Here's an Associated Press summary of the study:
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."
Bush himself led with 259 "false statements." Obviously, they're being polite by calling it "false statements." They mean he lied. And, of course, this was no small matter. When Bush lied, people died. Over 150,000 Iraqis and nearly 4,000 Americans, to be specific.
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Reader Comments ( Page 4 of 8)
46. 13. And FDR promised in a campaign speech a week before the 1940 general election that he wouldn't send troops to Europe. Meanwhile, he was negotiating with Churchill on how to get U.S. troops into the war.
xxx
and how does this prove that bush and cheney didn't lie?
Clif Kuplen at 5:36PM on Jan 23rd 2008
47. Bush lied but he didn't know he was lying. He's too stupid. But he carries a grudge, in this case tending to some unfinished business with Sadam over Pa. It's true this was all thought out before 9/11. 9/11 provided the convienent excuse to go in and see hopw B1 bombers would do overall. They did pretty good.
Cheney, Wolfwowitz, and Feith lied and knew it. Richard Perle lied and knew it. They were the puppeteers pulling Dubyas jock strap wit his balls stuck in it. Colin Powell did not lie but should (and actually did) have known better. Two weeks into Bush's second term Powell quit. His reputation will be eternally tarnished and it pains Colin Powell the most.
Rice was a cheerleader. Tenet told Bush many times that the question of Iraq trying to obtain yellowcake from Niger (the Valerie Plame episode) was in huge dispute. The evidence wasn't there. But Dubya being the dumb and arrogant ass that he is chose to not believe him...or just not to listen. He was already set on the course that will change America for the next two hundred years.
If interested read The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Frank Rich, Hubris by Michael Isikopf (sic), Weapons of Mass Deception, and Inside the Emerald City. Thery are all by well known journalists and are extremely informative.
The question is, after 4,000 lives, tens of thousands of US wounded, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead, wounded, and in poverty...450 billion spent to date and we're not even close to being done with this...the question is what do we do now???????
Luna at 5:52PM on Jan 23rd 2008
48. The thing that gets me is people keep saying that bush claimed that he had proof that Iraq had WMDs. He made the statement that we suspect that they do. I also can't figure out how Bush sent us to war single handedly. He must be a pretty bad A dude to override the laws of war. Oh wait the majority of America was all over going to Iraq based on the fact (it IS a FACT) that Iraq HAD WMDs at one point, was willing to use them, at denied inspectors the ability to say, "Nope Iraq is WMD free".
marc at 6:04PM on Jan 23rd 2008
49.
DancesWithFascists:
"Growing evidence suggests that 9/11 was actually planned and implemented by Bush and Cheney, probably with the help of Mossad and a number of other flying monkeys including Osama bin Laden"
Oh, so your one of those 'Americans' who will sink so low as to blame Bush for killing thousands of American citizens. Its nice to know the types of beliefs held by the people who willingly gobble up the bullshit cooked here everyday by Chef Cenk.
At some point you have to make a choice to either believe what the politicians have to say, or believe what the enemies of the politicians have to say. Or both or neither, whatever you want.
Both will be biased enough but both will deny it. Naturally most democrats will align themselves with anything anti-Bush even though it may not be pro-truth.
Parker at 6:13PM on Jan 23rd 2008
50. Clif:
Time for another dose of truth. Republicans won WWII. Look it up.
Paul Sparcello at 6:42PM on Jan 23rd 2008
51. What is the Center For Public Integrity?
It's funded by George Sorros of Moveon.org fame. I hardly think that they are impartial - they're just like you.
Paul at 7:45PM on Jan 23rd 2008
52. Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the thirty-third President of the United States (1945–1953). As vice president, he succeeded to the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Political party Democratic
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was the thirty-second President of the United States.
Political party Democratic
Paul Sparcello, "Republicans won WWII. Look it up."
Okay, I looked... you're wrong!
not-pboyfloyd at 7:52PM on Jan 23rd 2008
53. I'm unapologetic when I say I cannot wrap my mind around Clinton's censure, nay Impeachment, over sex with an intern and dried ejaculate on a blue dress>>>
I see the problem ... it's your tiny near-brain. Clue: Read the articles of impeachment. No dress no nothing. It does say 'lying under oath', and you're the turds that protected him, making it virtually impossible to ever impeach a sitting US president again. The man was disbarred for lying under oath, not lying about a bj. But reality doesn't effect a lunatic. Now, you want Bush impeached for lying ... not under oath, but just for lying. This after you made it OK for a president to lie under oath. What passes for a liberal today are American hating Leftist lunatics, and nothing more.
Thomas J Gassett at 8:00PM on Jan 23rd 2008
54. 67. Clif:
Time for another dose of truth. Republicans won WWII. Look it up.
Paul Sparcello at 6:42PM on Jan 23rd 2008
xxx
I don't need to, paul. I was around then and you are a liar. look it up.
