Study: Bush, aides made 935 false statements in run-up to war

[MTAtech]

No Suprise Here

Quote:

"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," reads an overview of the examination, conducted by the Center for Public Integrity and its affiliated group, the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

Treason!!!

[mad1]

Two things I was unable to find in the article?
1. A link to the study
2. Who wrote the article

[jokostel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mad1

Two things I was unable to find in the article?
1. A link to the study
2. Who wrote the article

Im sure it was someone who was unbiased and trustworthy...

[MTAtech]

Here is the study and this is who they are.

They do seem independent.

[Pexster]

Well, I've yet to hear a good reason not to believe Richard Clarke, who said Bush focused on Iraq on 9/12. "Iraq! I want something on Iraq!" he demanded. Clarke had no reason that I know of to lie about that moment

[SiliconJon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PublicIntegrity.org

Over the three years studied, more than $20 billion in contracts [in Iraq] went to foreign companies whose identities—at least so far—are impossible to determine.

[TOAD6147]

You beat me to it, Joel. I heard Rachel Maddow interviewing this guy on my way home a bit ago. He was careful to state that he is not calling any of them lies but rather "false statements". And as far as this report being trustworthy, it's all a matter of public record and there is a time-line graph showing when the false statements were laid on thick and what was going on at the same time. Also that there were statements made based on intelligence that wasn't even out until two weeks later and the intelligence was counter to what the administration was saying.

[Atomic Rooster]

Here's an interesting little read from Big Lizards:

Quote:

Here are a couple of inconvenient truths the AP story neglects to tell us:

* “A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations…”

The Fund for Independence in Journalism says its “primary purpose is providing legal defense and endowment support for the largest nonprofit, investigative reporting institution in the world, the Center for Public Integrity, and possibly other, similar groups.” Eight of the eleven members of the Fund’s board of directors are either on the BoD of the Center for Public Integrity, or else are on the Center’s Advisory Board. Thus these “two” organizations are actually joined at the hip.

* “Fund for Independence in Journalism…”

The Center is heavily funded by George Soros. It has also received funding from Bill Moyers, though some of that money might have actually been from Soros, laundered through Moyers via the Open Society Foundation.

Other funders include the Streisand Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts (used to be conservative, but in 1987 they veered sharply to the left, and are now a dyed-in-the-wool “progressive” funder), the Los Angeles Times Foundation, and so forth. The Center is a far-left organization funded by far-left millionaires, billionaires, and trusts…

…I’m certain it’s sheer coincidence that this nonsense was spewed across the news sockets during the peak of the election primary season… and right before the primary in Florida, of all states. Had anyone at AP or the Times realized how this might affect the election, I know their independent journalistic integrity would have suggested they hold this non-time-constrained story until afterwards. Say, they could even have used the time to consider whether “Iraq and al-Qaeda had a relationship” and “the relationship didn’t amount to direct cooperation” contradict each other.

A less charitable person than I might imagine this “database” was nothing but a mechanical tool to allow good liberals easier access to a tasty “two-minutes hate.”

But realizing that the elite media has only our best interests at heart, my only possible conclusion is that, despite the multiple layers of editorial input that must occur at these venues, several important facts just slipped through the cracks:

* The fact that the Center for Public Integrity is a Left-funded, leftist, activist organization with a serious hatchet to grind with the Bush administration;

* The fact that the Fund for Independence in Journalism is neither independent, nor is it engaged in journalism (it’s a front group of mostly the same people whose purpose is to shield the Center from lawsuits);

* And the fact that the vast majority of the supposed “false statements” are in fact simply positions with which liberals disagree, or else statements widely accepted at the time that later investigation (after deposing Saddam Hussein) showed to be inaccurate.

I must assume that these self-evident facts must simply have been honestly missed by the gimlet-eyed reporters and editors at AP and the NYT.

Can you say "George Soros"?

The Center for Public Integrity has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from anti-Bush philanthropist:

Despite its claims to be a nonpartisan news organization and profession of the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics, the Center has been accused of bias towards left-wing political causes because it has accepted money from organizations and individuals that favor liberal policies and/or actively oppose right-wing political causes.

The donations included:

A $72,400 one-year grant in 2000 supporting "an investigative journalism series on prosecutorial misconduct."[35]
A $75,000 one-year grant in 2001 supporting "an examination of wrongful convictions resulting from prosecutorial misconduct."[36]
A $100,000 one-year grant in 2002 "to investigate the political spending of the telecommunications industry on the federal, state and local levels."[37]
A $1 million three-year grant in 2002 "to support the Global Access Project."[38]

Here is the list of donors for "The Fund for Independence in Journalism."

[pickel]

"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," reads an overview of the examination, conducted by the Center for Public Integrity and its affiliated group, the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

I thought we were in the Last Throes ???????

[MTAtech]

In response to AR's post, I don't see a single word challenging the accuracy of the report. His entire criticism is based upon who funds the two organizations, wealthy liberals. In other words, we can't trust the report because it was funded by liberals - even though every claim is documented. I don't care if the report was written by the Chinese Communists, as long as it is factually correct.

Oh, liberals funded the report. Did anyone expect the Heritage Foundation to be behind it?