935 Lies

Just in case Scott McClellan wasn't keeping count, the Center for Public Integrity was: at least 935 falsehoods told by the president and his aides in the runup to the war. Need help remembering that number?

"935 Lies" is from Harry's upcoming CD, "Songs of the Bushmen," to be released July 1 on digital platforms including iTunes and Amazon. This poignant musical satire pays homage to cabinet members and advisors including Scooter Libby ("No Cooler for Scooter'), Condoleezza Rice ("Gym Buds") and Donald Rumsfeld ("Stuff Happens"), to name a few...

UPDATE: Why isn't this on the front page today? Quien sabe. But the long-awaited Phase Two of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on intel and Iraq is out this morning, and the bipartisan majority reached some interesting conclusions:

The Committee's report cites several conclusions in which the Administration's public statements were NOT supported by the intelligence. They include:

Ø Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence.

Ø Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information.

Ø Statements by President Bush and Vice President Cheney regarding the postwar situation in Iraq, in terms of the political, security, and economic, did not reflect the concerns and uncertainties expressed in the intelligence products.

Ø Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing.

Ø The Secretary of Defense's statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information.

Ø The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed.

Additionally, the Committee issued a report on the Intelligence Activities Relating to Iraq conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group and the Office of Special Plans within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. The report found that the clandestine meetings between Pentagon officials and Iranians in Rome and Paris were inappropriate and mishandled from beginning to end. Deputy National Security Advisor Steve Hadley and Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz failed to keep the Intelligence Community and the State Department appropriately informed about the meetings. The involvement of Manucher Ghobanifer and Michael Ledeen in the meetings was inappropriate. Potentially important information collected during the meetings was withheld from intelligence agencies by Pentagon officials. Finally, senior Defense Department officials cut short internal investigations of the meetings and failed to implement the recommendations of their own counterintelligence experts.

The 936th lie: the CIA made us do it.

Comments

[luziannagirl]

So Bush & His Divine Constitutional Wrecking Krewe told 935 lies in the run up to the Iraq War?

What about all the lies they told and are continuing to tell in other arenas, at other times? Has anyone been counting them, I wonder?

I'd be willing to be the lies the Bush administration has told regarding science alone would reach 1000.

For an eye-opener there, read HuffPo blogger Chris Mooney's _The Republican War on Science_.

[Michale32086]

Can you point to one single LIE that Bush has told??

Just one confirmed, provable in a court of law, lie..

That's all I ask..

And please, don't come back with, "Well, Bush told his daughter Jenna that there was a Santa Claus." Come up with something relevant and germane..

I'll be standing by.

Michale...­..

[luziannagirl]

Gee, Michale, where to start...

One of the worst lies this administration has told regarding science, and probably the one for which history will judge him most harshly, is George W. Bush & Co.'s denial of the existence of global warming and its catastrophic effects, and his refusal to push the United States to take a world leadership role in addressing it.

For an eye-opener on this or any one of a number of this administration's countless attacks on science, if you don't care to ferret out Mooney's book, to see what real scientists (as a group, famously apolitical) think about this administration's attitude and actions toward their profession, just grab any copy of the AAAS's journal _Science_ from about 2001 on, and thumb through the news/policy section in the front.

Oh, and don't let its status as the world's foremost general science research journal published by the world's largest and most respected professional science organization put you off; the technical stuff is in the back. The front part is easy to read and full of pictures.

And Michale, if you dare to come back with piddly-ass intelligen­ce-insulti­ng questions like, "Name one instance in which BushCo denied global warming", or, "isn't global warming controversial among scientists", we will all know beyond a shadow of a doubt either you are not interested in intelligent discussion of serious issues, or, you have not done your homework enough to hang at this level of discussion.

[CAPTAINSKIPPY]

How many lies needed to get the impeachment prize?

[mooph]

For a second, I thought this was going to be about Hillary.

[Michale32086]

Yet, the one comment from the McClellan book you choose to ignore is:

"I don't think anyone in the Bush Administration actively lied to the American Public"

But let's forget that little bit of inconvenient truth for the moment..

Let's say you are correct..

Why won't Congress do anything about it?? Why doesn't the American public and press absolutely CRUCIFY Bush et al for it??

Why???

Employing Occam's Razor, the answer is obvious.. It was even stated by one of the commenters of your previous commentary­..

