Washington Post Praises Bush Leak, Mangles Facts
Washington Post Praises Bush Leak, Mangles Facts
This morning, the Washington Post published an editorial — entitled “A Good Leak” — vigorously defending President Bush’s decision to authorize a leak of classified information as part of a political effort to discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Apparently, it isn’t a very strong case because, in order to make their point, the editors had to mangle the facts –
CLAIM: Wilson said Cheney sent him to Africa “Mr. Libby’s motive in allegedly disclosing her name to reporters, Mr. Fitzgerald said, was to disprove yet another false assertion, that Mr. Wilson had been dispatched to Niger by Mr. Cheney.†[Washington Post, 4/9/06]
FACT:
Wilson never said that Cheney sent him, only that the vice president’s office had questions about an intelligence report that referred to the sale of uranium yellowcake to Iraq from Niger. Wilson, in his New York Times article, said CIA officials were informed of Cheney’s questions. [Bloomberg, 7/14/05]
CLAIM: There is no evidence of a White House effort to punish Wilson. “Mr. Wilson subsequently claimed that the White House set out to punish him for his supposed whistle-blowing by deliberately blowing the cover of his wife, Valerie Plame, who he said was an undercover CIA operative…After more than 2 1/2 years of investigation, Mr. Fitzgerald has reported no evidence to support Mr. Wilson’s charge.†[Washington Post, 4/9/06]
FACT:
Moreover, given that there is evidence that other White House officials with whom defendant spoke prior to July14, 2003 discussed Wilson’s wife’s employment with the press both prior to, and after, July 14, 2003 – which evidence has been shared with defendant – it is hard to conceive of what evidence there could be that would disprove the existence of White House efforts to “punish†Wilson. [Fitzgerald filing, pg. 29-30]
CLAIM: There was nothing unusual about Bush’s conduct. “Vice President Cheney initially chose to be secretive, ordering his chief of staff at the time, I. Lewis Libby, to leak the information to a favorite New York Times reporter…There was nothing illegal or even particularly unusual about that.†[Washington Post, 4/9/06]
FACT:
Defendant testified that this July 8th meeting was the only time he recalled in his government experience when he disclosed a document to a reporter that was effectively declassified by virtue of the President’s authorization that it be declassified.” [Fitzgerald filing, pg. 23]
CLAIM: Wilson’s op-ed has been discredited; his report supported White House claims. “The material that Mr. Bush ordered declassified established, as have several subsequent investigations, that Mr. Wilson was the one guilty of twisting the truth. In fact, his report supported the conclusion that Iraq had sought uranium.” [Washington Post, 4/9/06]
FACT:
Two-year old assertions by former ambassador Joseph Wilson regarding Iraq and uranium, which lie at the heart of the controversy over who at the White House identified a covert U.S. operative, have held up in the face of attacks by supporters of presidential adviser Karl Rove…[T]he Senate panel conclusions didn’t discredit Wilson. The committee concluded that the Niger intelligence information wasn’t solid enough to be included in the State of the Union speech. It added that Wilson’s report didn’t change the minds of analysts on either side of the issue… [Bloomberg, 7/14/05]
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That’s the Republican reflex: When in doubt, lie.
April 9th, 2006 at 10:23 amSorry Bruce I disagree, the republicans lie all the time and continue to duplicate the lies untill the asleep public believes the lies to be true. The Bush administration form conclusions before fact and preach money making lies. Much like bad salesmen trying to sell cyanide as kool aid to the masses. Bush himself is nothing more than a circus barker, sadly it has worked with the help of the media….Blessings
April 9th, 2006 at 10:38 amThe weekend edition of the WSJ had an equally ENRAGING editorial. Saying things like, “Patrick Fitzgerald never said that Valerie Plame was a covert operative”, blah, blah, blah. I do not understand how they can just lie their asses off, and it’s just dandy. GAWD!!! It’s like wet sand in my underwear, IRRITATING AS ALL HELL!
April 9th, 2006 at 10:45 amCan anyone explain why the W.P. is so intimidated by the Administration?
Does Rove have compromising pictures of the editorial staff?
Inquiring minds want to know WTF is going on.
April 9th, 2006 at 10:49 amI’m beginning to think that Scotty McClellan has a side job as an editorial page intern over at the WaPo. Read front pager on NY Times: Iraq Findings Leaked by Cheney’s Aide Were Disputed and forward a copy to the Washington (Administration) Post-it notes editors.
For the really big picture on Dubya’s lies, EWM looks to the stars and has it figured out: Ptolemy Told Me
…As thinkers go, Dubya will never be confused with Copernicus. But when it comes to offering up a story that diverges entirely from that which can be observed and reasoned, Ptolemy has met his match…
April 9th, 2006 at 10:57 amMethinks Deb Howell’s writing has actually improved since becoming the ombudsman!
And now, time for today’s Sermon on the Mount to tide you over until I post my Assclowns of the Week.
Today’s sermon: The little-known story of how and why Jesus became a Republican.
