False Statements
According to a study done by two nonprofit journalism groups, Bush and top members of his regime publicly made 935 false statements about the risk posed by Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attracts on 9/11. The study found Bush led the effort to deceive the media and the world community with 260 false statements.
Other officials included Vice President Cheney, former secretary of state Colin Powell, then national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The study points to at least 532 times where officials said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to get them, or had links to al Qaeda.
The study concluded that the false statements “were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.”
A White House spokesperson called the study flawed and reiterated the regime’s position that the world community saw Saddam Hussein as a threat. Bush claims that at the time he and other officials made these statements, our intelligence community and those of other nations thought Iraq had WMD. But they didn't.
The study was posted on the Website of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism and points out that:
“The Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003.”
These false statements were amplified by thousands of news stories, and some journalists and even some entire news organizations, have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. Notwithstanding, these mea culpas, those news stories led to almost 4,000 of our troops being killed.
Many Bush supporters continue to claim that his administration did not lie to the American people about the need to invade Iraq. On the contrary, Paul Pillar served 28 years with the CIA and retired in 2005, as senior intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia. He charges the Bush administration with the selective use of intelligence about Iraq’s unconventional weapons and of ignoring predictions of postwar chaos in Iraq.
Pillar wrote: “If the entire body of official intelligence analysis on Iraq had a policy implication, it was to avoid war...or, if war was going to be launched, to prepare for a messy aftermath.”
Other officials included Vice President Cheney, former secretary of state Colin Powell, then national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The study points to at least 532 times where officials said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to get them, or had links to al Qaeda.
The study concluded that the false statements “were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.”
A White House spokesperson called the study flawed and reiterated the regime’s position that the world community saw Saddam Hussein as a threat. Bush claims that at the time he and other officials made these statements, our intelligence community and those of other nations thought Iraq had WMD. But they didn't.
The study was posted on the Website of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism and points out that:
“The Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003.”
These false statements were amplified by thousands of news stories, and some journalists and even some entire news organizations, have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. Notwithstanding, these mea culpas, those news stories led to almost 4,000 of our troops being killed.
Many Bush supporters continue to claim that his administration did not lie to the American people about the need to invade Iraq. On the contrary, Paul Pillar served 28 years with the CIA and retired in 2005, as senior intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia. He charges the Bush administration with the selective use of intelligence about Iraq’s unconventional weapons and of ignoring predictions of postwar chaos in Iraq.
Pillar wrote: “If the entire body of official intelligence analysis on Iraq had a policy implication, it was to avoid war...or, if war was going to be launched, to prepare for a messy aftermath.”
posted by Jim O'Leary | 12:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home