Clif Kuplen at 8:26PM on Jan 23rd 2008
55. 60. "The United States exported $500 million of dual use exports to Iraq that were approved by the Commerce department. Among them were advanced computers, some of which were used in Iraq’s nuclear program. The non-profit American Type Culture Collection and the Centers for Disease Control sold or sent biological samples to Iraq under Saddam Hussein up until 1989, which Iraq claimed it needed for medical research. These materials included anthrax, West Nile virus and botulism, as well as Brucella melitensis, which damages major organs, and clostridium perfringens, which causes gas gangrene. Some of these materials were used for Iraq's biological weapons research program..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction
Hey, everyone was getting a piece of the action though... isn't that right Gassbag?
not-pboyfloyd>>>
stupidboy ... stupidboy.
First. This began with one of your fellow morons claimng the US sold Saddam WMD. I educated the fool. I told him no one sells WMD because you can get everything you need from a hospital or a hardware store. This is how it replied.
Clue: NO ONE, I repeat for liberal simpletons, NO ONE sells chemical or bio weapons. Why? Because you can get everything you need from a hospital or a hardware store.
You are an illiterate fool. Try to weaponize an anthrax spore with stuff you pick up at Ace, bucky.
xxx
If it isn't weaponized it's not a wmd. maybe you should read my pet goat instead?
Clifboy>>
You use the same tired tactic in your cut and paste crap above about duel use equipment. I know it's cut and paste by the specious wording. Frankly, you aren't that clever. It was Germany and France that sold the duel use equipment used to make WMD, not computers.
As to what you claim we sold them. What you didn't say in your cut and paste is that Iraq could have got those cultures from any hospital, which make me wonder why they would get it from us. All hospitals exchange them ... it's common practice.
You freaks make outragous allegations like We sold Saddam WMD, and when you are proved wrong you go off on some tangent that has nothing to do with your orginal lie. You hang on this blog because you find like minded fools that read the same websites you do, and never call you on your mind numbed bullshit. This blog is like a comfort blanket for disafected liberal morons. You can have it.
Thomas J Gassett at 8:28PM on Jan 23rd 2008
56. Oh, so your one of those 'Americans' who will sink so low as to blame Bush for killing thousands of American citizens. Its nice to know the types of beliefs held by the people who willingly gobble up the bullshit cooked here everyday by Chef Cenk.
xxx
one issue remains troubling. I can easily discount eyewitness or earwitness accounts but the spectrographic evidence of thermATE (not thermite) remains troubling. It is only used to bring down buildings and there was evidence of its presence in building seven.
If there is a rational explanation I'd like to hear it, but so far there has been none.
It's the only piece of evidence that resembles a smoking gun. If there is some way to get a false spectrogram of this, I'd like to know, but so far no one has an explanation.
I will say this about Bush and Cheney. If it turned out to be true that they were conspiratorial in 911, it wouldn't surprise me.
If we have ever had an evil administration it's this one, not Nixon. This one could spell the end of America and possible global nuclear war. There is nothing comforting about knowing who is in charge of this country and how much they disrespect the goddamn piece of paper it's founded on.
Clif Kuplen at 8:33PM on Jan 23rd 2008
57. know it's cut and paste by the specious wording
xxx
you are ME again, tommie commie.
I saw the same 'say it with me' crap and the same misspelling of 'clintoon' as you've done many times over the months when you pasted your phony 'evidence' that saddam and alqaeda were linked. Somebody just took your pants down on it too, I noticed, but you'll be back with it when you think you can get away with it because you're a one trick pony.
I don't paste much of anything, and when I do, it's usually a report from an actual scientific journal and I credit it if I can. I don't need to paste, having both a brain and a vocabulary, and an immense amount of information at my fingertips I can paraphrase if it's something I didn't know already.
Sorry spot, you don't play in my league but you're an excellent source for straight lines, so keep 'em comin'!
Clif Kuplen at 8:41PM on Jan 23rd 2008
58. and maybe you'd better look up the meaning of 'specious'. cutting and pasting can be from the bible. Is that 'specious'. Perhaps you're 'fulsome'.
Clif Kuplen at 8:42PM on Jan 23rd 2008
59. "I will say this about Bush and Cheney. If it turned out to be true that they were conspiratorial in 911, it wouldn't surprise me.
---------------------------------------------------
I'll allow that Bush may well have been a useful idiot. Cheney was busy on the morning of 9-11-2001. He was running Air Force "exercises" on that morning, from the, "situation room."
I'd be surpirsed if Cheney *insn't* responsible for 9-11-2001.
You're looking for an answer to the thermate question. So am I.
I've posted it before, but I still haven't had an intelligent response to the issue. of FOUR commercial airliners being simultaneously hijacked without a single one being intercepted.
Christo-fascists aside, we KNOW that everything which happened AFTER 9-11 is a lie. But people still stop short of questioning 9-11's real culprits. Why is everyone so sure that 9-11-2001 isn't just the biggest lie the neocons have told us.
I'll remind everyone that.....
“The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11."
Rex Tomb
FBI spokesman
June 5, 2006
Captain Negative at 8:47PM on Jan 23rd 2008
60. @ Gassbag, "I know it's cut and paste by the specious wording."
Gee Thumb(up)Ass, the what was you're first clue that it was a cut and paste... the speciousness???... LOL.. I gave credit to the entire site... right THERE!!!
In that site, it points out all the stuff given to the Iraqis by France, Germany and Italy too!
But this anthrax etc. was given(sometimes not even sold) to Saddam by the USA under Reagan!
not-pboyfloyd at 8:51PM on Jan 23rd 2008