Just as former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's story that Bushies blew his CIA wife's cover to get back at his criticism of the war in Iraq was getting old, he has stumbled on new ammo to hit the administration's credibility. Wilson tells us he plans to circulate the text of a briefing by analyst Sam Gardiner that suggests the White House and Pentagon made up or distorted over 50 war stories. You know some tall tales, like the Pvt. Jessica Lynch story. But there's more, says Gardiner, a war gamer who has taught at the National War College. Like how defense officials said the first Iraqi unit marines encountered, the 51st Mechanized Infantry Division, had surrendered four days before it actually did. And he says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers gave bad or deliberately incomplete info on several topics. Sure, propaganda has always been used in war to deceive and demoralize the enemy. But these guys went way overboard, Gardiner says. "Never before have so many stories been created to sell a war," he insists. "And they probably didn't need it."
This sounds like Rumsfeld's pre-Iraq project, an enhanced propaganda office. I'd like to see journalists looking for a link to Fox TV. If Fox was colluding with an official office of propaganda that will make interesting reading.
Bottom line: This speculative story is consistent with this administration's known actions. The burden is on high quality media to be very skeptical about stories coming from Bush sources, and to confirm and validate every one. The burden on us readers is to subscribe to high quality media sources. The credibility of GWB II continues to find new lows.
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