Dear Elephant-
Yesterday, the Center for Public Integrity released an in depth study which determined that "President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq." This does not count so-called "indirect falsehoods" -- like "Iraq has dangerous weapons."
Of course there is still the big Q question of what the administration acutlly knew when they made all of these false statements. But the study also found that "an exhaustive examination of the record shows 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."
For example the study notes:
On August 26, 2002, in an address to the national convention of the Veteran of Foreign Wars, Cheney flatly declared: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." In fact, former CIA Director George Tenet later recalled, Cheney's assertions went well beyond his agency's assessments at the time. Another CIA official, referring to the same speech, told journalist Ron Suskind, "Our reaction was, 'Where is he getting this stuff from?' "
Now if the above example was one of only a few false statements, you might be able to excuse the administration for going a little overboard. But given the uncertainity and doubt surrounding the information the administration had at the time, a calculated campaign to repeat these false statements close to a thousand times is inexcusable. Especially when we recognize the enormous cost, in terms of life and dollars, of going to war.
Is it any wonder that Bush's approval rating is so historically low (Only Richard Nixon -January to August 1974,when he resigned because of the Watergate scandal- and Harry Truman -January 1951 to January 1952, and January 1952 to January 1953- had lower approval rating averages for a year in office than Bush's most recent year.) I think it very possible that Bush will go down as one of the worst Presidents in the history of the country.
Peace,
Donkey
1 comment:
I just don't understand why the American public is so complacent about this! This is outrageous! Why are people not enraged? Why are people not demanding a higher standard of accountability?
I find it despicable, not only that we have been lied to, but that we, as a nation, have taken it so willingly.
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