California Conservative

Robert Kagan has written a terrific op-ed in the Washington Post reviewing all the articles written in the Washington Post and NY Times back in the 1990’s. The story is a blistering indictment of the “Bush lied, people died”-journalists who have been acting like President Bush was the first person to have claimed that Iraq had WMD’s. As usual, the Agenda Media is roasted and carved by someone using their own words against them.

Here’s a sampling of Mr. Kagan’s blistering review:

A quick search through the Times archives before 2001 produces such headlines as “Iraq Has Network of Outside Help on Arms, Experts Say”(November 1998), “U.S. Says Iraq Aided Production of Chemical Weapons in Sudan”(August 1998), “Iraq Suspected of Secret Germ War Effort” (February 2000), “Signs of Iraqi Arms Buildup Bedevil U.S. Administration” (February 2000), “Flight Tests Show Iraq Has Resumed a Missile Program” (July 2000). (A somewhat shorter list can be compiled from The Post’s archives, including a September 1998 headline: “Iraqi Work Toward A-Bomb Reported.”) The Times stories were written by Barbara Crossette, Tim Weiner and Steven Lee Myers; Miller shared a byline on one.

Isn’t it interesting that Mr. Kagan can find so many stories where the NY Times’ reporters not named Judith Miller wrote essentially what they’re villifying Judith Miller for? Thus far this week, the NY Times has tried decimating Judith Miller. Mo Dowd wrote a hyper-critical opinion column on Ms. Miller. Bill Keller has floated the opinion that he let her drift back into reporting on WMD-related articles after banning her from that beat.

Herea are some other examples of articles written on this subject:

Philip Shenon reported official concerns that Iraq would be “capable within months, and possibly just weeks or days, of threatening its neighbors with an arsenal of chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons.” He reported that Iraq was thought to be “still hiding tons of nerve gas” and was “seeking to obtain uranium from a rogue nation or terrorist groups to complete as many as four nuclear warheads.”
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Tim Weiner and Steven Erlanger reported that Hussein was closer than ever “to what he wants most: keeping a secret cache of biological and chemical weapons.” “To maintain his chemical and biological weapons, and the ability to build more,” they reported, Hussein had sacrificed over $120 billion in oil revenue and “devoted his intelligence service to an endless game of cat and mouse to hide his suspected weapons caches from United Nations inspections.”
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From 1998 through 2000, the Times editorial page warned that “without further outside intervention, Iraq should be able to rebuild weapons and missile plants within a year” and that “future military attacks may be required to diminish the arsenal again.” Otherwise, Iraq could “restore its ability to deliver biological and chemical weapons against potential targets in the Middle East.” “The world,” it said, “cannot leave Mr. Hussein free to manufacture horrific germs and nerve gases and use them to terrorize neighboring countries.”
—–
Times editorials insisted the danger from Iraq was imminent. When the Clinton administration attempted to negotiate, they warned against letting “diplomacy drift into dangerous delay. Even a few more weeks free of inspections might allow Mr. Hussein to revive construction of a biological, chemical or nuclear weapon.” They also argued that it was “hard to negotiate with a tyrant who has no intention of honoring his commitments and who sees nuclear, chemical and biological weapons as his country’s salvation.” “As Washington contemplates an extended war against terrorism,” a Times editorial insisted, “it cannot give in to a man who specializes in the unthinkable.”

What this amounts to is a conviction of the NY Times’ reporting. Their articles say that President Bush is a liar but that Clinton is honest and courageous. They say this even though they said essentially the same things.

Only in the mind of a liberal does this add up.

Cross-posted at Boxer Watch

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 25th, 2005 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Foreign Policy, Liberals, Media, W. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.