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Study: Bush Led US To War on 'False Pretenses'
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.
The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."
The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study Tuesday night but reiterated the administration's position that the world community viewed Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat.
"The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world," Stanzel said.
The Center for Public Integrity, a research group that focuses on ethics in government and public policy, designed the new Web site to allow simple searches for specific phrases, such as "mushroom cloud" or "yellowcake uranium," in transcripts and documents totaling some 380,000 words, including remarks by President Bush and most of his top advisers in the two years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
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, 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 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.
There is no startling new information in the archive, because all the documents have been published previously. But the new computer tool is remarkable for its scope and its replay of the crescendo of statements that led to the war. Muckrakers may find browsing the site reminiscent of what Richard Nixon used to dismissively call "wallowing in Watergate."
Online resources Center for Public Integrity: www.publicintegrity.org
Fund for Independence in Journalism: www.tfij.org/
The New York Times contributed to this report.
© 2008 Associated Press
156 Comments so far
Show AllThis is not new news! We know bush/cheney lied us into war! The question is what is congress going to do about it, and sadly I think the answer is NOTHING. The dems are too spinless and the republicans are still too loyal to their war criminal president. YES HE IS A WAR CRIMINAL!
Ok Nancy, NOW TELL US AGAIN WHY IMPEACHMENT IS "OFF YOUR TABLE."
And also to my Congressman Henry Waxman who recently was given an AWARD from the ACLU which HAS ENDORSED IMPEACHMENT.
And John Conyers, that "leader" of the Judiciary who DID HAVE a resolution for impeachment BEFORE gaining the majority in the house...WHAT is holding him up? Wexler, who is ON his committee has taken the lead from Kucinich in demanding hearings. And, yet,nothing.
The Democrats were put into the majority to END THE WAR and HOLD THIS ADMINISTRATION ACCOUNTABLE!!! Neither of these have been done, and, thus, the extremely low "approval" ratings. They think that if they DO these things, they'll jeopardize the chance of gaining the White House.
Here's the NEWS FLASH DEMS: Your spineless refusal to hold investigative HEARINGS into impeachment is what will jeopardize gaining the White House...particularly if McCain's star continues to rise...and the divisive Hillary is the nominee.
This country needs a UNITER, much more than a divider, and that accounts for the flocking of the young and independents to the campaign of Obama...although his position on Iraq is not appreciably different.
How many of us really want to experience the Hill and Bill show for another eight years? Really!!! Make sure you answer that before voting if you are in one of the Tsunami Tuesday states like I am in California.
###
There is no reason this cannot be pursued through the courts. It ought to be a goal of those concerned about preserving constitutional government to work on bringing a case against the administration regardless of who is in control of the executive branch. There will be a lot of people saying we should just move on to dealing with whatever current problems exist and forget about what happened and those voices will claim to speak for reconciliation. We must ignore them and make sure that leaders are ultimately held accountable for their actions.
I wish America really was the land of the free and home of the brave.
God help America!
I cannot even get to the website they listed in the article :(
Really? Now they talk about it?
I remember when my wife was looking for a publisher for her book "No Questions asked : News Coverage Since 9/11" she was getting so much crap from publishers and journalism professors that she almost gave up.
She spend months documenting the lies and how the media blindly reported them and published them without asking any questions (the title of the book says it all).
You can see the highlight of the book at:
http://www.noquesitonsasked.org
and some really good reviews on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0275993353
This was 4 years ago and now, we finally hearing the statistics of the lies, but you can not change the history, you can not bring back the 3900 American soldiers, or 100s of thousands of Iraqis, or millions of people around the world who have suffered so badly due to these lies.
I really wish we had heard about the statistics in 2004, when Bush was popular, or even while he was lying, maybe then we could have stopped this madness and saved so many lives that have perished due to the crimes of this arrogant bastards,
"..... issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks."
Indeed.
And here's another one, propagated, presumably unwittingly, by this author.
Now it may indeed be that WHOEVER did the WTC arson/murders could rightly be called a "terrorist." We won't know until we have a trial and prove who did it and why.
But the word "terrorist" has become practically synonymous with "Arab" or "Islamic" or "brown person." There's no conclusive evidence to support that assumption. Or even any unlaughable evidence.
Yet, how many times is this repeated as if a proven fact?
Got to give the devil his due: it's a great scam.
Liberty & Justice,
SJ
www.spartacusjones.com
No Shit!! Come on people, don't you see? Impeachment will never happen until MSM starts doing their job. Cindy Sheehan delivered over 8,000 hand-written letters from citizens demanding impeachment to Nancy Pelosi; Congressman Wexler has produced 200,000+ signitures from his on-line petition demanding Impeachment.
Have any of you heard ANYTHING at all about this movement from MSM?
