez, peace
activist.
"David Swanson writes in the tradition of Howard Zinn. He always goes for
clarity, both in his relentless orchestration of the facts and his ethical
vision. War Is A Lie is as clear as the title. Wars are all based on lies, could not
be fought without lies, and would not be fought at all if people held their
governments to any reasonable standard of honesty. The book is easy to
understand, easy to read, if you have the will to face a vast array of facts that
hold the United States government to a reasonable standard of honesty."
Charles M. Young, journalist.
"Swanson's penetrating analysis of the lies behind wars, backed by his extensive
historical knowledge, shine a light not only on the destructive wars but on the
irrational, delusional thinking and propaganda that starts and prolongs them and
leads to so much death, destruction, and suffering." Jay Kvale, peace activist.
"David Swansons new book has given me a fresh perspective on a topic Ive
dedicated my life to: Americas war culture and its ever-nuanced fall out.
Economic collapse, pollution, dependence on fossil fuels, even global warming: you
cant begin to fathom our predicaments until you conceive of the American war
monster. Swanson rips away the public relations/advertising of this military
industrial giant to show its true cancerous colors. Read slowly, America. This is a
powerful mirror for those still clinging to our media distortions. Its an
indictment of a culture grown dependent on, and distorted by the machinery of
violence. But there is a compassion, an empathy to the authors tone. We are all
victims, Swanson argues. We are a people kept blind to the true costs, the
human tragedies, by the never ending lie of war." Charles Bivona, writer,
professor.
"It's been a week since I finished War Is A Lie, and I can't stop
thinking/talking about it.... Everyone in my life is getting a copy for their
birthday this year and I'm composing a letter to the editor of every major
paper in Idaho. Thank you for rocking my world." Kim Mazik, peace activist.
"This book is a nonviolent assault on the acceptance and justification of war, of
all wars. For those of us who already are familiar with the uncountable
arguments supporting Swanson's position, he was successful in compiling them in
a very readable work which also serves as a reference book. For those of us who

more or less blindly accept our culture of militarism, I am hopeful that the
exposure to the clear, compelling, evidence-based debunking of general war
myths and lies laid out by Swanson will open new windows of understanding."
Patrick Hiller, conflict transformation scholar, on the Governing Council of the
International Peace Research Association, the Steering Committee of World
Beyond War and Director of the War Prevention Initiative by the Jubitz Family
Foundation.
No one has worked harder than David Swanson to free the U.S. from the grip
of militarism. His recently updated book War Is a Lie, brilliantly exposes just
our profound addiction to war. I hope it jumpstarts a conversation about how we
can achieve enduring peace. John Horgan, science journalist, author, The End

of War.
"In War Is a Lie, David Swanson underscores a vital point that has been ignored
by far too many people who hoped President Obama and the Democrats would
bring about a break from the disastrous policies of the Bush years: 'we can't sit
in elected officials' offices demanding peace while promising to vote for them,
no matter what they do - not if we expect to be heard.' He shows how
Democrats historically -- and President Obama today -- are part of the toxic
bipartisan consensus that sustains repeated military intervention, at enormous
and mounting cost to the world. And he importantly reminds us that it will take
mobilize, active, engaged popular movements to change a status quo that will lead
to only more wars." Anthony Arnove, author, Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal.
"When you signed my copy at the Charlottesville, VA reading/signing you asked
me to let you know what I thought of War is a Lie. I just finished reading it.
Excellent, comprehensive and well written. Great manual for spotting the lies
and countering arguments for war. Just what I needed after a discouraging
campaign season to get me charged up and back in the peacemaking game. Thanks
for broadening our knowledge and telling what needed to be told." Harry Davis
"Well, here we are in the 21st century of the Common Era, and given the violent
history of the past decade, evidently the arguments about the disutility of
warfare still need to be made, again and again and again... Depressing, really. But
thank goodness David Swanson has taken up the effort. Buy the book!" Helena
Cobban
"I am less than halfway through the book - and - I am learning so much! I
consider myself very well read, a student of history, TV-free for over 14 years,
etc. etc. - but - your book is a revelation. I've known for decades that the
history we were fed in school is nothing but propaganda and lies, but the
information in your book takes that to a whole new level. I have told people to

read your book and that I rate its importance, for what it reveals about the
mendacity of scholars, historians, the liberal class, politicians and propagandists,
up there with Zinn's People's History. I'm serious about that - I don't say it
lightly. Thank you for writing this book. I hope sales are going better than you
expected. I am telling people about the book and making sure that when Im
reading it in a public place people see the title. Ive had a couple people approach
me, so Ive been happy to tell them about such an important work. My husband is
an artist and focused on his work (landscapes in oils) but I read him a lot of
things that I read and last night while he was making dinner, I read excerpts
things he didnt know either. He wants me to read him more which I will happily
do! Ive been reading it at lunch and in what little free time I have in the
evenings and weekends which isnt much. My proverbial hat is off to you, David.
Im really impressed. Of course, I thought it would be another good and valuable
addition to 'left' literature, but it is proving to be much more than that to me. I
strongly feel the facts you have revealed are intrinsic to Americans
understanding of our real history history which is forgotten, deliberately
hidden and covered with the propaganda masquerading as history in our schools.
I have an awful feeling that your book may not have a wide readership which it
certainly should because of how books are marketed these days and the
problems inherent within the publishing industry. Im doing what little I can do
alert people to its value and importance. And Im not even quite halfway through
yet!" -- Maria Allwine
David Swanson is one of the greatest peace strategists alive today. You will
find War Is A Lie to be engaging, insightful, inspirational, and useful. -Michael D. Knox, PhD - Chair, US Peace Memorial Foundation

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