by Enver Masud
The news media are as much to blame as the Bush administration -- read the
article we published
on November 19, 2001 in which I wrote:
In an October 1999 interview, former United Nations Special Commission chief
inspector Scott Ritter said, "Iraq has been disarmed. Iraq today possesses
no meaningful weapons of mass destruction." Ritter also said that Iraq does
not currently possess the capability to produce or deploy chemical,
biological, or nuclear weapons. Iraq's neighbor, Israel, is known to possess
such weapons.
Why wasn't U.S. news media following up on Ritter's reports? MSNBC's
Chris Matthews is reported to have had a hand in the firing of Phil
Donahue for providing "a home for the liberal anti-war agenda".
Sen. Robert C. Byrd's speech, on the
eve of the Iraq war, is worth reading. Here's an excerpt:
Instead of reasoning with those with whom we disagree, we
demand obedience or threaten recrimination. Instead of isolating Saddam
Hussein, we seem to have isolated ourselves. We proclaim a new doctrine of
preemption which is understood by few and feared by many. We say that the
United States has the right to turn its firepower on any corner of the globe
which might be suspect in the war on terrorism. We assert that right without
the sanction of any international body. As a result, the world has become a
much more dangerous place.
We flaunt our superpower status with arrogance. We treat UN Security Council
members like ingrates who offend our princely dignity by lifting their heads
from the carpet. Valuable alliances are split. After war has ended, the
United States will have to rebuild much more than the country of Iraq. We
will have to rebuild America's image around the globe.
U.S. news media largely ignored Sen. Byrd.
The Iraq war is the "Supreme International
Crime" as defined by former Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, chief
U.S. prosecutor at the first Nuremberg trial.
Julian Borger, "The Spies Who Pushed
for War," guardian.co.uk, July 17, 2003
John Pilger, "Iraq: The Crime of the
Century," New Statesman, December 10, 2009
George Friedman, "America's Secret
War," Strategic Forecasting, Inc, October 11, 2005
Peter Van Buren, "Iraq Occupation: Having
To Say Goodbye," Asia Times, June 10, 2011
[Hubris, the film, provides a
reprehensibly ludicrous underestimation of Iraqi deaths . . .
Powell was not a victim. He "knowingly lied."
The same goes for Bush, Cheney, and gang . . .
And no connection is drawn to current war lies about Iran or other nations..--David Swanson, "Hubris Isn't
the Half of It," warisacrime.org, February 18, 2013]
Democracy Now!, March 21, 2013
Jon Basil Utley, "The Untold Story of Antiwar Conservatives,"
theamericanconservative, April 18, 2013]