By Another day, and yet another Associated Press hit piece:
A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The study concluded that the statements “were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.”
The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study Tuesday night but reiterated the administration’s position that the world community viewed Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat.
“The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world,” Stanzel said.
The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both. [Associated Press]
When I read something like this the first thing that comes to mind is who runs the Center for Public Integrity? Well I simply went over to their website and checked their about page and found that a guy by the name of Bill Buzenberg runs the organization. Buzenberg just happens to have been an editor for Minnesota Public Radio and National Public Radio before taking the CPI job. You don’t get much more left wing then that and yet this person is to be trusted to run a supposed non-partisan organization?
So unconvinced of his non-partisan rhetoric, I did some more research on Mr. Buzenberg and the Center for Public Integrity and guess what? They received millions for left wing billionaire George Soros:
He is frank about the center’s challenges but not apologetic. What about criticism like the kind made in a January 3, 2004, Wall Street Journal editorial, in which Journal editors included the center in billionaire George Soros’ “web of leftwing activists” for accepting $1.7 million from the wealthy anti-Bush activist’s Open Society Institute? Buzenberg says: “That’s absolute junk, trash, stupid. The center is incredibly nonpartisan. The work that we do is not free, and there’s no apology to be made. We are incredibly independent.” [Entrepreneur]
Independent even though they are receiving millions from George Soros? Would the media being giving this organization a pass if Rupert Murdoch was giving this organization millions and they released a report critical of Hillary Clinton? I think not. Either the AP is incompetent or compliant in not reporting something as relevant as this organization being funded by George Soros.
That is why I believe this is just another example of a left wing media information operation against President Bush.
8:17 am on January 23rd, 2008 1
[...] Another day and yet another Associated Press hit piece. [...]
5:47 am on January 23rd, 2008 2
When I read about this on PeoplePC News, the first thought which came to mind was this must be the work of George Soros and to my relief after only a couple of minutes searching I found this website to verify the connection. Thank you and I firmly believe Mr. Soros is an evil person and will spend eternity with his mentor, Adolf Hitler, for spreading his hate with lies and propaganda.
7:45 am on January 23rd, 2008 3
Even though all of the statements were said by the Bush staff you still think that the media is out to get them. I read the report and while I will admit that there is a bias, the truth is that the statements were made. Now it is up to you to decide. You can believe that the statements were based on bad intelligence, or they were made purposefully with the intent of leading the American public and world to go to war. If you believe the Administration was correct then I feel that you should go to your local military recruiting office. The military is hurting for bodies and they could use you.
8:11 am on January 23rd, 2008 4
Thank you Stewart for your comment, but before you start your typical lefty rant, be assured, if I was of a recruitable age, I would consider service in the military today an honorable direction for my life to take, which is not a possibility for you anytime in the near future because you hate and blame the military for their service around the world for the rest of us who can't. Are you capable and available? I suggest you practice what you preach, but you won't because you hate the military and do dishonor buy expousing the Moveon.org diatribe.
8:44 am on January 23rd, 2008 5
Hey Chris – thank you for your angry rant. As a matter of fact I am on my 18th year of service in the Army. My point, which you obviously missed, is that it is up to each person to decide what or who they want to believe. If you believe that strongly in the Bush Admin and that the only solution is to go to war, then you should sign up and join the military. I am tired of hearing the young crowd (either left or right) stating that they are for Bush and war but don't put their name on the dotted line. It is easy to be for something if it doesn't affect you or your family directly (deployments – possible injury or death). I am REALLY tired of the whole left vs right. Why can't you at least read the Public Integrity Piece and come up with the following conclusion? The statements were made, plain and simple. If you can't have an intelligent discussion on this topic then I will stop posting and let you continue with your angry statements.
3:57 pm on January 23rd, 2008 6
[...] data. Something just doesn’t “feel right” about it and as Forward Deployed points out, look for the money. So unconvinced of his non-partisan rhetoric, I did some more research on Mr. Buzenberg and the [...]
9:30 am on January 23rd, 2008 7
Stewie, I think you miss the point. Yes, statements were made based on intel but simply because they were not all proven true does not make them lies. So when you tell your kid you will be home at 5pm and do not get home till 6pm because you were delayed does that then make you a liar? Further still, if this were an honest piece as you claim, where were all the statements from hill and bill and every other dim that made the same claims as W? Were they all liars and part of the scheme as well? Why don't you ask why their daughter is not serving as she voted for it? Come on, lets be honest if you can.
9:42 am on January 23rd, 2008 8
Rich I completely agree with you. I have never stated one way or another that the Bush Admin lied. Please read my posts. It is up to all Americans to make up their own mind. I hate the whole right vs left. What does Chelsea Clinton have to do with this? So what if Hillary voted for it. (The same argument can be made for the Bush daughters) Now if Chelsea or the Bush daughters came out and said they were for the war and believes that is the only solution – then yeah, sign them up. They would look good changing tires on a HEMMT. Again my point – statements were made based on intelligence – it is up to you to decide if the statements were truthful.
