This is a BIG LIE coming out of Hillary Clinton’s mouth: “Terrorists in Pakistan have killed more than 30,000 Pakistanis.”

My intuition told me that it was way too large a number, so I did 5 minutes of research. I believe very strongly in doing research and not accepting statements and ideas without verification. I came up with what is close to the original article about this number. The original source was Inter-Services Public Relations. Between 9/11/2001 and 2/18/2010, it reports 30,452 people “killed or injured.” The sum includes injured. The sum covers about 8.5 years. It reportedly includes 21,672 civilians and 8,785 military personnel. (That adds up to 30,457.)

The civilian total was not broken down. The article says that 2,273 soldiers were killed and 6,512 were injured.  This means that 74.1 percent of the total military casualties were injuries, not deaths.

We also are told “In 2009 alone, when the Pakistani military went into action against the Taliban in the country’s restive northwest, 10,000 people were killed, Online news agency reported.” In other words, there is a war going on. There are about 240,000 military personnel (both Pakistani and NATO or “coalition”) in the border region. When Clinton says “We need stronger, more concerted efforts against the scourge of terrorism,” she is simply saying to expand the war, which will of course bring about even more of the casualties that she is lying about.

This period includes U.S. drone attacks, which began in 2004. The latter article contains estimates of how many casualties these have inflicted, and I note that the Pakistanis keep track of them so that they are probably included in the ISPR estimates.

The original article also estimates Taliban and/or opposition or what it calls terrorist casualties. “ISPR said 17,742 terrorists had been killed and captured since the war on terror began.”

OK, so what are we to make of the U.S. Secretary of State claiming that terrorists have killed more than 30,000 Pakistanis? It’s a startling figure. It’s inserted into her speech as a matter of high policy in order to pressure the Pakistan government, but it also influences American opinion about fighting terrorism by fanning the flames of the war on terror.

The statement is obviously false, and 5 minutes of checking would have revealed that it is false. Either Clinton knew this or she didn’t. She is spreading a lie, wittingly or unwittingly. Does she know it’s a lie? I don’t know. But if not, then she’s mighty irresponsible and/or dumb to take such a number from her aides and advisors and insert it into a major speech. Her aides and advisors are either liars or dumb. Somewhere down the line, isn’t there someone who actually reads original sources and understands what they are saying? Or do they read and then lie intentionally?

In any event, can you trust idiots and/or liars to run your government and your lives? Can you trust anything they say? Can you believe their promises? They often express ideals and goals that attract the sympathies of many people, but can you believe that they actually believe in these ideals? Can you believe that they will adopt sensible means to achieve them? Or is it more wise to believe that people in government act like morons on your behalf, in fact, more moronically than the average person you work with? Isn’t it more wise to believe that they mouth platitudes and make safe statements only to attract your votes and maintain themselves in power? That in their efforts to maintain their power, they are not morons? Is it not wiser to conclude that they will lie whenever they can get away with it? Isn’t it wiser to conclude that the enterprise of government is a giant fraud, from one end to the other? And that lies and misstatements are its common currency? Isn’t it wiser to believe that your taxes go to waste and corruption built upon empty promises that cannot be fulfilled and aren’t fulfilled?

You are being lied to by government. In the face of lie after lie, isn’t it wiser to assume that it is the intention of those who are lying to fool you and to influence your thinking so that you support them? Isn’t it time to stop listening to their lies and stop heeding them?

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