U.S. Government

Some Spies Saw Through the Lies & Blew the Whistle

"When David Kay, the CIA's former chief weapons inspector in Iraq, announced earlier this year that his team had found no stockpiled weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, he touched off an explosion of blame, finger-pointing, denial, and hasty 'clarifications' about the extent and accuracy of the intelligence that the Bush Administration used to buttress its decision to invade Iraq. Kay's startling conclusion, though, came as no surprise to many analysts in the U.S.

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Another WMD Post-mortem

The Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland has published a new study on "Media Coverage of Weapons of Mass Destruction," and the picture isn't pretty. "Most media outlets represented WMD as a monolithic menace, failing to adequately distinguish between weapons programs and actual weapons or to address the real differences among chemical, biological, nuclear, and radiological weapons," the report states.

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Saudi Clerics Bash U.S. Funded Channel

Two Saudi clerics have said that Muslims should not watch, work for, or advertise on the new U.S. funded Al-Hurra satellite channel. In a written fatwa, Sheik Ibrahim al-Khudairi said the channel was "founded by America to fight Islam, and to propagate massive decay to Americanise the world." Al-Hurra, which means the free one, is the latest Arabic-language media project run by the Broadcasting Board of Governors. According to U.S. officials, the channel, which will cost U.S.

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Silencing Science (Again)

"Two scientists from President Bush's top advisory board on cutting-edge medical research yesterday published a detailed criticism of the board's own reports, and said the board skewed scientific facts in service of a political and ideological cause," reports Gareth Cook. One of the scientists, Janet Rowley, is a member of the President's Council on Bioethics. The other Elizabeth H. Blackburn, is a highly regarded biologist who was fired from the panel last Friday.

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Bush Campaign Ads: Brought to You by ... Special Interests

Public Citizen has released a report outlining who helped pay for the Bush administration's campaign ads and what favors they have received during his presidency. Bush backers include the finance, real estate, communications, energy, health care, and insurance industries. The report also lists the tax breaks, regulatory changes, legislative favors and plum appointments Bush has given his backers.

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Beware 'Sound Science'

"When George W. Bush and members of his administration talk about environmental policy, the phrase 'sound science' rarely goes unuttered," Chris Mooney writes in the Washington Post. "On issues ranging from climate change to the storage of nuclear waste in Nevada's Yucca Mountain, our president has assured us that he's backing up his decisions with careful attention to the best available research. ...

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Editing With the Enemy

The U.S. government is threating legal action against anyone who edits manuscripts from Iran and other disfavored nations, on the ground that it amounts to trading with the enemy. "Anyone who publishes material from a country under a trade embargo is forbidden to reorder paragraphs or sentences, correct syntax or grammar, or replace 'inappropriate words,'" reports Adam Liptak. "Adding illustrations is prohibited, too.

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Bush's 'Sound Science' Means Spin & Censorship

The Bush administration loves to wrap itself in the mantle of "sound science," but as we've reported in our book Trust Us, We're Experts, "sound science" is a buzz-word for science with a pro-industry bias. Now, "More than 60 influential scientists, including 20 Nobel
laureates, issued a statement yesterday asserting that the
Bush administration had systematically distorted scientific

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Hypocritical NY Times Hyped WMD

"The New York Times offered a sharp editorial Tuesday critiquing the indisputable role of the White House in distorting the intelligence on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction, and in stampeding Congressional and public opinion by spinning worst-case scenarios -- 'inflating them drastically' -- to justify an immediate invasion last March to repel an alleged imminent threat to the United States.

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