Since the Bush adminstration is the most secretive and insular presidency in the history of our country, we sure as heck couldn't wait around for them to investigate themselves, and their conduct in the "rush towards war." Thank goodness that the "fourth branch" of government, the press, has finally snapped out of their stupor and started questioning the Bush administration.
A report released yesterday by the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism has found that during the rush to war and and soon afterwards, before there was a chance to find weapons of mass destruction, Bush and his top war-mongers deliberatly mislead the public and lawmakers to believe that Saddam Hussein had an active nuclear weapons program, was buying the raw ingredients for nuclear weapon delivery systems, and that Iraq and Al Quaeda had significant pre-war ties.
The most (*)(*)(*)(*)ing statements are summed up here:
The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to Al Qaeda or both.
"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to Al Qaeda," according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. "In short, 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."
Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.
Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to Al Qaeda, the study found. That was second only to Powell's 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and Al Qaeda.
The center said the study was based on a database created with public statements over the two years beginning on Sept. 11, 2001, and information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches and interviews.
"The cumulative effect of these false statements — amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts — was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.
"Some journalists — indeed, even some entire news organizations — have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq," it said. Yeah, Duh!
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