The U.S. government won huge lawsuit against the tobacco industry five years ago, based on the fact that the tobacco industry has been unconscionably killing Americans with blatant lies for 50 years. And the tobacco companies were like, "you got us! Okay, haha, you got us. We'll stop that."

Now the U.S. government wants them to suffer, by publishing mandatory "corrective statements" in advertisements and on marketing materials. The government's proposed statements are surprisingly forthright and harsh! For example:

We falsely marketed low tar and light cigarettes as less harmful than regular cigarettes to keep people smoking and sustain our profits. We knew that many smokers switch to low tar and light cigarettes rather than quitting because they believe low tar and lights are less harmful. They are NOT.

The tobacco industry's attorneys say that tobacco companies would rather not say these things.

[NYT. Full proposed statements here.]