9:43 am on January 23rd, 2008 9
Stewart, you may have served, but I have difficulty believing you, considering your post.
9:56 am on January 23rd, 2008 10
Chris – You can believe what you want. I didn't say that I served, I said that I am in my 18th year of Army service (which means I am currently serving). I would like to know (without anger) which parts of my post you are having trouble believing. Have I stated anything other than this – read the report – make up your own mind – If you believe in war then sign up – we can use you. But be prepared for what might happen. Again it is easy to say "Go to war" when you are not the one fighting it.
10:09 am on January 23rd, 2008 11
Reread my first response to you.
12:44 pm on January 23rd, 2008 12
First of all I would like the CPI website to provide every quote they have (which they don't) because I suspect it is greatly inflated just like how the NY Times greatly inflated their troops are murderers statistic:
http://forwarddeployed.com/2008/01/13/the-new-nar…
The few quotes they do have are mostly all about WMDs which Bush wasn't the only one making those claims. I think just like everyone else making those claims (including plenty of Democrats) that Bush really believed Saddam had WMDs.
Some how I doubt we well see a CPI study any time soon about how many times Bill Clinton referred to Saddam with WMDs.
I'm just so sick and tired of the corrupt media.
2:21 pm on January 23rd, 2008 13
Soros only contributed funding between 2000 and 2002. There is absolutely no evidence linking Soros to influencing this report let alone contributing funding to it.
Of course, anyone that believes that working for Public Radio is as left wing as one can get probably isn't terribly interested in things like the truth when it comes to bashing anything critical of the Bush Administration.
2:46 pm on January 23rd, 2008 14
Jon, I don't believe PBS is as left wing as one can get, because there are too many like you who subscribe to everything the even more lefty Moveon.org'ers have to say with all their Bush hatred. Clinton had the CDC do a study which ended making anyone who doesn't agree with the gay lifestyle out to be a homophobic. I think there are a bunch of Bush-phobics in dire need of psychiatric treatment! Do you still possess your U.S. Citizenship? I thought all of you were going to leave this country for good if Bush won the election! Why can't you all ever keep your promises? Don't get me started. I could never vote demoncrat ever again in what time I have left! I became Republican in 1980! Looking back, I have to wonder why it took so long, my ignorance or good brainwashing from the left, I prefer the latter.
5:20 pm on January 23rd, 2008 15
NPR is the left wing equivalent to Rush Limbaugh. If someone who worked on the Rush Limbaugh show took the editorial position for CPI would people be declaring the person is non-partisan? I think not and that is why it is ridiculous to claim this is a non-partisan organization.
A non-partisan organization would have had Bush's quotes along with quotes from Democratic Senators and even Bill Clinton when he was in office saying Saddam had WMDs.
Likewise a non-partisan organization should not be accepting millions in funding for left wing causes and if you look at who is funding them it isn't just George Soros. It is literally a who's who of left wing causes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Public_In…
Once again what would people say if Rupert Murdoch funded CPI and they ran a hit piece on Hillary Clinton? I think we all know the answer to that.
If Moveon.org had ran this article I would have hardly paid any attention because it is widely known what Moveon.org is about. However, I hate the dishonesty of the media by trying to pass this article to the public as non-partisan when it is not. It is absolute rubbish that it is a non-partisan organization and people should know that before reading the article which is what the AP failed to do.
2:26 pm on January 24th, 2008 16
[...] were let off the hook. Guess we shouldn’t be surprised that Democrats were left untouched since George Soros funded the study…right on the heels of the discovery that he also funded that phony Lancet study that was released [...]
11:20 am on January 24th, 2008 17
What does it matter what the source of the information is? I only deal in facts. If the facts can be supported, I don't care if they come from a liberal, a conservative, a fascist, a communist or a baptist.
If you want to dispute the facts of this report, I'll listen. If there's anything else you have to say, go ahead and say it, but you won't be saying it to me.
I ONLY WANT THE FACTS!
11:40 am on January 24th, 2008 18
"Yes, I am demoncrat. I never tell lie. Everything I say is true because I say so and there is no way to prove otherwise. I am demoncrat and I tell nothing but the truth because I say so!"
Get real, we all lived through this and watched, listened, read about this enough times already to formulate our own opinions and no George Soros flunky is going to change this no matter how many times you all try to rewrite history. I think it's way past time for you all to do what the title of your Bible tells you to do, i.e., Move-on little doggy Move-on. How about taking a hard look at your own constituents for once and do a little house cleaning of your own, but no, dems can do no wrong. Bullxxxx!
12:37 pm on January 25th, 2008 19
Uhhh, is anyone arguing that these statements were NOT made, and are perfect forgeries of Administration officials? No, oh thank goodness.