Just as they have manipulated who is seen in the presidential debates, they are making sure that the people hear nothing about impeachment.
Got Fascism??
Excuse me - That's Congressman Waxman.
"This is not new news!"
Sure isn't -- and if anyone thinks, for even one-second, that any reporter/agency finds this 'news', either, then they've "drunk the kool-aid".
Anyone reasonably well-read (much-less reporters/agency-heads/editors, etc.) knew before most-here did that the 'lies were coming' -- long before even 9/11 was 'reality'.
Did you expect any different from your 'MSM'?
Why?
[Click my Name]
Cosmicharlie "Impeachment will never happen until MSM starts doing their job."
Unfortunately, they are doing their job. Their job is what they get paid for. They get paid by promoting their sponsor's interests, during the ads, and the rest of the time. RMurdoch and his paid minions are certainly doing what their paymasters want.
the Government could do things to pressure the MSM to live up to it's Constitutional imperative, being one of the pillars of democracy and all. But where are you going to find a government that would do that, in the interests of you and me, at the expense of the industry that provides cover for their crime?
Expecting the MSM to help is like expecting the market to regulate itself. HA! Don't buy the line that government and regulation are evil - that was planted in your brain by the MSM against your own self interest.
"The New York Times contributed to this report."
I'm guessing the NYT added the last sentence: "Muckrakers may find browsing the site reminiscent of what Richard Nixon used to dismissively call 'wallowing in Watergate.'"
Did we need any more evidence that US democracy is not only dead but buried and almost completely decayed? When the US corporate media became purely a propaganda organ of the corporate oligarchy it was inevitable.
Linda Sutton makes some good points, but I doubt seriously we will get the "Hill and Bill show" for eight years. First off, HRC would probably lose to McCain. And even if she were allowed by the corporate media and oligarchy to win, it seems likely it would be in accordance with some agreement whereby she would get one term before the permanent Republican control of the US government began. I can see how Hill and Bill would agree to that because she would gain immortality as the first US female president and Bill would get to live in the Whitehouse, and the spotlight, for four more years.
And the corporate oligarchy may agree to that as Hillary seems non-threatening as the most pro-corporate Democrat of all time and, since there is likely to be a depression, and possibly a serious terrorist attack as blowback for Iraq, and maybe Iran, it is better to have a Democrat in office to blame such catastrophes on and thereby to permanently remove the Democratic Party as a serious threat (there are a few non-corporate Democrats, after all).
Maybe we should hire Monica Lewinski (sp?) to approach George.
That might get impeachment back on the table.
Liar Liar, Pants on Fire!
"Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it." Adolf Hitler
How is it I knew what this study has found to be the case as far back as 2003? Me and a few million others who weren't listened to over the media din of war-drum beating. Congress is as complicit in this massive war crime as the Bush crime family itself, and they couldn't have pulled any of it off without full media complicity. So those who would play any real role in impeaching the bastards are the same as those who are responsible for the entire fucking thing! Who really thinks they're all going to impeach and imprison themselves?
People were fooled; that's all.
"By a lie, a man... annihilates his dignity as a man." Immanuel Kant
The neocon defense will be that the bush adminstration simply had "faulty intelligence". (Another lie).
The fact is that the 'war' and all the occurrences to date were planned out long before bush ever assumed office. The final blow to America started with the faked elections in 2000 and 2004. It continued with the controlled demolition of the WTC (the great magic act that hypnotized nearly everyone). There's the continued shell game with Bin Laden (keep your eye on him) to divert your thinking away from more important issues.
The lies, imprisonment, torture, accusations, faked video, faked audio, "presidential candidate cicus", designer tasers, and racism are simply indicators that the country is in it's death throes.
The final destruction of the country and the end of our Constitution will occur in a nuclear holocaust of our own design. (The one rapidly approaching)
I honestly hope that somehow the real America will rise up out of the ashes the same way a forest comes back after a fire. Time will tell.
Cosmicharlie___ Nice idea, getting Monica and George togeter. But realize, in that case, the MSM would spin it as a good thing. Nothing but important business being taken care of, like she is helping him with his morning prayers while studying the Iran problem and our economic woes. Makes a huge difference in America who is paying which piper.
Where is the legal profession in this debate? Why are they silent? Is creativity dead in the legal profession? Are their professional organizations intimidated into silence by Cheney and Bush? Where are their leaders? What are their ideas?
Right on, madlib. The question is how we ordinary citizens can stop this whining and actually DO something. How do WE citizens take court action against these lying bastards?
Secondly, please stop putting down the MSM and recognize the significance of what this study means from The Center for Public Integrity. It means that HISTORY has caught up with these lying bastards before they're out of office. This is a big, important step for the record toward nailing them as the criminals they are.
From the toilet's eye view this report is VERY important!
Find out what's going on and what you can do about it.
