A president's State of the Union address is a solemn rite, an opportunity for our nation's leader to speak directly to the assembled members of Congress and to his fellow citizens. The occasion takes on an even heavier burden when a president uses the speech to press for war against another nation.
But this year, when President Bush used his State of the Union address to make his case for war on Iraq, a central claim in his argument was false. And he had every reason to know it was false.
Contrary to what the president told the American people, the Iraqi government had not recently attempted to acquire uranium from Africa. But that false assertion was fundamental to backing the president's larger claim that Iraq posed a nuclear threat to the United States, which we now know it did not.
11:00:10 PM
For those amateur "revisionist historians" out there, here is a partial, unscientific reconstruction of the claims that fizzled. ...
10:58:23 PM
Let's just agree that Republican grousing about 'depends what the definition of 'is' is' just ain't gonna have the same sting anymore, will it?
10:39:27 PM
Seeking Truth From Justice: PATRIOT Propaganda - The Justice Department's Campaign to Mislead The Public About the USA PATRIOT Act
10:39:09 PM
Emma Goldman of Notes on the Atrocities has compiled a major dossier on John Ashcroft. It is likely the most comprehensive, sourced analysis of Ashcroft available in one place. [
Warblogs]
10:38:39 PM
Occupation Forces Halt Elections Throughout Iraq SAMARRA, Iraq -- U.S. military commanders have ordered a halt to local elections and self-rule in provincial cities and towns across Iraq, choosing instead to install their own handpicked mayors and administrators... [
Whiskey Bar]
10:37:54 PM
US Senate leader says weapons of mass destruction not main cause of Iraq war WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Republican leader in the Senate said that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was not the main justification for the US-led invasion of... [
Whiskey Bar]
10:37:22 PM
The controversy over what, exactly, the "mobile bio weapons labs" we found in Iraq really are continues. The CIA came out and said they the trailers were designed for making bio weapons, now the State Department is saying
not so fast. I'm inclined to believe that they're not weapons labs, due to Occam's Razor, if nothing else. (Imagine a world where these trailers were found by investigators in a different country without any political implications, and any presumption that they were part of Iraq's seemingly missing weapons programs. Do you think that they'd conclude that these trailers, which could not be used no their own to make biological weapons and contain no traces of biological weapons or their precursors, would be identified as weapons labs?) [
rc3.org Daily]
10:36:54 PM
At this point the question is not whether or not the CIA misled the Bush Administration. The question is, instead, whether or not Bush was asleep at the switch while this was happening. Was he a dupe or a willing participant in the invention of intelligence, the twisting of real information and the lies told to the American people? The question now before America — and, hopefully, a Congressional investigatory committee — is "did Bush know?"
Personally I don't think it matters whether Bush knew or not. He is the CEO President. He is ultimately responsible for everything that happened on his watch. Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Cheney... these are his people. He is responsible for their actions, whether he was aware of them or not. As President it was his job to be aware.
10:35:01 PM
Thursday, July 10, 2003
