The Media's Shameful Handling of Bolton's Iran Threat Claims Recalls the Run-Up to the Iraq War

[G_j]

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/05/12/medias-shameful-handling-boltons-iran-threat-claims-recalls-run-iraq-war?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook


Published on
Sunday, May 12, 2019
by The Lobe Log

The Media's Shameful Handling of Bolton's Iran Threat Claims Recalls the Run-Up to the Iraq War
Reports from U.S. mainstream media outlets basically served as a public relations service, simply repeating Bolton's statement with little scrutiny across multiple mediums

byBen Armbruster


Media-savvy U.S. government officials, political operatives, and lawmakers and their staffs from all political parties and ideological persuasions have no doubt, throughout the history of our great country, duped a fair-minded but unwitting reporter into writing a juicy story in order to get a piece of information into the public bloodstream without their fingerprints on it.

This is, in large part, how the Bush administration sold the U.S. invasion of Iraq to the American people: Feeding knowingly bogus or unsubstantiated intelligence on Iraq’s (nonexistent) WMD programs to reporters, who then published it as fact, without much in the way of critical scrutiny.

Despite the lessons we’ve learned from that debacle, it’s happening again with regard to the Trump administration’s march toward war with Iran.

"This is, in large part, how the Bush administration sold the U.S. invasion of Iraq to the American people: Feeding knowingly bogus or unsubstantiated intelligence on Iraq's (nonexistent) WMD programs to reporters, who then published it as fact, without much in the way of critical scrutiny."

In one now infamous incident during the months leading up to the start of the Iraq war, then-Vice President Dick Cheney went on NBC’s Meet the Press and issued a dire warning. Saddam Hussein was trying “through his illicit procurement network, to acquire the equipment he needs to be able to enrich uranium to make the bombs. … specifically aluminum tubes.”


..more..

[pangaia]

1. its probably already a done deal.. the fuckers just need to

soften us up a bit....

[kacekwl]

2. THIS is why being uninformed is so dangerous.

We allow a corrupt government and a lazy corporate media to lie us into war after war under the guise of patriotism. Fool me once people, fool me once.....

[elleng]

3. We NEVER learn.

Thomas Jefferson wrote that a well-informed electorate is a prerequisite to democracy, and we don't have one.

[Wellstone ruled]

4. CNN wants to be

on the ground in Terran when the first Cruise Missiles hit. Hey,it sells Soap.