April 9th, 2006 at 10:59 amSharon
As I said, lies come so easily to the Repubs now that they do it on reflex. When you tap one on the knee their leg doesn’t jerk, they just say that Bush knows what he is doing.
April 9th, 2006 at 10:59 amSounds like Bob Woodward carrying BushCo water again.Karl must have pictures or phone tap.
April 9th, 2006 at 11:01 amBush lied, hundreds of thousands died! What is so hard to understand and why isn’t anyone doing anything about it!
http://tekgnosis.typepad.com
April 9th, 2006 at 11:01 am“Mangles Facts” Me thinks you are being far too generous.
WTF is up at the Post?
April 9th, 2006 at 11:02 amThis isn’t surprising. WaPo Co. is another corporation that favors the administration. Can you expect objectivity from an organization that gave $100,000 to Bush’s inauguration? The Post still runs on a reputation that it earned in the early 70’s, but hasn’t been the same paper since Katherine Graham passed away.
April 9th, 2006 at 11:07 amThe POST is allegedly part of the “liberal media”??
I couldn’t believe that they stated that Wilson’s claims have been discredited? WHERE are those aluminum tubes? Does the WaPo have
them?
A GOOD leak? The CIA agents at Brewster Jennings would undoubtedly disagree.
I’m just puzzled as to why the recent revelations about Libby and Bush
April 9th, 2006 at 11:10 amhave excluded Karl Rove…as if he were out of the loop.
I don’t think so.
[…] In which Fred Hiatt, editor of the “liberal” Washington Post, repeats GOP lies. […]
April 9th, 2006 at 11:10 amThe sad decline of an editorial department. I just wonder if the reporting staff knows how much a spectacle it has become.
April 9th, 2006 at 11:15 amFred Hiatt is a good man.
-
April 9th, 2006 at 11:21 amHey! Let’s get our history of science right. Ptolemy’s theory was FAR better then Copernicus’ at predicting the motions of the planets. Since you cannot actually observe the earth going around the sun, sensible scientific-minded people of the time had no choice but to go with Ptolemy’s theory. It wasn’t until Kepler realized that the orbits of the planets were elipses, instead of Copernicus’ circles, that a heliocentric theory was able to surpass Ptolemy’s geocentric theory as a good theory.
That having been said, I agree with the general sentiment. I just don’t like to see Ptolemy smeared by comparing him to the Republican noise machine. My personal opinion is that word came down from the big money owners of WaPo that Bush needed a lifeline on Traitorgate.
April 9th, 2006 at 11:29 am[…] A Washington Post editorial says that Bush, et. co., leaking the National Intelligence Estimate was a good leak. Think Progress catches their factual inaccuracies. […]
April 9th, 2006 at 11:37 amWow. A front page headline of the same Edition of the Washington Post is entitled “Concerted Effort” and goes on, in the first paragraph to say
And the editorial has the chutzpah to say
At least the Wall Street Journal has the good sense not to be quite so internally inconsistent. Someone has some ’spainen to do.
My suspicion is that Gellman and Linzer will be taken to the woodshed for writing an article before checking with Hyatt about what the truth is.
April 9th, 2006 at 11:38 amThe funny think that the Washibton Post today on page A1 has a report that does say the opposite of the editorial.
I contrast both pieces to each other here
Hiatt & company have been smoking some strong stuff.
April 9th, 2006 at 11:39 amI agree that “mangles facts” is being far too generous.
What is really going on here is out-and-out LYING.
I didn’t read the WSJ editorial someone upthread referred to, but by the tenor of the post, I can pretty much guess what was in it: MORE LIES.
Someone upthread asked what’s going on with the Post? Does the Administration have compromising pictures of Post mucky-mucks in comprpromising situations, or something?
Folks, may I suggest looking at these events from the perspective of class analysis? Look, media companies in our country are MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR corporations, run by the super-rich for the benefit of the super-rich. (By the way, check out who sits on the Boards of Directors of these media companies and see how many of them sit on the BoDs of other Fortune 500 corporations.) Also, they make their money from OTHER CORPORATIONS that pay for ADVERTISING on their outlets.
All of which is to say is that the people, who run the post have a VESTED INTEREST IN COLLABORATING WITH AND PROPPING UP THIS CORRUPT ADMINISTRATION. This has been apparent ever since the 2000 and that whole election cycle. Bush is the CORPORATE PUPPET, and all that he and his cronies do is for the benefit of the ruling class. These people will LIE, CHEAT, STEAL, AND KILL for the sake of money and power.
They sold their souls to the Bush Administration A LONG TIME AGO, and have collaborated in their crimes.
All in all, the Post and the WSJ are PURPOSELY LYING to OBFUSCATE the truth in order to protect the corrupt regime with whom they have aligned themselves and even collaborated for the PAST SIX YEARS.
Look, they’ve been LYING for at least the past six years. What makes you think they are going to stop doing so now?
April 9th, 2006 at 11:46 amBush lied, hundreds of thousands died! What is so hard to understand and why isn’t anyone doing anything about it!
