Record-Breaking Administration: 935 False Statements in Two Years

Mainstream media should pay closer attention to the report published by The Center For Public Integrity that states, "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 report questions the source of the disseminated misinformation, and more importantly, highlights the consequences of subsequent incidents:

President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Nearly five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.

During the last five years there have been many journalists, activists and former officials, who have been consistently warning us about unreliable statements and lies about Iraq and other national security issues, made by top ranking officials. We are conditioned to accept what "a high ranking official" says as gospel, in spite of these precautions, without questioning the reliability of the sources, and continue to believe erroneous statements we hear and read in newspapers, radio, and TV channels.

Despite the difficulty in finding the truth in minefields of lies and fabrications, maintaining integrity and remaining objective is now more vital than ever, especially for journalists. There are grave consequences for a society when a faction of mainstream media becomes part of an administration's propaganda machine and leads a nation astray; conversely, fighting for truth and maintaining journalistic integrity has its price as well, as in the case of Phil Donahue whose show was canceled when he openly opposed the attacking Iraq on his program, or Jeff Cohen who lost his job for taking a stance against the war in Iraq. Regardless, if we as journalists cannot catch and take stance against over 395 lies, who can?

Follow Omid Memarian on Twitter: www.twitter.com/omid_m

Comments

[AnotherMcIntosh]

Google:
Operation Mockingbird

This could not happen without the MSM.

[peaceandfreedom]

Omid, I would love to have seen more action here on this topic--it just proves, again, that rather than tackle the systemic problems that allow this power play to continue, people would rather beat each other silly over the flavor of the month that the MSM decides to scoop out for us!

Maybe we do deserve the government we get...

[not one of the sheep]

Let's see, George Soros funds the Center for Public Integrity. Of course I will believe everything they report to be factual. The same way I would believe a Limbaugh funded center to be factual. Looks like BS, Smells like BS, what do you know, it's BS. Soros manufactures it, CNN reports it as fact. Give us all a break.

[peaceandfreedom]

This article proves once and for all that the Corporate owned MSM, is no longer looking out for the interests of the people.

The MSM selects our presidential candidates and the eventual winner--along with Diebold and the Supreme Court! Argue for your candidate until your jaws fall off; lower the level of discourse below anything even the major parties engage in; post to some of the HuffPO alternate reality blogs with your 15 aliases, where the word "idiot" stands in for wit or thought and 1,000 of these responses make it the biggest ego-driven circle jerk outside of Washington.

We can even vote, and think we've done our duty, and not accomplish a damn thing! Or we can be more critical consumers.

The MSM "missed" 935 lies. Does anyone really believe that they have encouraged substantive debate, allowed our best and brightest to participate, or have delivered to either party the absolutely best candidate that this country is capable of producing?

The internet is a tool for monumental change, not just for beating the hell out of each other and seeing how many time you can get your name put up. We can use it to tear down big chunks of the system that disempower and disenfranchise all of us! This is the anti-MSM, beyond the control of the Corporations, but it has a half life. If we think that we can and should have more control over our own destiny, then we should act, quickly, and remember what Omid says here;

"There are grave consequences for a society when a faction of mainstream media becomes part of an administration's propaganda machine and leads a nation astray..."

[sugarmoes]

btw... in your last line you have a typo "395" instead of "935".

i would hate to shortchange bush on his lies.

[sugarmoes]

impeach.

arrest.

trial.

imprison.