Bush lied… and continues to do so
In general I try not to cover things I know everyone else… like, EVERYone else… is going to cover. However this (via Atrios' reference to Tbogg, which guarantees everyone else will cover it) is worth making an exception for:
Bush Claim on Iraq Had Flawed Origin, White House Says
By DAVID E. SANGER
WASHINGTON, July 7 � The White House acknowledged for the first time today that President Bush was relying on incomplete and perhaps inaccurate information from American intelligence agencies when he declared, in his State of the Union speech, that Saddam Hussein had tried to purchase uranium from Africa.
The White House statement appeared to undercut one of the key pieces of evidence that President Bush and his aides had cited to back their claims made prior to launching an attack against Iraq in March that Mr. Hussein was "reconstituting" his nuclear weapons program. Those claims added urgency to the White House case that military action to depose Mr. Hussein needed to be taken quickly, and could not await further inspections of the country or additional resolutions at the United Nations.
The acknowledgment came after a day of questions � and sometimes contradictory answers from White House officials � about an article published on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times on Sunday by Joseph C. Wilson 4th, a former ambassador who was sent to Niger, in West Africa, last year to investigate reports of the attempted purchase. He reported back that the intelligence was likely fraudulent, a warning that White House officials say never reached them.
The Republican extremists in the White House aren't as unknowlegeable as your average dittohead or freeper, but like their more ignorant cannon fodder they attack anyone whose accord with them is off by more than one decimal place. The attacks on the State Department and intelligence agencies are an example, and it's a critical error. By blaming the State Department in particular for the junta's chronic mishandling of foreign affairs, they attack the reputations and endanger the livelihoods of career diplomats highly placed enough to know what actually happened. Self preservation will not allow that to stand.
Blaming intelligence agencies is somewhat safer because career spooks are never identified.
Look, I was something of a disciplinarian as a parent but it was a love thing, not a control thing. If my daughter could explain to me how an assumption I was making for her benefit was in error, I'd back off.
The current regime in Washington built a trial lawyer's case, a debating society case, to support their already chosen actions. This means they
consciously looked away from evidence that refuted their desire, largely because they had already decided what they would do long before the pubic "debate" was begun. Trial lawyers and debaters can do this because others correlate the information and make judgements. But judges and juries cannot honorably disregard the evidence they are presented with and the Bush junta is in the position of judge and jury. They shouldn't be hired guns.
I'm not limiting this to the Iraq War, either. I hardly ever touch that topic, because everyone else… like, EVERYone else… covers it, many with more depth, clarity and passion than I can bring to bear. The Republican extremists have done this with economic policy (when has privatization
ever resulted in more competition and lower prices for consumers? Why are they recalculating accepted unemployment statistics?). They've done it with racial justice (what program other than affirmative action has helped minorities and women move out of the economic shadows? How can they file a brief opposing afirmattive action and applaud the court for deciding against the brief they filed?). They've done it with the environment (what lasting benefit can come from drilling in the Alaskan National Wilderness Reserve other than setting a precident? Why pursue non-existant hydrogen cell technology rather than proven techniques like solar power and ethonol?). They've done it with our individual freedoms themselves (why do they pursue the nightmare that
each individual element of Patriot II represents, much less the collective package?). They've done it with tax policy (who really believes a group of people that has announced its intent to pursue an annual tax cut is going to allow a single sunset provision to kick in?). Hell, they did it with a triviality like claiming outgoing Clinton staffers destroyed and defaced White House property. And worst of all, they've done it with themselves.
Think on these things.
Everyone in the media is being very careful, for obvious reasons. "Bush relied on incomplete information." "Bush believed what he was saying, even if it wasn't true." "Bush was mislead by the intelligence community." "Bush opposes racial justice but he's not a racist."
America is not a thing. No nation is. America is a
process, and it spins out effects that affect us all in ways both gross and subtle. America is much like a river… never the same from moment to moment, capable of supporting life, capable of
dying if the headwaters are constantly polluted, and capable of self-regeneration if the pollution is stopped before it's too late.
Think on these things.
What is all the impact all these lies is having on you? Are you safer? Are you economically more secure? Is the information you get from the government more trustworthy?
Can you afford to get sick? Because you will, you know…
Can you afford to get old? Because you will, you know…
Think on these things.
Let me be clear. The Bush regime, as a collective, is either a pathological liar or
not in control. Either situation is critically dangerous to America. Neither situation can be allowed to stand.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/8/2003 05:03:24 AM |
Posted by P6 at July 8, 2003 05:03 AM
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