Bush mintió casil mil veces: Habrá castigo para él?

EEUU: George Bush mintió mil veces para justificar la invasión a Irak

Según la conclusión de un estudio realizado por organizaciones periodísticas. Investigaron casi un millar de mentiras de la Casa Blanca. AP. Foto: EFE. Mentiroso. Foto de archivo de una rueda de prensa en la Casa Blanca. En los dos años previos a la invasión de Irak, el presidente George W. Bush y sus allegados ofrecieron 935 declaraciones falsas sobre la amenaza que supuestamente presentaba Saddam Hussein, señalaron dos organizaciones periodísticas. La conclusión del estudio fue que el gobierno incurrió en "una campaña orquestada que galvanizó efectivamente la opinión pública y, en el proceso, condujo al país a la guerra decididamente de manera fraudulenta". El estudio fue divulgado el martes en la noche en el sitio de internet del Centro por la Integridad Pública, que trabajó en la investigación conjuntamente con el Fondo por la Independencia en el Periodismo. El vocero de la Casa Blanca Scott Stanzel, no comentó el martes sobre los méritos del estudio, pero reiteró la posición del gobierno de que la comunidad mundial consideraba a Saddam como una amenaza. En el estudio se mencionaron 935 falsas declaraciones en un período de dos años, en discursos, entrevistas y reuniones informativas con la prensa, entre otros medios de difusión. Tanto Bush como funcionarios de su administración señalaron de manera inequívoca, en al menos 532 ocasiones, que Irak tenía armas de destrucción masiva, o intentaba producirlas, o tenía vínculos con la red terrorista Al-Qaeda, o ambas cosas a la vez.

Study: Bush, others 'methodically propagated' false info before Iraq war

In a report that is sure to evoke passionate responses from supporters and opponents of the Iraq war, two nonprofit groups have concluded that President Bush and his top advisers made nearly a thousand false statements between 2001 and 2003.

Researchers at the Center for Public Integrity accuse Bush and other top officials of making inaccurate claims about the existence of links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda and the presence of WMDs in Iraq:

President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Nearly five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an exhaustive examination of the record shows 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. ... 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. Not surprisingly, the officials with the most opportunities to make speeches, grant media interviews, and otherwise frame the public debate also made the most false statements, according to this first-ever analysis of the entire body of prewar rhetoric.

The Associated Press says a White House spokesman wouldn't comment on these conclusions. "The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world," spokesman Scott Stanzel tells the wire service.

Here's how the groups conducted the study. And here's how some bloggers are reacting:

• Jules Crittenden: Somebody tell them it's over. Saddam Hussein will never have (any more) WMD or (any more) meaningful ties with al-Qaeda. Next order of business, Iran. It looks like, thanks in part to the latest intelligence miscalculation, Bush isn't likely to be acting forcefully on that threat to Mideast and world peace in what remains of our national nightmare.
• James at The Mahatma X Files: As I understand it, one won't find anything especially earth-shattering as the cat is out of the bag regarding the lies the White House used at the time. For those of us who were long-time skeptics, the database serves as a convenient place to send folks in need of a reminder - especially at a time when the current White House occupant (and the Dem and GOP front-runners for their respective parties' presidential nominations) seems preoccupied with getting the US involved in yet another war (i.e., Iran).
• Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters: In fact, there is nothing new in this site that hasn't already been picked apart by the blogosphere, and some of it discredited. It includes the debunked charge that Bush lied in the "sixteen words" of the 2003 State of the Union address. Joe Wilson's own report to the CIA and to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence confirmed that, at least according to Niger's Prime Minister, Iraq had sought to trade for uranium in 1999. The CPI site has the sixteen words posted as one of their false statements.
• Attaturk at firedoglake: Still, seems a tad low, but then it doesn't count the last nearly five years. Good thing all of these people have been called to account and our policy errors corrected by more rational decision and planning.

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