Comment by Juan Schoch — April 9, 2006 @ 11:01 am
Oh, the POST UNDERSTANDS it alright!! They just want to make sure that a whole lot of other people in the general public don’t understand it too. Hence, the LYING to obfuscate the truth.
Look folks, I think you are either a blind fool, or you haven’t been paying attention if you don’t realize how CORRUPT our corporate media institutions are. This is just exhibit #5,758 demonstrating that fact.
April 9th, 2006 at 11:51 am[…] It is obvious that the leaking was not about making anything clear, but about spreading disinformation for political purposes. It was, in fact, about making things muddy. […]
April 9th, 2006 at 11:52 amI can’t help thinking that this whole circus has been a “two-fer”. When she was “outed”, Valerie Plame, and her “front” company, were investigating the “nuclear situation” in Iran. Outing Plame, to “get back at” Joe Wilson, is one thing, but why expose the name of her “front” company as well? They had to know how dangerous, perhaps fatally so, that would be. Did they need to stop her, before she was able to confirm, or not, that Iran had ‘nukes’? Because they already knew that they were going to invade, using the ‘nuke’ excuse as a “scare” tactic? I know I sound paranoid, but these people bring it out in me.
April 9th, 2006 at 11:53 amLook folks, I think you are either a blind fool, or you haven’t been paying attention if you don’t realize how CORRUPT our corporate media institutions are. This is just exhibit #5,758 demonstrating that fact.
Comment by Ben — April 9, 2006 @ 11:51 am
I thought you were a neocon troll? Convert that quickly? That was easy.
The operative word here has become ‘Corporate’. Did you read Manufacturing Consent?
April 9th, 2006 at 11:55 amBecause they already knew that they were going to invade, using the ‘nuke’ excuse as a “scare†tactic? I know I sound paranoid, but these people bring it out in me.
Comment by Cyra Brown — April 9, 2006 @ 11:53 am
I don’t think you sound paranoid. I think it sounds perfectly logical when adding one plus one to understand that the answer is two. It’s a credible conclusion to make.
The Bush Regime has been all about fabrications. From his initial campaign until the very present issues before us. Anyone who doesn’t second guess their lies isn’t honest enough with themselves, not paranoid.
April 9th, 2006 at 11:58 amIt is obvious that Bush himself leaked the information on Valerie Plame/Wilson > he could not do it directly himself to the press, so he told Rove and Libby to contact their press stooges! George lied to the American people when he said he had no idea who leaked the info to the press! He has been caught in his lie, so he must resign, or be impeached by the Congress!
April 9th, 2006 at 12:00 pmI was flabbergasted when I read this editorial this morning. I’m glad Think Progress has put up such a timely and factual response.
But can we do something else? I wrote a letter to the editor and copied the ombudsman, but I’d like to do more. What can we do to get the editorial board’s attention. This is very disheartening.
April 9th, 2006 at 12:01 pmWhen journalism schools teach a second-year class on Plamegate, this WP editorial should make it into the assigned reading around Week 6 or 7. Lesson being beware regression to the mean, or trust your cognitive dissonance, or some such.
April 9th, 2006 at 12:07 pmTHE WASHINGTON POST IS A RIGHT-WING RAG.
April 9th, 2006 at 12:16 pmThe WAPO editorial is nothing short of an outrage. It’s the Big Lie. It’s Hitler’s strategy. It’s Goering’s MO. Talk about fascist! Using religion as a means of social control and ignoring its tenets entirely, cozying up to the corporations and engaging in mutual pocket lining, these are the root elements of fascism. And now media regulation, often nothing more than having fellow travellers at the top of the media conglomerates, another fascist pillar. This WAPO editorial is a shameful (and at the same time shameless) example. And the new FCC chair wants to allow the big media to get bigger! FCC Chair: “Fine, Rupert, fine. Buy up all the media in the country if you want. As long as they all sing the same tune as FOX, the Republican party will rule for a thousand years.” These people are venomous serpents. What to do? What to do? Anybody seen V for Vendetta?
April 9th, 2006 at 12:30 pmI hate the present war monger as much as anyone, but i worked on wilsons A/C unit at his house and I knew Valerie was in the CIA. how hard did they want to keep it a secret if the help knew?
April 9th, 2006 at 12:38 pmBefore this is over, the MSM will have Valerie Pflame to have worked at the Smithsonian as a janitor. #31–Thousands work at the CIA, but do you know what they do or do you know their security clearance or the extent of their cover or the clandestine operations in which they are involved or are they agent or analyst . Each operative has a mission to accomplish some under cover of anonymity and others clerical in nature. Tell us specifically in which you believe Valerie Pflame was involved. If Ignorance is bliss, ‘Tis folly to be wise.
April 9th, 2006 at 12:53 pmWaPo is still viewed as a liberal paper — yet, their editorials are consistently in favor of Bush&Co. They often mischaracterize details of stories to make their case, yet their reputation of years ago persists.
