Tony Blair, naturally, has followed the Bush line:
"Before he [Saddam Hussein] kicked out the UN weapons inspectors three years
ago, they had discovered and destroyed thousands of chemical and biological
weapons.... As they got closer, they were told to get out of Iraq." (Blair,
leader, 'The West's Tough Strategy On Iraq Is In Everyone's Interests,' The
Express, March 6, 2002)
Note the deceptiveness of the phrase, "As they got closer". In fact
inspectors were not getting uncomfortably close to hidden horrors, as Blair
implies; they were 5% short of 100% disarmament. We spend our time well when
we recall Ritter's version, and then reflect on the brazen mendacity of our
'elected' leaders.
The Media and The Strange Case of the Vanishing Spooks
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) recently produced a remarkable
piece titled: 'What a difference 4 years makes: News coverage of why the
inspectors left Iraq'. (www.fair.org) The piece consists of ten paired
examples of mainstream media quotes from 1998 and 2002, covering the
withdrawal of weapons inspectors from Iraq. Without fail, the quotes from
1998 report that inspectors were withdrawn, while the quotes from 2002
assert that they were "thrown out", or otherwise forcibly expelled. This
pair of quotes was taken from the Washington Post:
"Before he [Saddam Hussein] kicked out the UN weapons inspectors three years
ago, they had discovered and destroyed thousands of chemical and biological
weapons.... As they got closer, they were told to get out of Iraq." (Blair,
leader, 'The West's Tough Strategy On Iraq Is In Everyone's Interests,' The
Express, March 6, 2002)
Note the deceptiveness of the phrase, "As they got closer". In fact
inspectors were not getting uncomfortably close to hidden horrors, as Blair
implies; they were 5% short of 100% disarmament. We spend our time well when
we recall Ritter's version, and then reflect on the brazen mendacity of our
'elected' leaders.
The Media and The Strange Case of the Vanishing Spooks
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) recently produced a remarkable
piece titled: 'What a difference 4 years makes: News coverage of why the
inspectors left Iraq'. (www.fair.org) The piece consists of ten paired
examples of mainstream media quotes from 1998 and 2002, covering the
withdrawal of weapons inspectors from Iraq. Without fail, the quotes from
1998 report that inspectors were withdrawn, while the quotes from 2002
assert that they were "thrown out", or otherwise forcibly expelled. This
pair of quotes was taken from the Washington Post: