Playing the War Card - 935 lies leading to the Invasion of Iraq
Details, details,
details.
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. Nearly five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq,
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.
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. Not surprisingly, the officials with the most opportunities to make speeches, grant media interviews, and otherwise frame the public debate also made the most false statements, according to this first-ever analysis of the entire body of prewar rhetoric.
This fully searchable database includes the public statements, drawn from both primary sources (such as official transcripts) and secondary sources (chiefly major news organizations) over the two years beginning on September 11, 2001. It also interlaces relevant information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches, and interviews.
Folks at the Center for Public Integrity must have coffee umbilicals stretching over to the Library of Congress.
They certainly have the stubbornness and smarts needed to work their way through the stonewalls of official Washington.
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. Not surprisingly, the officials with the most opportunities to make speeches, grant media interviews, and otherwise frame the public debate also made the most false statements, according to this first-ever analysis of the entire body of prewar rhetoric.
This fully searchable database includes the public statements, drawn from both primary sources (such as official transcripts) and secondary sources (chiefly major news organizations) over the two years beginning on September 11, 2001. It also interlaces relevant information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches, and interviews.
Folks at the Center for Public Integrity must have coffee umbilicals stretching over to the Library of Congress.
They certainly have the stubbornness and smarts needed to work their way through the stonewalls of official Washington.
Posted: Thu - January 24, 2008 at 07:56 AM