Submitted by Laura Miller on
How did the U.S. end up in the growing Iraq quagmire? "One theory is that the neocons, like many in power before them, tend to believe their own propaganda .... The degree to which they helped twist the intelligence about Iraq has become increasingly clear over the past few weeks, as angry intelligence professionals have taken their complaints to the press," journalist Jim Lobe writes.
Submitted by John Stauber on
Paul Krugman writes that "There is no longer any serious doubt that Bush administration officials deceived us into war. The key question now is why so many influential people are in denial, unwilling to admit the obvious. ...
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Frustrated by survey results showing that "the bottom has fallen out of support for America in most of the Muslim world," Congress is asking the State Department to explain why U.S. image-enhancement efforts are failing. "When you consider that the State Department (DoS) has devoted more money and attention to public-diplomacy efforts in these regions in the past two years than anywhere since the Soviet Union's collapse, it's a sign that something's not working," writes Douglas Quenqua.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The Carlyle Group sits at the epicenter of the military-industrial complex that connects the Bush-Cheney administration with crony capitalism. Dan Briody, discusses The Iron Triangle, his new book about the Carlyle Group, which has recently begun to dabble in media acquisition. "We're looking at the potential for having a real controlling influence in the media," he says. "And I personally would not like to see Carlyle Group controlling the information that I receive on a daily basis."
Submitted by John Stauber on
In George Orwell's 1984 "Ignorance Was Strength" for Big Brother's regime, and so it is for President Bush. "A third of the American public believes U.S. forces found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, according to a recent poll. And 22 percent said Iraq actually used chemical or biological weapons. Before the war, half of those polled in a survey said Iraqis were among the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001. But such weapons have not been found in Iraq, and were never used. Most of the Sept. 11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. None were Iraqis. ...
Submitted by Laura Miller on
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting says major media is ignoring the story that flawed intelligence " may have been a result of deliberate deception, rather than incompetence." According to FAIR, "former General Wesley Clark told anchor Tim Russert that Bush administration officials had engaged in a campaign to implicate Saddam Hussein in the September 11 attacks-- starting that very day. Clark said that he'd been called on September 11 and urged to link Baghdad to the terror attacks, but declined to do so because of a lack of evidence. ...
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to publish a draft report next week on the state of the environment, but after editing by the White House, a long section describing risks from rising global temperatures has been whittled to a few noncommittal paragraphs," the New York Times reports. "The editing eliminated references to many studies concluding that warming is at least partly caused by rising concentrations of smokestack and tail-pipe emissions and could threaten health and ecosystems.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"While the administration of President George W. Bush is aggressively positioning itself as the world leader in the war on terrorism, some families of the Sept. 11 victims say that the facts increasingly contradict that script," reports Eric Boehlert. "The White House long opposed the formation of a blue-ribbon Sept. 11 commission, some say, and even now that panel is underfunded and struggling to build momentum.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"The Pentagon may make it official policy to include journalists with U.S. military units headed for battle," the Associated Press's Matt Kelley reports. During a panel discussion on media coverage of the Iraq war, outgoing Pentagon spokesperson Victoria Clarke said that Pentagon officials were pleased with the results of embedding journalists with troops. Clarke said she would like to see more reporters accompany U.S. troops in the future, AP reports. "Transparency works," Clarke said. "The good news gets out.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Senator Carl Levin, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has publicly challenged the CIA's handling of information about alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. "Why did the CIA say that they had provided detailed information to the UN inspectors on all of the high and medium suspect sites with the UN, when they had not?" Levin asked. "Did the CIA act in this way in order not to undermine administration policy? Was there another explanation for this? ...
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