Molly courage
INTELLIGENCE - Spin doesn't help U.S. cause in Iraq - MOLLY IVINS
We've had two nifty opportunities to study the Bush spin machine at work here lately, both offering such a neat schematic of how it's done one is tempted to applaud. Or something.
The first was the counter-offensive launched by President Bush on Veterans Day against those who have the nerve (!) to notice that the administration manipulated intelligence to justify an unnecessary war. Bush, indignation to the fore, righteously denounced his critics for "baseless attacks," "false charges" and "rewriting history" because they are "fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments."
That may be true, but it's also true the Senate investigation did not look at whether the administration manipulated information once they got it.
The Republicans are trying to prevent the Senate Select Committee from doing just that, and Democratic leader Harry Reid is using procedural ploys to get around them.
Among the things we didn't know before the war:
The State Department was convinced the Niger uranium claim was bogus.
The source for the claims about biological weapons was a questionable character called "Curveball," who had a drinking problem and was distrusted by German intelligence.
We were told Saddam had drones that could deliver weapons, but the Air Force thought that was a joke.
The Department of Energy never believed the famous aluminum tubes had anything to do with a nuclear program.
Colin Powell's warnings about mobile weapons labs were not based on solid information.
I always thought the single best reason to doubt Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was that the United Nations inspectors were over there looking and couldn't find any. This was while Donald Rumsfeld was claiming we knew where the WMD were being stored.
The administration's first response to challenge is to lie; the second is to attack. Dick Cheney, always good in the attack role, called critics of the war "dishonest," "reprehensible" and "opportunist." Again and again, anyone who raises questions about the reasons for or the conduct of this war is promptly accused of "being against the troops," "hurting morale" and "helping the terrorists."
Dissent equals treason. Anyone who criticizes Bush is unpatriotic. Stephen Hadley, Rumsfeld, Bush and Cheney all have played this card.
It's just plain old intimidation, trying to scare people into shutting up - it's an old, ugly, mean trick, and it only works against cowards. The treatment of Rep. John Murtha is a classic example.
Murtha, stalwart supporter of the military, described Iraq as a "flawed policy wrapped in an illusion" and called for pulling troops out "at the earliest practicable date." White House spokesman Scott McClellan denounced Murtha for "endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party."
And Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio quoted an Ohio colonel: "He asked me to send Congress a message to stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run. Marines never do."
But Murtha - 37 years in the Marine Corps, decorated war hero in Korea and Vietnam and respected for his knowledge of military affairs - is not easily intimidated.
While Washington stands around having a public relations battle over all this, the real war with real people dying goes right on. There's a bloodbath because we're there.
We've had two nifty opportunities to study the Bush spin machine at work here lately, both offering such a neat schematic of how it's done one is tempted to applaud. Or something.
The first was the counter-offensive launched by President Bush on Veterans Day against those who have the nerve (!) to notice that the administration manipulated intelligence to justify an unnecessary war. Bush, indignation to the fore, righteously denounced his critics for "baseless attacks," "false charges" and "rewriting history" because they are "fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments."
That may be true, but it's also true the Senate investigation did not look at whether the administration manipulated information once they got it.
The Republicans are trying to prevent the Senate Select Committee from doing just that, and Democratic leader Harry Reid is using procedural ploys to get around them.
Among the things we didn't know before the war:
The State Department was convinced the Niger uranium claim was bogus.
The source for the claims about biological weapons was a questionable character called "Curveball," who had a drinking problem and was distrusted by German intelligence.
We were told Saddam had drones that could deliver weapons, but the Air Force thought that was a joke.
The Department of Energy never believed the famous aluminum tubes had anything to do with a nuclear program.
Colin Powell's warnings about mobile weapons labs were not based on solid information.
I always thought the single best reason to doubt Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was that the United Nations inspectors were over there looking and couldn't find any. This was while Donald Rumsfeld was claiming we knew where the WMD were being stored.
The administration's first response to challenge is to lie; the second is to attack. Dick Cheney, always good in the attack role, called critics of the war "dishonest," "reprehensible" and "opportunist." Again and again, anyone who raises questions about the reasons for or the conduct of this war is promptly accused of "being against the troops," "hurting morale" and "helping the terrorists."
Dissent equals treason. Anyone who criticizes Bush is unpatriotic. Stephen Hadley, Rumsfeld, Bush and Cheney all have played this card.
It's just plain old intimidation, trying to scare people into shutting up - it's an old, ugly, mean trick, and it only works against cowards. The treatment of Rep. John Murtha is a classic example.
Murtha, stalwart supporter of the military, described Iraq as a "flawed policy wrapped in an illusion" and called for pulling troops out "at the earliest practicable date." White House spokesman Scott McClellan denounced Murtha for "endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party."
And Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio quoted an Ohio colonel: "He asked me to send Congress a message to stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run. Marines never do."
But Murtha - 37 years in the Marine Corps, decorated war hero in Korea and Vietnam and respected for his knowledge of military affairs - is not easily intimidated.
While Washington stands around having a public relations battle over all this, the real war with real people dying goes right on. There's a bloodbath because we're there.
posted by professor rat at 6:19 AM
<< Home