Why do I find it extremely hard to believe that this was just an inadvertent error or miscalculation?
Released in April, the State Department's annual report on global terrorism incorrectly declared that terrorist attacks declined in 2003. But figures from a corrected report "will be up sharply," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher has said....After the report's release, top Bush administration officials pointed to it as a sign that the war on terrorism was succeeding.
I have to hand it to Powell though. The man has enough integrity and guts to come forward and admit when something is wrong. Speaking of which, I loved the admission regarding the evidence presented to the U.N. Security Counsel in the rush to war:
In May, he said much of the sourcing for his February 2003 presentation to the U.N. Security Council -- in which he outlined the U.S. arguments in favor of the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein from Iraq -- was "inaccurate and wrong and, in some cases, deliberately misleading."
Take that Bushies! Keep denying that there was anything deliberately misleading about the Bush administration's efforts to invade Iraq. The proof is in the mutherfuckin' puddin', bitches!
As for this terror memo, in light of all the "alarm bells" that were presumably going off when it was being researched, drafted, reviewed, revised, finalized and distributed, it seems pretty obvious to me that there was a political spin behind this and it's just too bad for the administration that it got found out. But I'm sure it did it's job. There was still time for many indiscriminate Americans to gobble it up and stuff it with their stash of other falsehoods perpetrated by the Bush administration, such as that all the 9/11 terrorists were Iraqis and the massive stockpiles of WMDs have been found and/or used.
Powell deserves credit though for clearly establishing his status as a decidedly unhappy camper on the subject of the manipulated terror memo. Whether he is unhappy about the lies, or unhappy about the lies being discovered, I'm not positive, but I assume it is the former.
Posted by Maria at June 14, 2004 12:58 PM | TrackBackHey girl,
I'm not sure if you're going to receive this, but I thought that I'd let you know what an excellent site you have created. I absolutely love it. We're definetely on the same page politically. I'm very impressed with what you've done, and i think you should consider a career as a journalist. I could just see you breaking the next Watergate. You have a way with words and you're very motivated in you opinions. I think you should send some of your articles to the NYT or the Washington Post, you wouldn't have anything to lose, and you might make it into the the letters or the Op-Ed sections. Well, Kat e-mailed me your website because we always bitch to each other about politics and just end up getting frustrated and exhausted. Well, I like what you've done, and I'll keep checking up on your latest articles.
Thank you Ashley! What kind words. It's about time Kathleen forwarded you to my site! GEEZ. ;o) I'm definitely interested in submitting to some publications. It's all about focus and confidence. I second guess myself all the time. Anyway, definitely check back. I update pretty much every day. As for the politics, much as I try to wean myself from the subject, it keeps pulling me back. I'm glad that you appreciate my perspective. Very cool.
Posted by: Maria at June 14, 2004 08:55 PM