April 9th, 2006 at 1:46 pmCommentators still refer to it as liberal, and public perception is so, but they are not the paper of old, they, like the NYT are part of the Bush&Co fan club.
Joseph Wilson had a few minutes on Stephanopolous’ show today re-explaining the facts again.
Contact advertisers in the Post and tell them you won’t buy their products as long as they advertise in the Post. That’s the only thing that will get their attention.
April 9th, 2006 at 1:50 pmA good leak… a good and just war… good collateral damage… good torture… good hacked compter voting machines and vote… good genocide… good corporate offense contractor profits…
GOOD BYE AMERIKA AND GOOD RIDDANCE.
China’s got their fingers on the nuke trigger and MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN.
You will have only MINUTES left once this “Good” Adminstration orders its “Good” military to nuke Iran for the “good” of the world.
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND.
April 9th, 2006 at 1:55 pmWow! and I was chiding ABC for being equivocal. This stuff is outrageous!
April 9th, 2006 at 2:02 pmThe things Alex Levine will say to be liked by the dems.
April 9th, 2006 at 2:07 pmThe assertions by the executive branch would make good fodder for comedy, because they are ludicous. If the president’s actions were legal members of the administration would not have attempted to use the excuse that everyone knew the covert operative’s name and what the agent did for a living. Even now, I have a difficult time writing the agent’s name because it was wrong for the name to be released in the first place.
The releasing of the agent’s name put her life in danger; deliberately or not, the fact is that agents have enemies and most of them have the authorization to kill. The executive branch knew this when it released her name. With some stretch of the imagination one could view this incident as attempted murder or at least, conspiracy to commit murder. Also by intimidating one agent whose husband stated facts that the government did not want issued, leaves the intelligence agency ineffective, because who will be a traitor against his country knowing full well that the president may release the agents name on as little as a whim, or for vengeance.
This is not some petty crime, because of the oppressive effect it has on our intelligence agency both in recruitment and its ability to relay facts, not agreeable opinions to the executive branch. Who would work as a spy for an agency whose head could turn him in as a spy, rendition him back to his country, where he would be tortured to death for GSA pay. That is all this country needs at this time are agents who are afraid to speak the truth to the executive branch because of assumed disagreement in facts. Such an atmosphere of intimidation would make our intelligence services myopic and ineffectual.
There is no such thing as an imperial presidency, and the unitary aspect sometimes referred to was a consideration of whether there should be one or a few presidents with each president responsible for a geographical portion of the country, because each portion needed to be represented for its particular needs. Unitary presidency does not translate to the executive branch being singulary superior to both the legislative and judicial branches.
April 9th, 2006 at 2:07 pmOtherwise, there are no checks and balances and the presidency is run like a dictatorship in as much as it is allowed to behave arbitrarily, in which case the rule of law means nothing other than force.
It’s not about Valerie Plame, it’s about the FALSE (or FALSIFIED) ‘pre-invasion intelligence’ that her husband publicly spoke out on…
The leaking of the identity being what the Administration did as an attempt to intimidate Joseph Wilson into silence, let’s not forget what it was that had the Administration so desperate in the first place:
The FALSE (or FALSIFIED) ‘pre-invasion intelligence’ was being examined and talked about…
And if that ‘pre-invasion intelligence’ was intentionally FALSIFIED (for the apparent purpose of siphoning off $300 billion dollars from the U.S. Treasury), then it’s far more than grounds for IMPEACHMENT…
It’s an offense for which someone should be SHOT or HANGED.
April 9th, 2006 at 2:37 pm+
April 9th, 2006 at 2:40 pmDon’t forget WACO and BELGRADO
April 9th, 2006 at 2:42 pmThis is amazing. This large newspaper whose purpose in life is to pass on the news is PURPOSEFULLY lying to the American public. This is astonishing and very very sad. Shame on you Washington Post…. Shame on you…
April 9th, 2006 at 2:56 pmOne of the first posts says that that is the Republican reflex, to lie.
In case no one has noticed over the years, whichever party is in the hot seat lies and obstructs and obfuscates.
We are not talking about a Republican problem, or a Democrat problem. Either party is fundamentally corrupt.
Until we the people stop playing politics and recognize that, nothing will even begin to change, and we all deserve what we get.
April 9th, 2006 at 3:10 pmas of 3:13 est today this article is listed third on in the top stories google news!
April 9th, 2006 at 3:11 pmWash. Post Defends Bush Leak, Mangles Facts Think Progress
What’s glaring is that Slate’s Today’s Papers doesn’t mention this at all! And Slate is owned by Wash. Post.
April 9th, 2006 at 3:11 pmRepublicans or Democrats - it doesn’t make any difference…politicians, by their nature in today’s day and age will lie regardless of circumstance.
We need to do a much better job at demanding they be accountable for their actions by not voting them back into power. If anyone is to blame, it is us - the voter - who believe what they tell us.
Most Americans are ignorant of the facts and perfer to live that way.
