[Vision2020] 935 False Statements Made Before War

Fri Jan 25 09:12:50 PST 2008

Welcome back, Glenn -- all of you,

Every one of the people you mention below voted on the basis of intelligence presented to them, not benefiting from the real information that appears more and more likely to have been kept from them by Bush and his neo-con buddies.  The information they received has been found to be at best misleading, selectively presented, and cloaked in an urgency that stoked fires of war when the steady flame of prudence clearly wasn't what the country wanted.

I hope, Glenn, that you enjoyed your trip back east!

Keely

Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:48:22 -0800
From: vpschwaller at gmail.com
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] 935 False Statements Made Before War

Well I guess it's comforting to know the Bush administration was standing alone in their beliefs on stopping Hussein and his WMD program . . . 

"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real..."

   - Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003 
"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force -- if necessary -- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."

   - Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002 
"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line."

   - President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998
"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."

   - President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998 
"We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction."
   - 
Madeline Albright, Feb 1, 1998 
"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983."
   - Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998 

"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."

         Letter to President Clinton.
          Senators Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, others, Oct. 9, 1998

"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."

   - Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998
"Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies."
   - Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999

"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and th! e means of delivering them."

   - Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002
"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
   - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power."
   - 
Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002 
"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
   - Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002

"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..."

   - Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002 
"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years ... We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction."

   - Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002 

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members ... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."

   - Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002 

"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction."

   - Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002

Seeya slipping round town Moscow
GS

On Jan 23, 2008 11:52 AM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

>From the Army Times at:

http://tinyurl.com/36gyfa

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

Study: 935 false statements made before war

By Douglass K. Daniel - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 23, 2008 13:12:55 EST

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 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-Qaida or both.

"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass

destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida," according to Charles Lewis
and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff
members, 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 H. 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-Qaida, the study found. Powell was

second with 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida.

The center said the study was based on a database created with public
statements over the two years beginning 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 pre-war 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.

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

Seeya round town, Moscow, Idaho

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil

and steady dedication of a lifetime."

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.

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