FactCheck.Org's post today, incorrectly suggests that an anti-war coalition, including MoveOn.Org, is way off base in claiming that this Administration has lied its way into war with Iraq. Oh please ... But even with the complete quotes by Bush, Cheney, Rice, et al., these are STILL LIES and an affront to our intelligence. Who are they trying to fool at this late date with the argument that our "dear leader" was a victim of "then-current" intelligence. Poor schlep, he didn't know! Never mind that it's obvious he ignored any intelligence that disproved his "theories" of weapons of mass destruction.
See what you can do, below the fold ...
FactCheck.Org is infamous for Dick Cheney having cited it as a
source during his debate with John Edwards. He was clueless that it mostly refuted his argument. Since the 2004 Presidential race, this site, organized under the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, was dormant for several months, only to emerge again with a somewhat murky message.
I've held back on criticizing its analysis until tonight's post about MoveOn.org's ad in support of the anti-war efforts.
Each of the 6 points the ad, is "rebutted" by FactCheck.Org with the argument that the Administration believed its arguments to be true "at the time" they were made. Now we know, in retrospect, that many people came forward (Joe Wilson being one of the most memorable) to rebut the Administration's analysis. We also know that anyone who was talking about a reality that the Administration did not want to accept, was attacked (the betrayal of Valerie Plame being the most egregious example) and beaten into submission for daring to voice contradictory information. Here's a small sample argument from FactCheck.Org's newsletter:
An anti-war coalition of mostly liberal groups ran a newspaper ad quoting six alleged lies about Iraq by President Bush and others.
But, like movie blurbs, the quotes sometimes look different when read in full context. [...]
Bush, Sept. 17, 2003: We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11th . What the Vice President said was, is that he has been involved with al Qaeda. And al Sarawak, al Qaeda operative, was in Baghdad. He's the guy that ordered the killing of a U.S. diplomat. He's a man who is still running loose, involved with the poisons network, involved with Ansar al-Islam. There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al Qaeda ties.
Since the word "ties" can cover any connection, however weak, Bush was in fact stating the truth.
[My emphasis italicized.] What kind of argument is that? This quote does nothing to clear up the attempt by the Administration to obfuscate how al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein may have been associated. It's outrageous. It's obvious that the intent was to "tie" them together.
I wrote them a letter tonight and I hope you will
join me in doing the same. From my letter:
[...] This entire war has been based on lies and for your organization to come out, at this late date, and attempt to white wash this Administration's outright and egregious distortion of the truth, is unconscionable. As you indicate, it all comes down to what they knew and when they knew. No kidding. Special award to you for your keen insight. Duh -- Why do you think Joe Wilson was attacked when he refuted what this Administration was LYING about? Why did someone betray Valerie Plame, a federal agent? That is treason and so is lying to the American people so you can march their children off to war, to be maimed and killed.
I am outraged. If this is the great "distortion of truth" that the people at FactCheck.Org are devoting themselves to, then you have lost all sense of proportion. Where was your fact checking when the Administration was making those false statements?
Thanks for checking all those REALLY important facts out there -- like the billions of dollars in no-bid Katrina contracts, Delay's and Abramoff's corruption that makes a mockery or our representative government and Haliburton's obscene profit margins in Iraq (as they party while our troops suffer). Oh, and don't forget the missing NINE BILLION DOLLARS, taken in cash directly out of the U.S. Treasury, and LOST in Iraq. You're really out there helping us, aren't you? You should be ashamed.
We can't let apologists attempt to rewrite the record.