April 9th, 2006 at 3:20 pmJUDD -
I sent your post to the Outlook folks at WaPo.
outlook@washpost.com
April 9th, 2006 at 3:23 pmYou would think that this is something that would merit a coulmn from the ombudsman. But don’t hold your breath. Lil’ Debbie has now sunk from editing the mail room to writing reviews of obituaries. WaPo should be renamed the Red State Podunk Times.
April 9th, 2006 at 3:28 pmHow can they be braindead if they don’t have a brain. I prefer brainless. Anyway, excellent and concise recitation of the facts. As we said at CIA, anything worth doing well is worth stealing from someone else.
April 9th, 2006 at 4:22 pmIf information is classified it can only be revealed to those with a need to know that information. If it is declassifed then anyone can have access to it. If others can’t have access then it’s still classified, it would seem - and release of part of it is an unlawful leak. By anyone. “Nation of laws,” you know. Even a person with authority to declassify can’t legally leak classified information. There’s a declassification process, that has to be followed.
If a document is declasified then the president or his official spokesperson can quote from it in an official press conference or official briefing. Bush has a weekly radio show: he could have read the leaked information then. Instead we got a Bush “Fireside Leak” to Juidth Miller.
But Bush will most likley never be charged with the crime of leaking clasified information - and the crap he leaked was hardly worth being classified, anyway.
BUT.
Wilson (and many others) essentially said that the administration used intelligence selectively to justify attacking Iraq. Bush, in response, used classified information selectively to discredit Wilson.
Rather ironic, eh? Also rather nice confirmation of the charges.
April 9th, 2006 at 5:27 pmIf anybody had doubts about WP editorial page going neocons those doubts have not been fully discredited. The WP editorial page now reads like it is being edited by Karl Rove. These people have no shame.
April 9th, 2006 at 5:34 pmWHAT THEY ARE NOT TELLING YOU ABOUT PLAMEGATE
Aside from the FACT that the Washington Post chose to repeat misinformation about Plamegate repudiated on page one of the same paper, they left out a few glaring details in their ridiculous approval of Valerie Plame’s outing for political gain.
Leaking Valerie Plame’s name took a valuable resource out of the REAL war on terror. This action approved by the President and Vice President has endangered the lives of every American citizen, both at home and abroad.
Leaking Plame’s name also blew her front cover employer, Brewster Jennings & Associates. It was Robert Novak, American traitor, and political commentator hack, who in collusion with Bush and Cheney, first published the highly classified information.
It has been suggested that there were other resources within the CIA who were also working undercover as non-official cover operative” (NOC) as employees of Brewster Jennings. It has also been suggested that once their undercover status was compromised, they were quickly captured and eliminated, thus multiplying the damage done to the CIA’s ability to gather valuable information in the Mid East.
The outing of Plame destroyed all trust the CIA had for the Bush/Cheney administration. Why would they now put their lives on the line as NOCs knowing that at any time, their cover could also be blown for political gain, thus ending their careers and possibly ending their lives as well?
But there’s more!
Plame… ‘was a long-term proprietary and deep-cover NOC - well established and consistently producing “take” from ARAMCO (and who knows what else in Saudi Arabia). It was destroyed with a motive of personal vengeance (there may have been other motives) by someone inside the White House.
From the CIA’s point of view, at a time when Saudi Arabia is one of the three or four countries of highest interest to the US, the Plame operation was irreplaceable.
Almost the entire Bush administration has an interest in ARAMCO.
The Boston Globe reported that in 2001 ARAMCO had signed a $140 million multi-year contract with Halliburton, then chaired by Dick Cheney, to develop a new oil field. Halliburton does a lot of business in Saudi Arabia. Current estimates of Halliburton contracts or joint ventures in the country run into the tens of billions of dollars.
So do the fortunes of some shady figures from the Bush family’s past.
As recently as 1991 ARAMCO had Khalid bin Mahfouz sitting on its Supreme Council or board of directors. Mahfouz, Saudi Arabia’s former treasurer and the nation’s largest banker, has been reported in several places to be Osama bin Laden’s brother in law.
ARAMCO is the largest oil group in the world, a state-owned Saudi company in partnership with four major US oil companies.
Another one of Aramco’s partners is Chevron-Texaco which gave up one of its board members, Condoleezza Rice, when she became the National Security Advisor to George Bush.
All of ARAMCO’s key decisions are made by the Saudi royal family while US oil expertise, personnel and technology keeps the cash coming in and the oil going out. ARAMCO operates, manages, and maintains virtually all Saudi oil fields – 25% of all the oil on the planet.’
http://www.oilempire.us/plame.html
Also, let’s not forget the long term friendship and business partnerships between the Bush family and the bin Laden family.
Knowing all of this, how can anyone in their right mind approve of Bush and Cheney’s treasonous behavior of outing Valerie Plame and Brewster Jennings for political gain?
April 9th, 2006 at 6:10 pmThe Washington Post has lost all professional credibility. Absolutely all credibility has been lost by a once respected news outlet.
April 9th, 2006 at 6:17 pmBeautifully dissected. It is SO hard to write something worth reading when forced to point out the obvious, and yet this shows that you are truly clever.
