NYT & WMD: Profiles In Timidity

Spread across two columns of the front page, two full pages inside and within a scathing editorial, The New York Times gave comprehensive coverage to the report of the presidential commission studying intelligence on WMD.

They left out just one little detail: themselves.

http://villagevoice.com/blogs/pressclipsextra/archives/2005/04/nyt_wmd_profile.php

~~~But remarkably, in 6,600 words of news and opinion, the Times does not mention its own much-maligned role in selling the idea that Iraq posed a threat. There is not a single word on that.

When the United States was hurtling toward the war in Iraq, Americans looked to the press—and especially the newspaper of record—to separate fact from hype. The Times failed to deliver. Instead, it provided coverage that amplified the pronouncements of the war's salesmen.

*****
Friday 1st April 2005 (22h56) :

Bush Embraces WMD Report that Lays Blame on CIA
4 comment(s).

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=5648

​ ​​​​ President Bush was pleased to accept the report from the WMD Commission, and he agrees with their conclusions- all the mistakes (wmd lies) were the fault of the intelligence community. Neither Bush nor anyone in his administration was criticized by the Commission appointed by Mr. Bush.
The 9 member commission was headed by retired Republican judge Laurence Silberman and former Democratic Senator Chuck Robb who said, "They got wrong the critical judgments with respect to nuclear weapons, with respect to biological weapons and with respect to chemical weapons."

The commission largely blamed the ’intelligence community’ for the false WMD claims, and unsurprisingly they failed to mention the glaring facts that contradict this veridict.

The infamous "Saddam bought Uranium from Niger" claim.

If you recall, Tenet advised that this claim be removed from a Bush speech in Cincinatti in Oct 2002. Then Bush delivered this exact line in his 2003 State of the Union Address. Later Condi explained the ’mistake’ on Meet the Press- it was "three plus months later, uh, people simply forgot..." Who forgot? This is a pretty big mistake, has anyone ever been fired? Shouldn’t Bush have come out a little red-faced and said, oh sorry about that ’Saddam bought uranium’ thing... guess that turned out to be a cheap forgery- he he.

Bush failed to apologize after this known falsehood was told to the nation. He was given a second opportunity to correct this on March 8, 2003- two weeks before the war when the IAEA released their findings on Saddam-Uranium-Niger connection. The forgery was so bad it was laughable. Outdated letterhead, wrong names and signatures
there was no need to even investigate if it was a forgery because it was obvious at first glance. All the IAEA officials needed was a few hours on Google to verify that their memories served them correctly.

The Bush appointed Commission reports that June 17, 2003 a CIA memo stated that since learning that the Iraq-Niger uranium deal was based on false documents earlier this spring we no longer believe... that Iraq pursued uranium from abroad. The Commission concludes that:


"The Intelligence Community should have reviewed the documents to evaluate their authenticity as soon as they were made available in early October 2002, rather than waiting over six months to do so."

But... but... that’s outrageous! An absurd excuse. The IAEA officials identified these documents as forgeries - a task that their experts were able to complete in just a matter of hours.... "total bullshit". The forged documents had the wrong signatures on the wrong letterhead! Now the Bush appointed commission declares that it’s Tenet’s fault that the President used these forgeries to threaten America and launch an unnecessary war. This is just another of the Bush administration’s lame excuses that defy logic.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UAVs capable of attacking the East Coast
The commission also blamed the intelligence community for the false UAV claims, but they fail to mention how important this was to the Senate vote authorizing the war.


Senator Bill Nelson: I, along with nearly every Senator in this Chamber, in that secure room of this Capitol complex, was not only told there were weapons of mass destruction -- specifically chemical and biological -- but I was looked at straight in the face and told that Saddam Hussein had the means of delivering those biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction by unmanned drones, called UAVs, unmanned aerial vehicles. Further, I was looked at straight in the face and told that UAVs could be launched from ships off the Atlantic coast to attack eastern seaboard cities of the United States.
Is it any wonder that I concluded there was an imminent peril to the United States?



Which member of the Bush administration looked Senator Nelson in the face and told him about this imminent threat of UAVs capable of attacking the East Coast?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




VIDEO @ http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=5648

This WMD Commission Report amounts to little more than a ridiculous cover-up- a bunch of Bush yes men conclude- "Sure enough, it was Tenet’s fault." Poor George and Dick were embarassed by the CIA’s faulty intelligence. If the CIA had done a better job, Dick and Bush would never have said:


"The evidence indicates that Iraq has reconstituted it’s nukyular weapons program. Saddam Hussein has held numerous meetings with Iraqi nukular scientists, a group he calls his Nukyular Mujaheddin, his Nukyular Holy Warriors."

George W. Bush

"Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."
- George W. Bush
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use them against our friends, against our allies and against us."
- Dick Cheney

"Before September the eleventh many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein could be contained."

George W. Bush

Audio Memories (right click --> save as)
Bush, Dick & Colin’s pre-war ’intelligence’ - mp3
George Bush: In his own words - mp3

Slideshow: Lies and the Consequences
The Heart of Iraq (3.2 mb avi video)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the few straight talking Congressman left, Dennis Kucinich had this to say about the WMD report:


"Today, we are once again reminded of what we already know: that this Administration deliberately mislead this nation into an unnecessary war in Iraq."

press release @ http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0331-09.htm

The WMD Commission confirms that the false claims of imminent threat were exposed before the war- as such, basic logic begs the question:

If there was no threat, why did Bush launch the war anyway?


Bush’s hand-picked commission did not address this issue- no wonder Bush was so pleased with their findings.
It should come as no surprise that Republicans heartily accept this report’s lame excuses, but why does the media let Bush off the hook again and again?

At what point does it become clear that the media is still dutifully reporting Bush propaganda now, just as they did before the war.

And even more stunning than the media complicity is the collective silence of most Democrats in Congress. Why do the Demcratic ’leaders’ in Congress roll over just like the media lapdogs?

At what point does it become clear that Congress is either in on the corruption, or they are criminally negligent and must be removed along with Bush & Co as they refuse to hold their partners in crime accountable.

Do you really think another phony election will solve our problems?


by : Ben Frank
Friday 1st April 2005


Post a Comment
Send to a friend
Print this article @ http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=5648
*****

HeadSpace FOR RENT ! imProperGandists
CitizenMedia Nextduty-THROW the info-nannies OUT Of The Temple

A Better World is Possible
Envision waking up to it someday
Awesome, Inspiring, Motivating Songs
All FREE
Just
Spread the word
Send these songs to friends
Burn 50 CDs and pass 'em out
Enlighten Yourself and Friends Today !

Peace

http://www.benfrank.net/nuke/Free_Peace_mp3s.html

The US would NEVER have attacked Iraq, had they truly believed that Saddam had WMD. That would have been insane, even for the likes of Butch and his clan of Dicks. There were no warnings issued to Israel like "Hey, watch out below, you may bear the brunt, little brother!" We heard no steely reports about soldiers in lead-plated armor, no contingency plans involving nuclear fall-out shelters being constructed. Nothing like that, because everybody, but everybody knew there was no danger of that sort to be faced.

What I cannot, really cannot understand is why nobody ever says this, not even any of the worthy media heroes you site. What is wrong with everybody?