How Chalabi and the Iraq war lobby used NYT reporter Judith Miller to make the case for invasion

[NNN0LHI]

http://dir.salon.com/news/feature/2004/05/27/times/

Not fit to print

How Ahmed Chalabi and the Iraq war lobby used New York Times reporter Judith Miller to make the case for invasion.

By James C. Moore

May 27, 2004 | When the full history of the Iraq war is written, one of its most scandalous chapters will be about how American journalists, in particular those at the New York Times, so easily allowed themselves to be manipulated by both dubious sources and untrustworthy White House officials into running stories that misled the nation about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. The Times finally acknowledged its grave errors in an extraordinary and lengthy editors note published Wednesday. The editors wrote:

"We have found ... instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been ... In some cases, the information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged. Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged -- or failed to emerge ... We consider the story of Iraq's weapons, and of the pattern of misinformation, to be unfinished business. And we fully intend to continue aggressive reporting aimed at setting the record straight."

The editors conceded what intelligence sources had told me and numerous other reporters: that Pentagon favorite Ahmed Chalabi was feeding bad information to journalists and the White House and had set up a situation with Iraqi exiles where all of the influential institutions were shouting into the same garbage can, hearing the same echo. "Complicating matters for journalists, the accounts of these exiles were often eagerly confirmed by United States officials convinced of the need to intervene in Iraq. Administration officials now acknowledge that they sometimes fell for misinformation from these exile sources. So did many news organizations -- in particular, this one."

The reporter on many of the flawed stories at issue was Judith Miller, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and authority on the Middle East. The Times, insisting that the problem did not lie with any individual journalist, did not mention her name. The paper was presumably trying to take the high road by defending its reporter, but the omission seems peculiar. While her editors must share a large portion of the blame, the pieces ran under Miller's byline. It was Miller who clearly placed far too much credence in unreliable sources, and then credulously used dubious administration officials to confirm what she was told.

[Rex]

1. The NYT is garbage. Miller destroyed their credibility

and exposed what a TOTAL tool the M$M is for the GOP. Judith Miller is a TRAITOR...move over Jane Fonda, we have someone more worthy to take your place.

[Prometheus Bound]

2. I like their Arts and Travel sections, but never again will I trust them for news.

[Rex]

9. We've lost a handle on 'fair and balanced' news.

I watch TVEE for the entertainment value...same with magazines that at one time reported the news.

[trumad]

5. Jane Fonda?

Shitty comparison.

JANE didn't help start a war. She tried to end it.

[Rex]

7. I was being sarcastic.

I once again fail. For the record...I LOVE BARBARELLA!

[hulka38]

3. Another devastating web of lies from the Republicans

that the Democratic Party leadership ignored.

[dhill926]

4. there is blood on her......

fucking little hands........

[FreakinDJ]

6. Some one please tell me Judith Miller is UnEmployed

[MADem]

8. Ah, Ahmad Chalabi....what a squirrely little shit.

Did Jordan ever try him for that bank ripoff stunt he pulled, or did he get away with that, too?

NYT are less reliable than the National Enquirer...for whatever that is worth!

[Frustratedlady]

10. And she's still employed? Are they waiting for the third strike?

Seems her appointment book was a little heavy on the C page - Chalabi, Cheney...

It's pretty amazing to me that one reporter could have that much influence to cause such dramatic events. She should probably still be incarcerated.

[patrice]

11. Never forget! Tell your children & their children about MSM & NYT & Judith Miller.

[NNN0LHI]

14. I am sure some people think you are overreacting

I am not one of them.

You are right. We can't let this kind of thing ever be dropped into the dustbins of history and be forgotten. Our future depends on it.

Don

[patrice]

17. They NEED to know for the sake of their own lives. nt

[calimary]

12. Yeah, basically it was cheney's office with david addington and scooter libby and dougie feith

having ahmed chalabi crap-info "stovepiped" directly up to the Vice President's office without sharing it with the CIA or any others who could vet it properly. Maybe because they knew in advance that it was crap and it wouldn't stand up to closer inspection? Or maybe because they didn't want to risk having it vetted and picked apart and discounted. And as soon as it arrived on or near cheney's desk, he made sure his press office people got him booked on "Meet the Press" and "Face the Nation" and with george stephanopolous and whoever masqueraded as a "Sunday morning talk show host" on Pox Noise. They'd give it to judy miller first - so it'd land on the front page of the Sunday NYTimes above the fold. And then cheney and his pals would fan out across the network spectrum every Sunday morning, on the heels of that pile of steaming shit that the NYTimes published in two columns above the fold with blaring headlines on its front page, and all cheney & co had to do was say "well! It's in the NEW YORK TIMES this morning! It's right there in black & white! NEW YORK FUCKING TIMES forcryingoutloud! What more can we say?"