Thanks for all your wonderful wonderful work!!
You Patriot, you.
All the best.
April 9th, 2006 at 6:32 pmOh, and the only reason the Washington Post isn’t officially affiliated with fox is that it’s so hard to yell in print and sell papers.
If you wrote the way o’really speaks, well, who would want to read that? Reading is a silent time.
The washington post is manure from the same farm animal, cut from the same mold as fox.
They are repugnant, and their time will come sooner than they think. Who cares what a bunch of beltway liars have to say? We know washington only produces, well, I already said: Shit.
April 9th, 2006 at 6:36 pmInterestingly,the SSCI report says (p46): “The reports officer said that a “good” grade was merited because…….did not provide substantial new information. He said he judged that the most important fact in the report was that the Nigerien officials admitted that the Iraqi delegation had traveled there in 1999 and that the Nigerien Prime Minister believed the Iraqis were interested in purchasing uranium,because this provided some confirmation of foreign government reporting.”
Also,on p45 of the same report:” The former ambassador also told Committee staff that he was the source of a WaPo article….which said,”among the Envoy’s conclusions was that the documents may have been forged because “the names were wrong and the dates were wrong.”Committee staff asked how the former ambasador could have come to the conclusion that the “dates were wrong and the names were wrong” when he had never seen the CIA reports and had no knowledge…”The former ambassador said that he may have misspokento the reporter when he said he concluded the documents were forged. He also said he may have become confused about his own recollection….”
The aluminum tubes statements by Condi as well as the mushroom cloud comment are more than enough to prove the officials in the administration “misled” the nation to war. Joe Wilson is just another career insider who is more interested in self-aggrandizement than moral clarity. And that,Judd,is why you have to torture the language in your third myth/fact series. Joe didn’t “misspeak”,he lied. Why else would he have waited for 6 months after the State of the Union speech to speak out? In case you forgot,the war started in March. He would have been more valuable in February than July.
April 9th, 2006 at 6:48 pmHe’s a bum.
The WaPo has gone down the rabbit hole by editorializing directly against their very own news reportage. This schizophrenic disassociation is the embodiment of insanity. Len Downie, like George Bush, has lots of ’splainin’ to do.
April 9th, 2006 at 8:04 pmI have long had an inkling that there is some sort of point system, whereby various reporters, editroralists, etc get payed accordingly in and untraceble account in Switzerland perhaps.
Surely money would be no problem. Remember the accounting a few years ago of the simply missing billions from the Pentagon? And the 9 billion missing from Iraq?
Otherwise, I can’t for the life of me explain the strange strange loyalty to the Bush administratoin.
April 9th, 2006 at 9:23 pmRespectfully, are there any free thinkers here? At all?
April 9th, 2006 at 9:27 pmWhat is the surprise? It has already been proven several times that this administration writes their own news and pays the news papers to publish it. WP is just another one on their payroll.
April 9th, 2006 at 10:48 pmI had my moment in the sun with Mr. Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post; right before the 2004 election. He was talking to a graduate journalism class and I asked him how the paper reconciled the disparity between its support for the Iraqi War and the cartoons in the same op-ed pages ridiculing the administration’s company line.
Well, he went on and on and blabbed about how John Kerry had said in 1998 that Saddam was a menace, bladdy bladdy blah. Nothing in his argument addressed the question; it was more a long tirade as everyone watched and listened.
And I fully expected him to move on to the next student hwhen he was finished but lo and behold, he turned to face me in what could only be regarded as a sheer victory pose. Yes, he had vanquished the artless student, and that was that.
Only unbeknownst to me, I suddenly heard myself say to him, “Well everything you say about what Kerry said was pre-9/11. And as the president likes to say, “Everything changed after 9/11. So what may have been a top priority before 9/11 changed; and by going after Saddam Hussein, we took our eyes off the people who were responsible for 9/11.”
Or words to that effect.
But you are right, Hiatt is a rabid supporter of Iraqi war; and possibly he’s just too embarrassed to admit just how wrong he was.
April 10th, 2006 at 4:27 amTHis is all excellent explication of the perfidy and historical facts regarding the saddest, most dangerous administration in recent American history, if not its entire history. However, may I be so bold as to point out that whilst all of us fine young scholars scour the past, the nation is endanged further in the present by the administrations current plans to topple the Iranian government with possible tactical nuclear strikes…likely following the intentional sinking of a large US warship in the Persian Gulf or the Straits of Hormuz with missile or torpedo fired from either aircraft or submarines purportedly of Iranian origin, but actually of Israeli or US origin, repainted, re-ID’ed, etc., to start this war.
It is every loyal American’s duty to not only disagree with the poliicies being insanely discussed by the administration, but to do every possible act to prevent another mindless war, and possibly larger catastrophe to occur. If it is a clear and present danger to allow Iran to process nuclear fuel for reactors, what does that say about North Korea that flaunts its ability to build actual nuclear bombs, and that has longer range missiles already in its arsenal than Iran? Why does no one ever femand a response from this administration with these very facts? We are still technically in a state of war with North Korea, but we are not engaged in hostilities officially with Iran, despite the fact that some key intelligence personnel have confirmed that the US has already begun engagements designed to damage or topple local Iranian authority within Baluchistan, an Iranian province.
