935 false statements on Iraq

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer Wed Jan 23, 6:43 AM ET

<!-- end storyhdr --> WASHINGTON - 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.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study
Tuesday night but reiterated the administration's position that the world community
viewed Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat.

"The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence
agencies around the world," Stanzel said.

The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in
speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials
stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass
destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.

"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or
have meaningful ties to al-Qaida," according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith
of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the
study. "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous
information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military
action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."

Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the
period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza
Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy
Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer
and Scott McClellan.

Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and
28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell's
244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and
al-Qaida.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080123/ap_on_go_pr_wh/misinformation_study

:rude: