Friday, June 24, 2005
"...an uprecedented abuse of power..."
Once again Paul Krugman stands head and shoulders above his peers in Big Media by telling it like it is. In today's Times he goes where few in the press have dared--or wanted--to go: the truth:
Why did Big Media want this war? They helped promote it, and they continue to cover for it.
Why?
Leading the nation wrongfully into war strikes at the heart of democracy. It would have been an unprecedented abuse of power even if the war hadn't turned into a military and moral quagmire.Krugman leaves one question unasked, and it's the elephant in the room:
The U.S. news media largely ignored the [Downing Street] memo for five weeks after it was released in The Times of London. Then some asserted that it was "old news" that Mr. Bush wanted war in the summer of 2002, and that W.M.D. were just an excuse. No, it isn't. Media insiders may have suspected as much, but they didn't inform their readers, viewers and listeners. And they have never held Mr. Bush accountable for his repeated declarations that he viewed war as a last resort.
On one side, the people who sold this war, unable to face up to the fact that their fantasies of a splendid little war have led to disaster, are still peddling illusions: the insurgency is in its "last throes," says Dick Cheney. On the other, they still have moderates and even liberals intimidated: anyone who suggests that the United States will have to settle for something that falls far short of victory is accused of being unpatriotic.
We need to deprive these people of their ability to mislead and intimidate. And the best way to do that is to make it clear that the people who led us to war on false pretenses have no credibility, and no right to lecture the rest of us about patriotism.
Major media organizations still act as if only a small, left-wing fringe believes that we were misled into war, but that "fringe" now comprises much if not most of the population.
Why did Big Media want this war? They helped promote it, and they continue to cover for it.
Why?
Comments:
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Everyone, including big media, was totally freaked out by 9/11. Most Americans wanted a military response that would prevent another terrorist attack. In that atmosphere, it was relatively easy for the Bush Admin. to spin their own narrative about why America was attacked, and what it would take to prevent another attack. If only people who knew what they were talking about were allowed to vote and have opinions, we wouldn't be in Iraq. But Bush had popular backing of a majority of Americans who believed that Saddam attacked America. And the press fell in line.
Editor said...
As always I appreciate your comments.
But as to whether "most Americans wanted a military response that would prevent another terrorist attack prior to the invasion of Iraq", well, if that's true the question remains "why?".
Afghanistan had a plausible connection to 9/11; OBL was there, and the mullahs wouldn't hand him over.
But with Iraq it took considerable effort on the part of both the Bush administration AND Big Media to convince Americans that it was the proper venue for the War on Terror. Members of the Bush administration were able "to spin their own narrative" only because Big Media allowed them to.
People didn't "know what they were talking about" because the press didn't tell them the truth. And "a majority of Americans...believed that Saddam attacked America" because the press allowed them to think so.
We've spent a lot of time looking over the Bush administration's argument for invading Iraq, and it boils down to the vague assertion that we would be assaulting a "nexus". In fact we've come to believe that without that word they'd have been unable to make a case for war at all. Without it they'd have had to use words that actually related to solid concepts.
It was gibberish that could have been dispelled in a moment, had Big Media wanted to do so. They didn't.
Even now there are myriad misconceptions about Iraq and the "War on Terror" Big Media hasn't corrected, countless questions they haven't asked, and innumerable truths they haven't told. There's no doubt they "fell in line"; what we have yet to hear is a meaningful discussion of why.
It's not as easy as saying they were "freaked out". The plain, undeniable truth--the elephant in the room--is that Big Media was in on this war, and still is.
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As always I appreciate your comments.
But as to whether "most Americans wanted a military response that would prevent another terrorist attack prior to the invasion of Iraq", well, if that's true the question remains "why?".
Afghanistan had a plausible connection to 9/11; OBL was there, and the mullahs wouldn't hand him over.
But with Iraq it took considerable effort on the part of both the Bush administration AND Big Media to convince Americans that it was the proper venue for the War on Terror. Members of the Bush administration were able "to spin their own narrative" only because Big Media allowed them to.
People didn't "know what they were talking about" because the press didn't tell them the truth. And "a majority of Americans...believed that Saddam attacked America" because the press allowed them to think so.
We've spent a lot of time looking over the Bush administration's argument for invading Iraq, and it boils down to the vague assertion that we would be assaulting a "nexus". In fact we've come to believe that without that word they'd have been unable to make a case for war at all. Without it they'd have had to use words that actually related to solid concepts.
It was gibberish that could have been dispelled in a moment, had Big Media wanted to do so. They didn't.
Even now there are myriad misconceptions about Iraq and the "War on Terror" Big Media hasn't corrected, countless questions they haven't asked, and innumerable truths they haven't told. There's no doubt they "fell in line"; what we have yet to hear is a meaningful discussion of why.
It's not as easy as saying they were "freaked out". The plain, undeniable truth--the elephant in the room--is that Big Media was in on this war, and still is.
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