So seven years later and the media finally decides to take a look into what the administration was telling us about Iraq.
A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
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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-Qaida or both.
While a lot of people focus on the administrations role in this report, I can’t help but put a lot of blame on the media. The media is the delivery method of these lies, and they delivered them without any challenge.
The report also breaks down who told how many lies:
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-Qaida, 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-Qaida.
I heard Colin Powell give a speech last night at Miami University. At the end there was a question and answer segment. The first question was about the intelligence and the use of hardball as their source of information. Powell quickly dismissed the question stating that it was the intelligence that was wrong – not them. This is kind of an about face from a year ago when Powell was saying that he shouldn’t have given that speech and knew it was wrong to the point that he told George Tenet that he would be sitting behind him at the U.N. presentation.
I left that event wondering if Powell basis what he says upon where he speaks. Miami University is a very conservative university. When the first student asked that question he was met with numerous boos from the audience. For me it was great to see a young person versed enough in the events that lead us into war, instead of believing what they been spoon fed by the lies of the administration.
Overall this gives us a perfect opening for more series investigations into what lead our nation into this endless war. It’s time for Congress to ask serious questions to members of the administration – past and present. The lives of almost 4,000 soldiers deserve that little bit of sacrifice from our leaders.
On the web: Check out The War Card. A searchable database of lies this administration told in order to get us into war.