Revolution#123, March 16, 2008
935 Documented Lies Leading to Iraq invasion
Shortly after the “incident” in the Hormuz Straits, the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism released a study documenting 935 “false statements” made by Bush officials about Iraq in the two years leading up to the March 2003 invasion. According to the study, “The War Card—Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War” (publicintegrity.org/WarCard/), Bush and other top officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them, or that Iraq had links to al Qaeda—or both. These were deliberate lies. Bush led the way with 259 lies, 231 of which were about WMD in Iraq (there were none).
“War Card” notes that these “false statements” were not random misstatements but “methodically propagated” as part of an “orchestrated campaign.” The study concluded, “The cumulative effect of these false statements—amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts—was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war.”
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