Have We All Forgotten About the Iraq War?
The Blowback podcast reaches deep into the memory hole and pulls the Iraq War back up into the sunlight. It’s vital listening for anyone who is hazy on the specifics of how the US ended up invading Iraq, killing at least half a million people, and sparking bloody, never-ending conflicts throughout the Middle East.
President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice meet in the President’s Emergency Operations Center after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in Washington, DC. (David Bohrer / US National Archives via Getty Images)
For seven weeks in the spring of 2003, the number one song on the Billboard country music chart was Darryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten?”
The music video began with footage of the antiwar protests that had broken out across the country and the world, over which Worley sang, “I hear people saying we don’t need this war / But I say there’s some things worth fighting for.” The camera cut to old photos of soldiers who’d fought in wars past. “What about our freedom and this piece of ground? / We didn’t get to keep ’em by backing down.”
And then the chorus: “Have you forgotten how it felt that day / To see your homeland under fire and her people blown away? / Have you forgotten when those towers fell? / We had neighbors still inside going through a living hell / And you say we shouldn’t worry about bin Laden / Have you forgotten?”
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