Via Truthout

White House Attacks the Messenger

By Joseph Wilson / t r u t h o u t

Statement by Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson

The Bush White House and its right wing allies are responding to Cindy
Sheehan and the military families’ vigil in Central Texas in the same way that
they always respond to bad news –by unleashing personal attacks and smears
against her.

This White House never wants an open public discussion, and it certainly
never wants to be told that it is wrong. It always tries to change the message
by attacking the messenger.

They did it with former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill when he wrote a
book that suggested that the White House used 9/11 as an excuse to invade
Iraq.

They did it when Richard Clarke revealed that the White House ignored
warnings about Bin Laden.

They did it in a most despicable way, as everybody now knows, when they
revealed my wife’s identity as a CIA employee because they were unhappy when I
spoke the truth and told the American people that President Bush’s claim was
false concerning Niger’s giving uranium to Iraq, part of the trumped up
rationale for our invasion.

So no one should be surprised that when these mothers and families who have
lost loved ones in Iraq step up to question the President, the White House
responds not with the respect due them, but with hateful attacks and smears.
But enough is enough. Ours is a government of the people, by the people and
for the people; and the people in the name of Cindy Sheehan are right in
demanding accountability for the tragedy foisted upon our great nation by this
administration. To smear her rather than hear her is un-American and
undemocratic.

And yet the attacks of the White House fail to deter these people. That goes
to show you that what they are saying they truly believe in and that is a
powerful message.