Alexander Cockburn Quotes

It is well known that in war, the first casualty is truth - that during any war truth is forsaken for propaganda.

If truth is the first victim of war, then read on - I've got some great lies for you this month.

Truth is not the first casualty of war alone: it is the first casualty of populism.

The first casualty when war comes is truth.

No one has ever succeeded in keeping nations at war except by lies.

The sad truth is that the opposite of 'war' is not 'peace'.

They say that truth is the first casualty of war. But there is another casualty as well: trust. As conflict escalates, trust between people and political leaders crumbles away as surely as night follows day.

If truth is the main casualty in war, ambiguity is another.

In war, truth is often the first casualty.

It's often been observed that the first casualty of war is the truth. But that's a lie, too, in its way. The reality is that, for most wars to begin, the truth has to have been sacrificed a long time in advance.

We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons.

I was surrounded by nature and trying to come to terms with this blissful nature versus the inhumane mentality of war. People were being deluded by someone using the word peace.

I feel sad when I realize how much truth is being changed or obscured in the American media.

I had earlier concluded that a war with Iraq would be a distraction from the successful and expeditious completion of our aims in Afghanistan. Now I had come to question whether the White House was telling the truth.

Everyone, when there's war in the air, learns to live in a new element: falsehood.

War is big and there are only so many reporters and only so many places for their words and images to appear. Choices are made constantly.

How is the world ruled and led to war? Diplomats lie to journalists and believe these lies when they see them in print.

We live in a world of denial, and we don't know what the truth is anymore.

It is often observed that the first casualty of war is truth, but how do you tell the truth without betraying the sacrifice of those who accepted the terms of battle? War is a sacrificial system that creates its own justification.

A good war televises well; a bad war televises poorly.

It is very dangerous to write the truth in war, and the truth is very dangerous to come by.

In wartime, truth is so precious that she should be attended by a bodyguard of lies.

Food is as important to armies as ammunition—but more important than either is an unfailing supply of lies. You simply cannot murder your enemy in the most efficient manner if you know he is in every essential the same kind of a man as yourself.

In time of war what is said on the enemy's side of the front is always propaganda and what is said on our side of the front is truth and righteousness, the cause of humanity and a crusade for peace.

The truth is that one cannot choose the form of war one wants.