Methinks that the public is too desperate to enjoy its SUVs while they can, and otherwise cannot gather the necessary courage to look at these dire facts and future portents without going into the Ostrich Reflex.
Impeaching this administration may not be quite suffecient. It may require a sweeping cleansing of major political and corporate proportions, and if those guilty of high treason are revealed, then it is high time we enacted the traditional punishments, blindfolds and all.
Cheers,
Zenbob
April 10th, 2006 at 5:55 amResponse to Toes:
April 10th, 2006 at 6:53 amMake no mistake. The Washington Post is not intimidated by this administration. They’re in bed with them and the whole neocon bureaucracy.
The Washington Post has lost all credibility. I will stop reading it. I will not patronize its advertizers.
April 10th, 2006 at 8:00 amRe the idea that Cheney sent Wilson - the author says this:
CLAIM: Wilson said Cheney sent him to Africa…
FACT: Wilson never said that Cheney sent him…
Don’t overlook the June 13 Kristof column - whatever the source, the notion that Cheney’s office sent Wilson was out there.
But beyond that, if Wilson never claimed that he said Cheny sent him, then he ought to contact his publicist. This is from Wilson’s *current* on-line bio:
Wilson is now at the center of a major political maelstrom involving the White House, the C.I.A. and the second gulf war in Iraq. In 2002, at the request of Vice President Dick Cheney, Wilson was assigned by the C.I.A. to investigate claims that Saddam Hussein was seeking to acquire uranium from Niger for the purpose of advancing his nuclear program. When his investigation turned up nothing, Wilson reported back to officials in Washington that there was no basis for the claims.
April 10th, 2006 at 8:00 amItalics off?
April 10th, 2006 at 8:02 am[…] Meanwhile, • Elections: BlueNC has another Duke story and tales of GOP infightin’ featuring Art Pope. • Southern forest sale via Facing South • More leakage—the WaPo edit and Thnk Prog • Rummy go ‘way, many say. • Oh how the mighty fall. […]
April 10th, 2006 at 8:24 am[…] That’s just the headline. But believe me when I tell you that the rest of the piece is just as absurd. As pointed out by the ever-present Judd at ThinkProgress.org, the editorial even tries to re-animate some of the long-debunked Republican talking points about the the Plame-Wilson issue. It’s a political horror movie — it just needs Clive Barker to direct and I think we’ve got a blockbuster. […]
April 10th, 2006 at 10:40 amWhy does the Washington Post write an editorial like this, why is it so afraid to stand up to the administration? The Washington Post like so many other main stream media outlets has been intimidated by the republicans and by the likes of Fox News. The WP is trying so hard not to be labeled as being part of the so-called liberal media, that it is writing editorials and stories that would be laughed at if it was a Democratic administration doing the same things. The WP is afraid to just report the facts, it is afraid to say what everyone knows - that no matter what the story, what the situation, the Bush Administration did the wrong thing.
Memo to the Washington Post - write the story, stand up and report the truth. The facts are on your side. In acting the way that you are acting, you are discrediting your reputation and in the end, doing a major disservice to the country.
April 10th, 2006 at 11:22 amPost 69 the Washington Post is now controlled by Bob Woodward who is in bed with the Bush Regime! He writes flattery books about the Bush family, which makes him money, so he uses the paper to protect his financial position! Sad because he helped take down President Nixon years ago, but now helps Bush who is far worse than Nixon ever was! Post is now GOP mouthpiece, so stop reading that filthy rag!
April 10th, 2006 at 12:28 pm[…] This weekend, the Washington Post wrote an editorial defending President Bush’s smearing of Joseph Wilson. The Post editors mangled the facts and failed to note — as their political writers did — that Bush deceptively leaked intelligence information despite knowing it had been disproved months before. (Read a thorough debunking of the editorial). […]
April 10th, 2006 at 3:32 pmThe Washington Post is still trying to cover their exposed behinds. In outing the NOC Plame and exposing the CIA counterproliferation team at Brewster, Jennings & Assoc, they are just as guilty of treason as the Bush White House. WaPo should also be tried for crimes against humanity, should Bush and Co ever get out of Leavenworth to face trial in The Hague.
April 10th, 2006 at 5:04 pmIf this wasn’t so serious, it would be laughable. When did the Washington Post begin to defend “excuses” that don’t rise above the level of “my dog ate my homework?” The “rationalizations” of the illegal, petty, unethical, nasty and arrogant behavior of this gang of thieves are an embarrassment to read and should be a greater embarrassment to tender to the public. Maybe it’s time for the Post to consider taking a new name: The Washington Prattle.
