For years, the blogosphere that leaned toward the left kept a match at President George Bush’s feet, repeatedly claiming that he was not being with the American public about what was going
on in Iraq. He basically was given a pass. We lived in a post 9/11 world and mainstream media didn’t press him as strongly as they might have another government leader. During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it appears the media started paying closer attention.
Within the last couple of years, after scandals with Scooter Libby, questions of weapons of mass destruction being in Iraq and the reality that the war in Iraq may drag on for much longer than anticipated, independent non-profit organizations are investigating facts and inaccuracies of what has been presented from the White House Administration.
The results were posted Tuesday on the web site at the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.
The report states:
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.”
The center focused on public records studied from Sept. 11 and two years after the nation’s tragedy from more than 25 government reports.
The White House did not comment on the study.