Naomi Wolf - The End of America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc
The biggest lie was the one they told themselves, that lying to us was smart.
It only took the media SEVEN YEARS to report what many of us knew from the beginning--AND BEFORE?!?!
So this means Kucinich HAS been right all along?!
Does this mean there is STILL time for a Kucinich comeback?!
Does this mean MAYBE impeachment has more jet fuel to push it?!
Does this mean there is STILL TIME to save our country?!
Does this mean NOW the sleeping masses MIGHT start to clear their eyes and minds and get on the same page with the rest of us?!
Naaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! BUT...WE CAN HOPE!!!
The Dems called me begging for money last night. I told them I might consider contributing when Pelosi gets onboard with impeachment.
Bush could only have done this due to a non-opposition.
It was in the Washington Post yesterday, the entire report and links necessary.
"Secondly, please stop putting down the MSM"
Honestly it is a surprise that the AP picked up on this story.
I bet you, however, that it was stuck back on page 10 of section C
The story made MPR/NPR this morning with a long segment.
Maybe "better late than never," but I'm still not contributing money to NPR.
Re:Cosmicharlie "Impeachment will never happen until MSM starts doing their job."
While I agree with your comments whole-heartedly, I do have a little trouble with the statement above. I would argue that the MSM is doing their job and doing it quite well; that job being the waging of a successful campaign of mass disinformation to support the status quo. After all, to do anything less would result in a roll back of their lucrative advertisement contracts.
Unlike the Soviet or Nazi propaganda of the 20th century, the current MSM is much better at doling out the BS than any Marxist or Fascist ever dreamed of. Through exclusion, marginalization and special interest (no interest) stories, the MSM actually is able to convince a majority of Americans that they offer 'fair and balanced' coverage. Knife and fork issues are completely absent with little or no discussion about national health care, minimum wage, the deterioration of unions, alternative foreign policy opinions, runaway corporate crime, the disparities in taxation or the insane expenditures on anything related to Homeland Security or the Pentagon. In fact unless the MSM makes an issue of something (like the article above), the public deems it to be of no importance.
The dumbing down of the general population is a living testimonial of our subservience to corporate America. Independent studies can and will point out an infinite number of crimes and misdemeanours perpetrated against the citizenry, but without the complicity of the MSM in exposing the culprits, changes won't occur.
peterrb2 "The question is how we ordinary citizens can stop this whining and actually DO something."
There are plenty of citizens out there ACTIVELY taking it to the streets daily. (myself included) If I'm whining about anything it's that MSM is not portraying what is really happening. The activism
in this country and around the world is huge. You just don't hear about it. The Bu$h administration and MSM effectively just ignores
it all.
I don't understand why everyone is so surprised at this report. Why did it take so long to be produced? Why has congress not acted? What actions can we take since it is clear the government doesn't care about us and elections do not provide much in the way of tangible change? I have listened to the candidates and conclude that all, no matter their party, are far out of touch with the people. Is it time to take to the streets?
dreamertoo: "The biggest lie was the one they told themselves, that lying to us was smart."
Of course it was smart! We are (still) witnessing the largest wealth re-distribution project in U.S. history. Things could have gone better, sure, but the bottom line is, the rich got richer even faster than usual, and to that Mr. Bush has been resoundingly successful.
Lying to us? You say that as if the people are more than a puddle in the street that our dear leaders can't simply walk around, soak up or drain. They're all lying, all the time, and will continue to lie until there is a real consequence. Lying to We the People is not only smart for them ...it's a complete no-brainer!
We must write to all congressional democrats and demand they cease so-called debates under MSM control. They can have debates and the media can, or refuse to, cover them. We, the people, will see, hear, or catch up to them. We don't need the likes of Wolfy Schlitzer, Chris Matthews, Tucker . . .
Debates: Candidates actually debate among themselves until they have exhausted any-given issue even if it takes many hours. . . IF, of course, they bother to discuss real ISSUES of concerns to the vast majority of citizens. This '30 second limit' to respond to significant issues' is garbage.
No need for a host or moderator . . . except when the candidates
recycle their arguments or beat a subject to smitherines . . .
We must not allow MSM to dictate policy with the lives of so many are at stake . . .
Meanwhile, democrats running for president will not get the support of the majority if they continue to refuse to hold BUSH-CHENEY (and those who supported and aided them including MSM) accountable in a court of law for crimes against American citizens and humanity in general. Those who trashed the Contitution, and lied to start the war - causing the death of over a million, mostly innocent, people who just wanted to get through the day, must pay for what they have done.
It's getting press now because U.S. wants to use preemptive Nuclear Strikes as was reported yesterday. And Russia last week came out with a statement of preemptive Hydrogen Bomb attacks against the west to any country that wants to threaten its allies. The corporations that control this country are now concerned. That's why we have a release of a report now.
