NYTimes editorial: "SHOW US THE PROOF"

[scarletwoman]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/19/opinion/19SAT1.html

When the commission studying the 9/11 terrorist attacks refuted the Bush administration's claims of a connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, we suggested that President Bush apologize for using these claims to help win Americans' support for the invasion of Iraq. We did not really expect that to happen. But we were surprised by the depth and ferocity of the administration's capacity for denial. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have not only brushed aside the panel's findings and questioned its expertise, but they are also trying to rewrite history.

Mr. Bush said the 9/11 panel had actually confirmed his contention that there were "ties" between Iraq and Al Qaeda. He said his administration had never connected Saddam Hussein to 9/11. Both statements are wrong.

<snip>

Mr. Cheney said he had lots of documents to prove his claims. We have heard that before, but Mr. Cheney always seems too pressed for time or too concerned about secrets to share them. Last September, Mr. Cheney's adviser, Mary Matalin, explained to The Washington Post that Mr. Cheney had access to lots of secret stuff. She said he had to "tiptoe through the land mines of what's sayable and not sayable" to the public, but that "his job is to connect the dots."

The message, if we hear it properly, is that when it comes to this critical issue, the vice president is not prepared to offer any evidence beyond the flimsy-to-nonexistent arguments he has used in the past, but he wants us to trust him when he says there's more behind the screen. So far, when it comes to Iraq, blind faith in this administration has been a losing strategy.

Not bad, methinks. I know the NYT isn't the pure, unbiased news source it pretends to be, but it IS still influential. An editorial like this can't help but be at least a bit of a good thing, imho.

sw

[bluestateguy]

1. The proof is President Bush said so

And he and Vice President Cheney are moral men and that should be good enough for you.

[drdigi420]

2. and the magic man in the sky will burn us forever

if we dont believe, because he loves us

[camby]

5. And if the word of God's Chosen Leader of the Free World

isn't good enough for you, then please tell me: what is?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Bush's house of cards is starting to topple

More and more people I talk to are saying he's a liar. The information from the 911 commission is just helping open more people's eyes.

[bushwakker]

4. Give credit to the Times

This is a tuff, Wall Street Journal style of editorial (except of course this has been fact checked). The headline grabs the reader and the content id irrefutable. Maybe the Times is sick of the continued lies?

[scarletwoman]

9. I do give credit to the Times, I'm very glad they've published this.

That it's on a Saturday is a bit problematical -- think how many more readers the Sunday NYTimes has!

They've got alot to make up for, imho, after all their cheerleading FOR the Iraq invasion.

sw

[aquart]

12. Courage on a Saturday ain't courage. Sunday, now.............

Let's see what they do tomorrow.

[scarletwoman]

14. I agree, TOMORROW'S the real test.

There was a rather telling moment having to do with the NYT last night during Letterman's interview with Michael Moore.

Dave asked if the facts in F911 would stand up to close scrutiny, and Moore replied that everything was from mainstream sources like the Washington Post and the New York Times. At the words "New York Times", I distinctly heard a large number of mordant chuckles from the audience.

It was sort of an "uh oh" moment, kind of funny but kind of sad. I thought it was pretty interesting...

sw

[never cry wolf]

6. This should be reprinted in every paper in the country!

Nice piece, thanks for posting!

[LittleApple81]

7. 9/11 Commission ALSO IS CLAMORING "Show us the Proof"

I guess they want to believe their lying eyes and not what Cheney says:

Leaders of 9/11 Panel Ask Cheney for Reports
By PHILIP SHENON and RICHARD W. STEVENSON

WASHINGTON, June 18 — The leaders of the Sept. 11 commission called on Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday to turn over any intelligence reports that would support the White House's insistence that there was a close relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda.

The commission's chairman, Thomas H. Kean, and its vice chairman, Lee H. Hamilton, said they wanted to see any additional information in the administration's possession after Mr. Cheney, in a television interview on Thursday, was asked whether he knew things about Iraq's links to terrorists that the commission did not know.

"Probably," Mr. Cheney replied.

Mr. Kean and Mr. Hamilton said that, in particular, they wanted any information available to back Mr. Cheney's suggestion that one of the hijackers might have met in Prague in April 2001 with an Iraqi intelligence agent, a meeting that the panel's staff believes did not take place. Mr. Cheney said in an interview with CNBC on Thursday that the administration had never been able to prove the meeting took place but was not able to disprove it either.

"We just don't know," Mr. Cheney said.

Mr. Kean and Mr. Hamilton made the requests in separate interviews with The New York Times as the White House continued to question the findings of a staff report the commission released on Wednesday and to take exception to the way the report was characterized in news accounts. The report found that there did not appear to have been a "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and the terrorist network.
more at link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/19/politics/19CAMP.html?ex=1088631807&ei=1&en=4adb753c04caee29

[koopie57]

13. "the administration was not able to disprove it either"?

Humm. In that case, they can't disprove that Bush met with Saddam in his hidey hole, or that God DIDN'T appoint * leader of the earth. Does anyone else hear some of the things this administration says and find that your head tilts to the side and you hear "what the fu** was that all about?

[LittleApple81]

15. But did you notice that Putin's statement is now surfacing?

from the article:

In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin of Russia said Friday that his country gave intelligence reports to the Bush administration after the Sept. 11 attacks suggesting that Saddam Hussein's government was preparing terrorist attacks in the United States or against American targets overseas. It is not clear whether Mr. Cheney was referring to those reports in citing intelligence that the commission was not aware of.

[jbfam4]

18. They need to call Cheney back

I bet the widows will demand it. So should we.

[SoDesuKa]

8. The Times Gets Snippy

The Times gets snippy when they get offended. In this case, Cheney was responding to a Times editorial.

Here's free advice to Dick Cheney: Don't get into fights with people who buy ink by the barrel.

[Lauren2882]

16. lol- good one n/t

[LittleApple81]

10. kick. This is important. n/t

[jasmeel]

11. We should all try to write our representatives to demand follow

up on this issue. Demand accountability for this "information"!

:kick:

[jbfam4]

17. welcome to DU,jasmeel

How many Senators will have a copy of this on the floor on Monday.

Sending it to my senators to make sure they are armed.

[scarletwoman]

19. Excellent idea! We need to keep the pressure up!

And welcome to DU! :hi:

sw

[Cheswick2.0]

20. HIS JOB IS TO CONNECT THE DOTS????? HUH MARY???

Then why the hell didn't he connect them before 9-11 when they had the "DOTS" sitting on bush's desk since August 2001?
What about those dots?

[scarletwoman]

21. There's never been a huge enough shovel made, to dig through all the b.s.

I swear, ALL these people EVER do is lie! It's apparently like breathing to them.

Words fail me... (*sigh*)

sw