Pants on Fire: The Bush Administration's Lies Exposed by the Center for Public Integrity

Once American men and women began giving their lives against an alleged Iraqi threat, the George Bush Administration's practices have come into question. George Bush himself has come under scrutiny for his butchering of the English language, leading us to wonder how a university educated official could seem so flagrantly unqualified. Recently, the good-natured jabs have taken a turn and proper grammar is the last thing on American's minds.

According to The Center for Public Integrity, the Bush Administration has made "at least 935 false statements...about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq" (Lewis and Smith). After extensive investigations, The Center for Public Integrity claims that these false statements were fabricated with the intent of misleading the United States. The Center has compiled a searchable list of statements from the Administration and I have chosen some key recurrent themes from this database.

Iraq as a Danger to the US

There's one key question we Americans should be asking ourselves: where is the proof? So far, we've seen the Administration use weapons of mass destruction as a vague threat meant to rally the people toward Bush's wishes. Bush's statements read like bitter school-aged slumber party fodder: "There's no question that the leader of Iraq is an evil man. After all, he gassed his own people. We know he's been developing weapons of mass destruction."

For me, this statement is just wrong. Firstly, what are the connections among the statements? How does a subjective statement about one's evilness and gassing equate to weapons of mass destruction? These statements tell us virtually nothing, so why does one accept such presidential statements as a war validation? Plus, judging by the apparent lack of weapons of mass destruction, even after five years in Iraq, I highly doubt the existence of the weapons.

Terrorism

Bush is quoted as saying, "Well, my message is, is that if you harbor a terrorist, you're a terrorist. If you feed a terrorist, you're a terrorist. If you develop weapons of mass destruction that you want to terrorize the world, you'll be held accountable." Apparently, this terrorism policy only holds for certain, select countries. The US is knowingly housing a terrorist, but we're not terrorists? I guess Bush's brand of terrorism only includes ramming planes into the sides of buildings. I would also include bits about murdering innocent people, but it seems as though the US can do that as well. Some may call this nit-picking, but I believe that this statement falls under the heading of "deliberate misleading".

Refusing to be Invaded Makes One Guilty

Vice President Dick Cheney tops the cake with one of his statements: "There's every reason to believe, since he kicked out inspectors, that he did that specifically because he wanted to develop further his [Hussein's] capabilities in this area, so-called biological, chemical agents and nuclear weapons..." Basically, Cheney's proof for weapons of mass destruction is that Hussein booted inspectors out of his country. It seems as though Hussein's hesitation had nothing to do with the fact that Hussein probably didn't want Americans tromping all over his country. Kicking out inspectors is not proof - it's an assumption, at best. Cheney's statement reeks of questionable practices.

Powell's Sources

The best example of this crooked administration lies in a couple of quotes that I believe speak for themselves. Colin Powell is quoted on The Center for Public Integrity's site as saying, "My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed by sources..." Unfortunately, Powell was shot down in a report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: "Much of the information provided or cleared by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for inclusion in Secretary Powell's speech was overstated, misleading or incorrect." This incident leads one to wonder: What else have they lied about?

Sources:

Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith, "False Pretenses". The Center for Public Integrity.
"False Statements Database". The Center for Public Integrity.