Hundreds of democrats also helped lead us into war, and keep us there.
Millions of alleged "liberals" and "peace activists" then voted for these democrats in 2002,2004,2006, and presumably in 2008.
Liberals and peace activists must be closet warmongers, or morons.
Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats sold us out.
Vote Cindy Sheehan for Congress.
Cindyforcongress.org.
Break the one party system.
prariedog and cosmicharlie have it:
VOTE FOR CINDY SHEEHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Of course it was smart! We are (still) witnessing the largest wealth re-distribution project in U.S. history. Things could have gone better, sure, but the bottom line is, the rich got richer even faster than usual, and to that Mr. Bush has been resoundingly successful." (Stilba)
Actually, the wealth redistribution that Bush did does not serve the rich anymore that it serves the poor; it's only intent was to create dissension and strife.
Americans, obsessed with money, have confused hate with greed.
alexnosal,
Consider using the abbrev. "CM" (Corporate Media) instead of "MSM" (Mainstream Media). Getting out of Iraq, restoring the middle-class, alleviating poverty, etc. are actually the mainstream ideas. (The CM represents a minority/extreme interest, as the number of lies required to justify the invasion of Iraq demonstrates.)
"My son, much tried by the fate of Ilium, you must know that Cassandra alone declared to me this fortune. Now I recall her predicting these things as our people's destiny..." - Virgil
So it is with the tale of the 1001 Arabian Lies! Anyone who was awake during the Cold War immediately recognized the spinning of the Web of Lies that has entrapped us and our children for this, the Last American Century.
Now they're fabricating video-audio in the Straits of Hormuz to draw us into another war. You don't suppose Congress is so stupid as to fall for that?
Do you?
"Lying to us? You say that as if the people are more than a puddle in the street that our dear leaders can't simply walk around, soak up or drain. They're all lying, all the time, and will continue to lie until there is a real consequence. Lying to We the People is not only smart for them …it's a complete no-brainer!." (Stilba)
Extraordinary leadership, both Democratic and Republican, is the only thing between you and the gulag.
I didn't know there was any doubt about it.
Its not more evidence we need, it's enforcement of the laws.
We can't expect the dems to do anything about it they want the same, to be held unaccountable. So why would they make the effort to set a president, when they run the risk of having it apply to them.
It's too late for impeachment? Only because they feel like they own the next presidency so why stir up the hornet's nest right before they take office?
People in this forum need to commit to getting at least one green party member from each state into Washington.
If our government officials won't do their sworn duty to uphold the law there should be a way the citizens could launch legal action to achieve justice. We the people would be the 4 'rth branch of government.
Since the system seems to have failed I think we might need a slight tweeking of the ground rules. The elite have figured out a way to control the system as it is. We citizens are now left without representation.
What was one of the main reasons we established this country in the first place? Oh yea, it was taxation without representation. Looks like we're back to square one.
Nancy PeLOUSY just sits there next to the Chimp with her dyed hair, giggling and batting her false eyelashes at him while he winks at her. She will be 68 years old in a couple of months, by the way. I wonder how many face lifts the old gal has had.
We have ONE party, the fascist party, in the U.S., which makes up lies to justify illegal war. We have no democracy. What was that the Chimp said about the terrorists hating us for our "freedom?" What freedom? haha
If the U.S. would remove its military from Arab lands, they'd most likely not hate us.
Here's what baffles me about Obama supporters like Linda Sutton, who posted January 23rd, 2008 9:36 am:
"Ok Nancy, NOW TELL US AGAIN WHY IMPEACHMENT IS "OFF YOUR TABLE.""
She complains bitterly that the Democrats in Congress have failed to hold impeachment hearings, but then says:
"This country needs a UNITER, much more than a divider, and that accounts for the flocking of the young and independents to the campaign of Obama . . "
Her statements are contradictory. If you want a "uniter" and not a "divider," then Nancy Pelosi is your kind of Democrat since she has taken impeachment off the table.
On the other hand, if you want to hold Bush and his war criminals accountable, then Obama, the biggest "uniter" (read Republican suck-up) of all, is the least likely of all Democratic presidential candidates to ever call for Bush/Cheney's impeachment or any congressional investigation of their lies.
You can't have it both ways.
If you want a "divider" (read fighter for truth and justice) who is willing to take on the Bush gang, then consider the other Dems. I like Edwards.
But I also think the media's twisting of "the Clintons'" image into one of "divisiveness" indicates that the Republicans and their allies are afraid of what investigations Hillary might launch if she becomes president.
"President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat".
That's giving it a name and numbers for real! Fantastic chart. What a great job done. Enough to make anyone optimistic about people's will to see and speak the truth, and hold Power responsible - in these otherwise bleak times.
Sign the petition if you haven't already.
http://wexlerwantshearings.com/