<p>Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?</p>
<p>People often say that being knowledgeable is greatly beneficial because when people understand the situation, they can easily manage and control the problems. However, in some cases, knowledge is a burden. Although knowledge can sometimes be a burden, the burden itself can serve to be useful.
The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al Qaeda upon United States. Following September 11, President George W. Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Husseins Iraq. They made a lot of false statements in the two years after September 11, 2001 regarding national security threat imposed by Iraq. On separated occasions such as in speech, interviews, testimonies, Bush stated unequivocally that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, which linked to Al Qaeda. The Bush administration led the nation to war based on erroneous information that it methodically propagated and culminated in military action against Iraq in 2003. Nearly five years after the US invasion of Iraq, an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses. The war killed thousands of Iraqi civilians including children, women and the elderly; many home and buildings were destroyed. Today, beyond dispute, Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to Al Qaeda. This was the conclusion of numerous bipartisan government investigations. After discovering that truth, Americans felt ashamed of their government for telling lies which led to innocent deaths in Iraq. We can see that knowledge can be a burden, many Americans felt guilty about the consequence of the war and they had to be responsible for what their government did. If President Bush had come to a decision based on facts and evidence, the situation would have been much better.
Although Americans were burdened by knowing the government had concocted in order to wage war on Iraq, the burden itself may actually be positive for future Government administration. It helped the US government realize that officials must be more careful in decision-making process, especially which can influence on humans safety. The US Government had valuable lessons; they had to verify exhaustive aspects of problems to ensure that they were not on negative path. Clearly, the burden in part was beneficial because it helped US Government be more vigilant at making decisions.
Knowledge always helps people to know more clearly about the situation, however, it is not always good. Knowledge is the two-sided affair, in some cases, knowing the problem can be a benefit, in other cases, it can be a real burden. It can even be either a burden or a benefit. People should cope with difficulties to have the lessons and not to make wrong decisions.</p>