Wow. NY Times editors SMASH Bush and Tenet. Wow.

The Uranium Fiction

We're glad that someone in Washington has finally taken responsibility for letting President Bush make a false accusation about Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program in the State of the Union address last January, but the matter will not end there. George Tenet, the director of central intelligence, stepped up to the issue yesterday when he said the C.I.A. had approved Mr. Bush's speech and failed to advise him to drop the mistaken charge that Iraq had recently tried to import significant quantities of uranium from an African nation, later identified as Niger. Now the American people need to know how the accusation got into the speech in the first place, and whether it was put there with an intent to deceive the nation. The White House has a lot of explaining to do.

...more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/12/opinion/12SAT1.html

Remember, this is the NEWSPAPER OF RECORD for the Western World, the biggest dog on the lawn of the Fourth Estate. Take their cue.

"We're glad that someone in Washington has finally taken responsibility for letting President Bush make a false accusation about Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program in the State of the Union address last January, but the matter will not end there."

Sarcasm is wondrous thing to behold when used effectively.

whole war farce quite a bit, despite claiming editorially to have opposed it. They frontpaged Judith Millers' "We just found the WMD!" stories repeatedly, & have repeatedly given Bush cover on the missing WMD, the terrible conditions in post-war Iraq, the prisoners at Gitmo, & the rich contracts going out to Bechtel et al.

on this misadministration I would venture that we aren't in a very good position to hold grudges. Sarcasm is a common thing to find in the statements of columnists but for it to show up in an actual editorial statement is pretty significant...it shows that not only do they not believe the spin but they find it contemptible.

Kudos to the NYT for asking the correct question - the one that MUST be answered. How did it get there? Tenet merely explains why it wasn't completely removed, although it was modified.

Yesterday was the equivalent of the CIA Director saying "I got a blowjob from Lewinsky" the day after the Clinton/Lewinsky affair was exposed...

Yes, Bush Knew!

while savagely smiling. Now if only the Grey Lady will keep it up.

BTW, saw some very nice remarks about your truthout article over on the daily kos in one of the threads.

and his sexed up, and plagiarized, dossier, when one considers how bankrupt the Bush administration's veracity is inre: virtually every aspect of its preemptive invasion of Iraq.

Meanwhile, 58 percent of Americans still think Bush is doing a great job.

LOL

He didn't only lie about Iraq. George has never casually told the truth about anything except, possibly, his name.

"So far, the administration's handling of this important — and politically explosive — issue has mostly involved a great deal of finger-pointing instead of an exacting reconstruction of events and an acceptance of blame by all those responsible. Mr. Bush himself engaged in the free-for-all yesterday while traveling in Africa when he said his speech had been "cleared by the intelligence services." That led within a few hours to Mr. Tenet's mea culpa."

Finger pointing, laying blame elsewhere. Maybe the American people will FINALLY start doubting that silly idea of Bush being an "honorable man."

:bounce:

None of these bastards will take responsibility. Ultimately, someone will, and it's going to be Bush himself.

:kick:

What about the other lies and false information that Bush gave about WMD in his State of the Union speech? Who will fall on his sword for those?

Bush said that there was an Al-Qaeda connection to Iraq, a claim that has been thoroughly debunked. Who put that lie in the SOTU?

Bush also said that Iraq had:

1. 25,000 liters of anthrax
2. 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin
3. 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent
4. 30,000 chemical munitions
5. several mobile biological weapons labs
6. advanced nuclear weapons development program
7. a design for a nuclear weapon
8. five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb
9. high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production

Here is that portion of the speech that Bush gave:

In addition to the Niger yellow cake uranium lie, for which CIA Director Tenet just fell on his sword, there are other lies about WMD that Bush told in the State of the Union speech. Here is the portion of the White House transcript:

The United Nations concluded in 1999 that Saddam Hussein had biological weapons sufficient to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax -- enough doses to kill several million people. He hasn't accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it.

The United Nations concluded that Saddam Hussein had materials sufficient to produce more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin -- enough to subject millions of people to death by respiratory failure. He hadn't accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it.

Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam Hussein had upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. Inspectors recently turned up 16 of them -- despite Iraq's recent declaration denying their existence. Saddam Hussein has not accounted for the remaining 29,984 of these prohibited munitions. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to a place to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb. The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030128-19.html

...pulling a cheap, low class, transparent stunt like this--the whole thing is nausiating.

hopefully, other media outlets will take him to task.