While it's easy to "prove" Bush et al guilty in the court of public opinion (I believe 70%/90% was quoted as the American and British public opinions respectively), when it comes to proving Bush et al guilty in a court of LAW, the entire "case" goes south...

This is a non-issue. Wouldn't the Left's time be better spent getting their house in order so as to beat Bush, the 3rd Act, come November??

Just a thought. :D

Michale...­..

[Durango]

If the case goes "South", which I don't believe is the case, it could have something to do with the Bush Administrations keeping records secret. Illegally secret.

Just wait.

Discovery is a wonderous thing.

[Michale32086]

"Just wait"

Wait for what!???

For the Democrats to get into power??

Sorry, but that happened almost two years ago??

How is that case going???

Michale...­..

[HST]

Here's a new thought for you: we can't KNOW if as you say the "entire" case goes south in a court of law unless it ACTUALLY gets to a court...

Do you believe that the congress shouldn't even investigate the current group of criminals occupying the white house because the Demos are running for president?
You either think that congress can't do its constitutionally mandated job for politcal reasons (GOP obstruction) or you hate America and its constitution.

Oh yeah, as to that house in order thingy: we'll talk when all the primary votes have been counted and after the convention when the Nominee for the general election (go big O) is "officially" named.

I have a prediction: YOU are not going to LIKE the outcome of the GE!
Especially when McSame forgets what position to take on which day (maybe LIEberman can help).

[Michale32086]

Actually, as things stand now, I intend to vote Obama..

This election is actually a WIN WIN for me.

If Obama wins, we're going to see some real change in DC. It's going to be a heady time to be an American..

If McCain wins, then it will probably be "same ol, same ol" politics wise, but at least there will be a few countries who will get their asses kicked that so richly deserves it.

As I said. For me it's a WIN WIN... :D

Michale...­..

[lenski]

Politically, a decision to investigate the current administration properly and fully would probably be a mistake: There is WAAAY too much money, too much influence supporting these guys. This administration could well be the most concentrat­ed-wealth-­friendly administration in a century. (There's the Hoover administration, so the Bush administration does have competition in that department­.)

But those who would behave as this administration has behaved have learned a valuable lesson: That the presidency can be used to steal this nation blind, basically with impunity.

It is now clear in retrospect that this administration failed *completely* to validate the evidence. So rather than murder in the first degree of thousands of our troops, perhaps the charges to be investigated would be: 4000+ charges of negligent homicide, 15000+ charges of legal negligence leading to life-changing physical wounds, 40000+ charges of negligence leading to possibly permanent PTSD and adjustment disorder, and criminal negligence leading to the expenditure of more than half trillion tax dollars on a war that was begun under false pretenses.

If I caused a multiple-fatality accident on the freeway driving my station wagon at >140 MPH while under the influence of alcohol (for example), I believe that I would be doing serious jail time.

Why is it that we "lefties" are expected to tolerate a much much lower standard of risk analysis when the risk isn't only one innocent family on the road but rather the lives of THOUSANDS of our front-line soldiers?

[July]

You might want to go easy on repeating that meme that the press did not go after Bush:

http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/nationalsecurity/2008/05/what-happened.html

After some of the remaining press get over the twin bombshell hits they have taken over being 'manipulated' by the White House, i.e. the Rent-A-General scandal that the major press fell into and this most recent evidence of at-best, acquiescence to passing along WH propaganda and lies.

As far as that other chatter, the legal folks are analyzing what is just now becoming available:

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/26/working-thread-doj-ig-report-on-torture/#comments

But unlike those tv law cases you seem to like, real cases take time and care and do not get solved before the ending commercial break. Fitzgearald's work in getting Scooter Libby comes to mind as an example of a quick case.

Don't keep pushing for the crucification, it may be here sooner than Bush and crew can get those one way tickets to that supposed new ranch in Paraguay out of the dresser drawer.

[Michale32086]

All I am saying is that, if the case is such a slam dunk as the Bush Bashers believe, why hasn't it happened??

Are you telling me that a President with the public support rating that is in the toilet can wield so much power to forestall a trial on something so heinous and "obvious"??

Either the FACTS don't warrant a criminal case or EVERYONE is in league with the Bush Administration, including the Democrats.­.

Now, what does Occam's Razor tell us??

Michale...­..