Bush Administration made hundreds of false statements after 2001

A study by two non-profit journalism organizations now shows that Bush administration issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from 2001 to 2003.  The statements, 935 in all, were made with an intention presumably to convey a risk that did not exist.  For example, the study says that:

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.

The false propoganda machine had the usual culprits: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.

The leader of the false brigade was the chief himself – George Bush! Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq’s links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell’s 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida.

When you look at what has happened thereafter, you begin to wonder if this war was a case of over confidence or just plain masochism?  I haven’t seen anything come out of this for the US.  While the real war on terrorism has also been lost in Afghanistan and Pakistan.