You know, if it was JUST CPI that was calling the Bush Administration liars, then George Soros's involvement would actually matter. But since every credible expert in the world believes that Administration claims were wrong, it doesn't really matter.
The facts are not in dispute. All CPI did was to put quantitative measurements on the lies, and put them into a searchable database. This should make it very easy for Chris Sagle to dispute point by point all 935 claims. Muddy the waters little man, it won't make your words any less false.
1:36 pm on January 25th, 2008 20
Chris Sagle has been permanently brainwashed by the right-wing media. He's pro-war yet doesn't serve; he's a patriot, yet demeans a currently-serving soldier. Good one Sagle! You can talk the right-wing talk, but can't do much walking. Sagle, you make me embarassed to be an American, and you're proof that we need to spend more money on education.
Suggestion to Sagle: try getting some news from sources other than Hannity, Limbaugh and Fox. Try it… you might get edumacated.
2:49 am on January 26th, 2008 21
Once again I'll put it out there, when is CPI going to list all of Clinton's claims along with the rest of the Democrats that Saddam had WMDs? If this is a non-partisan organization then where is the report? Would Clinton and the rest of the Democrats be called liars as well?
Clinton and the rest of the Democrats are not liars just like Bush isn't. They were all woefully misinformed by our intelligence agencies. You can make a argument that Bush was incompetent for not strongly challenging the intelligence but to call him a liar shows how "edumacted" some of you are.
7:22 am on January 26th, 2008 22
>>But since every credible expert in the world believes that Administration claims were wrong, it doesn’t really matter. The facts are not in dispute.
7:30 am on January 26th, 2008 23
I will not post further because my last post was truncated. It was well thought out and lengthy and a good response worth repeating. In short, I just can't believe anyone thinks the next election is going to be about WMD's.
11:08 am on January 26th, 2008 24
I don't know what happened to your last post. I checked the spam filter and it wasn't there.
12:11 pm on January 29th, 2008 25
There are several inaccuracies that I would like to clear up about the Center for Public Integrity. The Center is not “funded” by George Soros or the Soros-funded Open Society Institute foundation. Neither Mr. Soros nor OSI funded our latest project, “Iraq – The War Card: Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War.” The Center has received foundation support from the Open Society Institute in the past, most recently in 2004. The Open Society Institute, like most foundations, awards grants independently from their founders. The Center for Public Integrity accepts support from many different sources, but regardless of the source, all of the Center’s projects are editorially independent and strictly managed by in-house journalists and staff. The Center has strict guidelines on revenue sources, for example, it does not accept contributions from governments, corporations, labor unions, anonymous donors and has no advertising. The bulk of our financial support comes from independent foundations and individual contributors. As a non-partisan, non-advocacy and independent organization, our mission is to produce original investigative fact-based journalism about significant issues of public interest to make institutional power more transparent and accountable. The Center does not and has never endorsed any legislation, political candidate, party or organization. All of our investigations are freely available, including a list of foundation funders and individual contributors, on our website, http://www.publicintegrity.org.
8:48 pm on January 29th, 2008 26
Mr. Carpinelli,
Thank you for you comment. Even if Soros last directly sent money to CPI in 2004 the list of donors on your website is a who's who of liberal advocacy groups. If another organization like your's was funded by right wing groups and launched an attack on Bill Clinton people would be questioning the motives of that group as well.
If the CPI is really non-partisan when will the organization release a report of all the Democrats including Bill Clinton that "lied" about Iraq's WMDs? Then if you do, will you ensure the AP runs big nation wide headlines like this current report as well?
If not the CPI is just a left wing version of the swift boaters.
7:23 pm on January 30th, 2008 27
[...] Forward Deployed [...]
11:20 pm on February 1st, 2008 28
[...] have documented “at least 935 false statements” that were made on approximately 532 occasions. Their investigation asserts, in its final analysis, that these alleged pre-war lies “were [...]
7:05 pm on February 9th, 2008 29
ok obviously I'm missing something. lets get back to basics if you believe that GWB lied about the entire Iraq war then you have to believe he's any evil man . I mean whats his benefet for going to war please tell me. The Iraq war has to be the worst thing that has happened to his presidency. right or wrong people will hate him & berate him because of the war .Yes I think he could have handled the war better. I mean American troops should have the best of everything before and after they go to war. He would have to insane and evil if he lied and I dont believe that!
7:59 pm on February 13th, 2008 30
Soros funded The Open Society Institute which is a funder of the Center for Public Integrity. See below.
* Full disclosure: The Open Society Institute, which was founded by George Soros, is a funder of the Center for Public Integrity.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=19…
(at bottom of page)
Amazing how Reuters/the AP, etc cannot even do the barest of investigations as to whom these “non-partisan” partisan entities are funded by!