When, oh when, will the U.S. “mainstream media” finally stop hemming and
hawing, parsing and understating? When will they simply go for the jugular
to confirm what any thoughtful American has already learned from “less
reputable” but increasingly relevant alternative information sources: that
from the beginning of the Bush administration, invading Iraq has always
been as much an article of faith for the president as, well, promoting
faith over reason?
...
The Times report was full of throat-clearing and arcane notations that,
while the memo had previously been reported, it had never been as fully
reported, or that a particular passage had thus far eluded widespread
scrutiny. And, indeed, the article did contribute new insights. But a
careful reading of the Times piece turns up numerous opportunities
where reporters could have offered—and, more importantly, still can
offer—more context and thereby lead readers to the dark heart of the
matter. To wit, the Times could not quite summon the courage for a
sufficiently bold lead. It began:
In the weeks before the United States-led invasion of Iraq, as the
United States and Britain pressed for a second United Nations
resolution condemning Iraq, President Bush's public ultimatum to
Saddam Hussein was blunt: Disarm or face war.
But behind closed doors, the president was certain that war was
inevitable.
Even though the overall thrust of the article was that Bush and Blair
were hell-bent on invading Iraq, with or without justification, there
was that second sentence summarizing, blandly, that “the president was
certain that war was inevitable.” This is soft-pedaling in the extreme.
Bush wasn’t certain war was inevitable—he wanted to make it inevitable.
The article certainly makes that clear, describing all manner of
shockers—from Bush musing about painting a U.S. reconnaissance plane in
U.N. colors and deliberately drawing Iraqi fire as a casus belli, to
the possibility of bringing out an Iraqi defector who would assert that
WMDs existed even while Bush tacitly admitted they likely did not.
This pussyfooting, the burying of the lead, does a disservice to
readers. News organizations like the Times abetted the march to war
through their unquestioning acceptance of highly debatable
administration assertions, and, in the specific case of the Times, its
tolerance of the rampaging cowboy reportage of its correspondent Judith
Miller.
...
Looking backward, virtually everyone now agrees that the media did not ask
the right questions, or enough questions, as the war drums telegraphed
impending conflict. Well, that was then. But now, major mysteries still beg
for resolution: including, most fundamentally, how George W. Bush convinced
the bulk of his fellow Americans, including some of the brightest lights of
our society, to support such an ill-conceived war.
Any journalist with a nose for news ought to be all fired up these days.
It’s rare that we hacks are offered so many chances to show what we are
made of—or to make up for errors of omission and commission that will
otherwise haunt us in perpetuity.