Hindsight bias in journalism study about prewar statements
AP:
It was rationale under those circumstances and especially after 9-11 not to take a chance that the weapons might get into the hands of the terrorist.
It is also clear from the Iraq study Group report that Saddam had only put the programs into hibernation and intended to reactivate them after the UN was no longer threatening him.
What we have here is a report that is in fact much more dishonest than the allegations it brings against the administration, because all of these facts are known now and were ignored. It is another example of the shameful bias that infects some in the media.
The study itself lacks integrity. There is no evidence produced that indicates that the people making the statement did not believe them to be true at the time they were made. It also overlooks a central element in the prewar discussion. It was Saddam's and Iraq's responsibility to provide proof that they had destroyed their WMD and the programs that supported it. There were 17 UN resolutions that required Iraq to do that and they never did. Iraq deliberately tried to mislead the UN and the world, but they never provided the evidence they were required to produce. Iraq under Saddam had already proved that its word was no good.A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."
The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.
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It was rationale under those circumstances and especially after 9-11 not to take a chance that the weapons might get into the hands of the terrorist.
It is also clear from the Iraq study Group report that Saddam had only put the programs into hibernation and intended to reactivate them after the UN was no longer threatening him.
What we have here is a report that is in fact much more dishonest than the allegations it brings against the administration, because all of these facts are known now and were ignored. It is another example of the shameful bias that infects some in the media.
I am amazed at how many "independent" foundations exist whose sole purpose seems to be to trot out a very left of center point of view. They exist not only in politics but also in medicine, my area of expertise. The medical reports offer "proof" that the United States lags far behind the rest of the western world in quality indicators whose details are best known to the authors of the studies. It comes as no surprise that the cure for the malady is adoption of a single payer government run health plan.
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