It was just SO AWFUL!!!!!!!!! As a retired journalist, it just crushed me week after week after week to see this!!! To watch the profession I loved, that I'd gone into straight outta college and found a home, the profession that fed my children and kept the wolves away from our door and gave me knowledge and experience and friendships and stories to tell - to carry through the rest of my life, SHIT! To watch that all not just go to Hell, or be sent to Hell, but WILLINGLY TAKE ITSELF to Hell, just HURT LIKE HELL!!!! And it made me so angry! And so disappointed, and then indeed, horrified, to see it go on and on and on and on and on... just was the most galling and horrifying and outrageous thing.

I remember watching Mark Smith up there - chief White House correspondent for the AP - a former colleague of mine (THERE. I'm naming him.) and the guy who routinely got the merit raises that were given out every year. Eventually he rose to head the White House Correspondents Association too. He was the big star too, and heaven forbid he EVER asked a question trying to get to the truth. So fucking scared of losing his precious access. And it wasn't just him. It was EVERYBODY there, except for Helen Thomas who was royally shat upon, and nobody in the White House Press Corpse had the guts to stand up for her. Whenever I'd see a White House press briefing, whether it was with ari, scotty, tony snow, or that poor pathetic blondie toward the end who never heard of the Bay of Pigs (but she does photograph well!), I'd find myself standing there shouting at the TV. "Mark! FUCK! For Sweet God's Sake! WHAT ARE YOU DOING????? You should be ASHAMED of yourself! ALL OF YOU DAMN WELL SHOULD! You're all nothing but patsies and accessories to mass murder and war crimes and you're not doing SQUAT to dig out the truth! Oh, excuse me, I forgot you're trying to kiss up to that jeff gannon guy who keeps showing up and getting a seat (!!!!!!!!) in the White House Press Room and getting called upon to ask his planted agenda-driven question, and you probably know who butters his bread so you sure as hell don't get in his way too much..."

One of MANY reasons I hate bush/cheney. They did all that, the wars, the wanton theft and corruption, the torture and war crimes, the hijacking of the truth, and what they did to soil, pervert, and poison my former industry and the profession I loved and believed in. I sure don't have any faith in it anymore.

And the funny - and really sad - thing was, this story in the OP is dated in 2004. Did ANYTHING change? Did ANY truth get out? Was ANY truth, or any of the nogoodniks pushing truth out the 102nd-story window, ever pursued? Were the villains EVER exposed and stopped and brought to justice? Yeah, we already know the answer to that one. Sadder still - was anything learned? Answer: NO. They're STILL for it, falling all over the teabaggers and hanging on their every word, once again completely unvetted.


"We have found ... instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been ... In some cases, the information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged."

Such bullshit, then AND now. It pisses me off beyond all ability to articulate - that I felt like hanging my head whenever anyone asked what I used to do for a living. I was THAT embarrassed about what it had become. I don't like being put in the position of being embarrassed by my former profession of which I was so proud and grateful to be a part, and in which I had such faith.

:grr: :mad: :banghead: :puke: :grr: :mad: :banghead: :puke: :grr: :mad: :banghead: :puke: :grr: :mad: :banghead: :puke:

[Frustratedlady]

13. The state of affairs of today's MSM has to be a major disappointment,

as you stated in your post. Unfortunately, I think you can find the same reduced quality in many areas, such as education, the medical field, manufacturing and even customer service. As we cut employees, we backed off on quality and lost our economy. Why do I mention quality? It's the same as deceit and coverup in reporting. You either have a good, honest product, or you don't!

I hate to watch the news or read accounts in the newspaper (yes, I still get delivery) because I'm spending a good deal of my time questioning, rather than absorbing the article.

Hopefully, Judith Miller is apart from the majority of reporters when it comes to the extent of her lies and coverups. I would hate to think that the mainstream MSM (totally ignoring the Murdoch holdings/RW media) make deceit a large part of their daily reporting. We look at FOX and begin to think their modus operandi is catching and has become commonplace. God help us if it has.

I feel your pain. Just be sure you watch your blood pressure. We'd like to see you around!

[libodem]

16. Ah, how do you say

This deserves its own post.

[leveymg]

15. Chalabi and passage of the Iraq Liberation Act (1997) was a high-level neocon operation

that included many of the usual suspects in Washington, London and Jerusalem. The NYT was a leading cheerleader, but the Iraq invasion was long planned and carried out at the very highest levels of government in several countries.

Please, see, http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/360

[patrice]

18. Thank you for that piece. I tell anyone who will listen about PNAC, but I had lost track of the ILA.

[patrice]

19. Sharing with some people I know ARE waking up. Thanks! again. nt

[azul]

20. NYT is complicit in a state propaganda campaign that led to aggressive war.

Invasion and occupation of Iraq for the motives of the oil industry and military bases. Traitorous and heinous crimes is what history will finally made of these events, when truth comes out of the present cover-up propaganda.

The man who sold the war: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1118-10.htm

[Imagevision]

21. Miller and don't forget the Joe Wilson thing...