What I really wonder is: what and who are holding over the head of someone with real power at the Post. Old photos of mesalliances sponsored by Daddy Bush during functions purportedly to promote esprit de corps but were actually intended to provide future leverage to the Bushes? Photos or tape recordings of secret rendevous with barnyard animals? Large sums of cash to be paid in the future? Somebody better ‘fess up before WE THE PEOPLE find out on our own.
Anybody who has an idea what kind of leverage is being held over the heads of those who are complicit in the barrage of bullshit emanating from the White House, please snail mail the information to somebody at one of the blogs. It’s time the people found out what is really going on.
April 10th, 2006 at 5:26 pmAll is about Euro vs $. Hussein started to trade oil for Euro and got his butt in jail and xxxxxx iraqis killed. Now Iran starts the oil trade in Euro and will be nuked. Just applaud, the $ has to be kept safe. Long live the FED, private bankers dream of printing $ from piece of paper. Bush is just a chimpanzee, Chenney the big culprit. Another 911 staged by these idiots is coming to the city near you….God please help us….
April 10th, 2006 at 5:42 pmAs canceling this ballot, such as it was, with a bullet would be *wrong*… the bullet of impeachment must be loaded, the weapon of due process cocked and then that weapon fired conclusively into this administration’s heart… thereby spilling the metaphoric blood necessary to nourish the tree of liberty. Impeach and try for war crimes.
alienview@adelphia.net
April 10th, 2006 at 6:23 pmhttp://www.AlienView.net
AVG Blog — http://alienviewgroup.blogspot.com/
Are conspiracy nut cases gaining credebility? Hmmmm? LOL
Vote for your local plumber. He knows how to get rid of s–t.
April 10th, 2006 at 7:36 pmThe Washington Post looks like the old Communist Izvestia (the Government Newspaper in the USSR), the New York Times looks like Pravda (the Party newspaper in the USSR), and the WSJ sounds like Komsomol (the old Communist Youth Newspaper) in defending America, Bush, and the War. What do you expect from a capitalist “liberal” free press? LOLOL. Wake Up America! Turn off your televisions and start reading the internet news. Your press is controlled by corporation’s that buy advertisting revenues and support this policy.
April 10th, 2006 at 9:47 pmThe American media is controlled by corporate interests and career journalists who would never, never, never sacrifice their White House Press Passes and the income they need, since they don’t have the family wealth of the true somebodies, so their children can attend Sidwell Friends, the post Quaker school all the “true somebodies”in Washington send their children to. Can you imagine Cokie Roberts, Katie Couric, Editor Hiatt, or even Matt Lauer asking truly hard questions when it means their jobs? Not in America, Not today. God, you fools.
April 10th, 2006 at 10:02 pmJust slogged my way through all the comments above and am thoroughly despondent. Thought maybe the rumors about WaPo were overblown, but apparantly not. The first clue to going over to the dark side was the hiring of that hack Repug blogger a couple weeks back who was quickly dispatched after the uncovering of his sordid past and much dissent from loyal readers. Now we see this same type of garbage showing up in the editorial column. Sad day, WaPo. Damn shame to see a fine newspaper succumb to corporate pressures and sell its very soul. We’ll miss you. RIP.
April 10th, 2006 at 10:43 pmI wrote the ombudsman the following:
And received this reply today:
FROM:
Deborah C Howell [HowellDC@washpost.com]; on behalf of; Ombudsman Internet DropBox [ombudsman@washpost.com]
I’m writing about this Sunday.
April 13th, 2006 at 8:28 pm[…] A week after the Washington Post defended Bush’s authorization to selectively disclose the NIE as “a good leak,†the New York Times counters with an editorial that gets it right. “[T]he version of the facts that Mr. Libby was authorized to divulge was so distorted that it seems more like disinformation than any sincere attempt to inform the public.†12:08 am | Comment (0) […]
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[…] Bush’s defense that his Plame leak was a “good leak” that didn’t harm national security interests is hard to believe given that the Bush team has a pattern of leaking national security intelligence from both Israel and Pakistan when it assisted their political agenda.A Washington Post editorial concludes that Bush’s leak of selective portions of a classified NIE to reporters was a “good leak.” Several bloggers have done an excellent job in setting the record straight as to the mangled facts presented in the editorial as well as its brazen lies and unmitigated Bush propaganda. One fact not addressed is how Bush’s good leak defense - adopted hook, line and sinker by the Washington Post - is full of holes. How can the public accept as fact that the Bush administration recognizes the distinction between leaks in the public interest v. leaks harming national security when Bush now has a pattern of politically motivated leaks that have dried up key intelligence sources and destroyed intelligence operations to capture and arrest al Qaeda terrorists? […]
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December 12th, 2006 at 10:48 am[…] were trying so hard to sell prior to the war. More distressing, however, is that the Post has been an accomplice in the White House’s effort to cover up what it […]
March 7th, 2007 at 10:29 am[…] were trying so hard to sell prior to the war. More distressing, however, is that the Post has been an accomplice in the White House’s effort to cover up what it […]
March 7th, 2007 at 10:36 am