Discrediting the War, and More

First Italy, now Germany.

Five senior officials from Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, said in interviews with The Times that they warned U.S. intelligence authorities that the source, an Iraqi defector code-named Curveball, never claimed to produce germ weapons and never saw anyone else do so.

But of course, how does a real newspaper with high standards of journalistic integrity - the same that brought us Judith Miller - report on the issue?

For years now, critics have complained that the Bush administration is equally cocksure, pursuing its political and ideological goals even when they are in conflict with data collected by agencies, analysis provided by professionals and procedures set by law.

Last week, this issue seemed to gain intensity as reports of the politicization of the government made the news almost every day. The pileup underscored what seems to be a consensus in political and academic circles - not only among Democrats but also among Republicans who want Mr. Bush to take a strong hand in shaping policy - that this administration seems more willing than its recent predecessors to bypass the bureaucracy to put its mark on government.

Here was the other problem with the misinformation that led up to the war. The press simply repeated Republican talking points as if they were true; it continues to do so now. Take that first sentence for example. It is not like this is an issue that exists in a political vacuum with nothing else. It is true. It has been proven and reported to be true countless times, most recently in the LA Times article quoted above. If the press is doing nothing more than passing along everything that everyone says, and not separating truth from lies and fact from fiction in its reports, then it is not properly doing its job. The press must stop reporting as if the above is nothing more than an opinion, because IT IS FACT. There are not two equal sides to this issue. One should be raised up, the other, vilified.