Bush's War on Truth

On Friday, the US senate - that's the Republican-controlled US senate - released a report that concluded that Saddam did not have a relationship with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a lie pushed by the Bush administration ever since Powell gave his speech to the UN in 2003 to convince US allies to join the coalition of the willing.

So, how did that Republican-controlled senate react to the news today after it released its report debunking that Saddam/Zarqawi connection? Predictably, it accused Democrats who have spoken publicly about the findings of using the information for political purposes.

Excuse me?

These are the same Republicans who allowed their president to continually mislead the American public and the world community in order to justify the illegal war in Iraq and they have the nerve to attack Democrats of using factual information for political purposes? That's some damn nerve they have. If the Dems happen to pick up a few more seats by exposing the manufactured lies by the Bush administration in its rush to attack Iraq, so be it. At least they're not the ones who've caused the loss of life of tens of thousands of civilians based on an absolute disregard for truth.

And there's more:

The declassified document released Friday by the intelligence committee also explores the role that inaccurate information supplied by the anti-Saddam exile group the Iraqi National Congress had in the march to war.

It concludes that postwar findings do not support a 2002 intelligence community report that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear program, possessed biological weapons or ever developed mobile facilities for producing biological warfare agents.

That 'anti-Saddam exile group' was led by Ahmed Chalabi - the Bush administration's darling who fed them and the NYT's Judith Miller exactly what they wanted to hear. He's a criminal charlatan who bilked the American taxpayers out of over a million dollars, thanks to his close relationships with the prime neocon movers and shakers. The Republican-controlled senate ought to stick that in their self-righteous pipe and smoke it.

You'd think the Bush administration would have learned its lesson when it comes to lying about intelligence matters. Not so. This past week, when Bush gave his speech detailing all of the information garnered by the CIA's use of 'alternative' interrogation methods ie. torture, he outlined the history of Abu Zubaydah. There was one problem with his retelling of those events: it was false too and Zubaydah's coerced testimony has been used against Canada's Mohamed Harkat, whose case in now being considered by Canada's Supreme Court. The use of torture reaches far beyond the person who is actually being abused.

So, here we are: 3 years after Iraq was invaded resulting in the deaths and injuries of countless people with a US president who is still lying to the world about how the intelligence unfolded backed by his Republican congress that can only feign outrage over the fact that the Democrats are willing to talk about the truth while the neocons are working hard to convince everyone that Iran is now an imminent threat.

What's wrong with this picture?

You can read the full senate intelligence report here. (pdf file)

Update: Tne New York Times has exposed more lies from Bush's speech this week.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 — In defending the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret network of prisons on Wednesday, President Bush said the detention system had used lawful interrogation techniques, was fully described to select members of Congress and led directly to the capture of a string of terrorists over the past four years.

A review of public documents and interviews with American officials raises questions about Mr. Bush’s claims on all three fronts.

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