lily
12-23-2006, 01:01 AM
Well, there was one in there that I didn't know.......there are almost as many contractors as soldiers. Nice going Halliburton! (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16326716/site/newsweek/?rf=nwnewsletter)
Lies and Obfuscations
A look back at some of the biggest falsehoods of 2006.
Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Updated: 1:03 p.m. ET Dec 22, 2006
Dec. 22, 2006 - In the spirit of holding our political leaders accountable,
this year-end review will tabulate the worst lies told by Bush and company,
along with several stories that were underreported in the media. Much of
what was generated got lost in the fog of war, but the long arm of history
will retrieve these moments. As the president said in his news conference
this week, if they’re still writing about No. 1—George Washington—there’s
plenty of time before the historians can properly evaluate No. 43. Judging
by the mess in Iraq, it could be 200 or 300 years—if ever—before Bush is
vindicated.
Bush has shifted his rhetoric in deference to the grim and deteriorating
reality on the ground in Iraq. Asked by a reporter on Oct. 25 if we are
winning the war, Bush said, “Absolutely, we’re winning.” Offered the
opportunity at his press conference to defend that statement, Bush has
adopted a new formulation. He now says, “We’re not winning, but we’re not
losing.” That sounds like the definition of a quagmire.
Exploitation of the war gained Republicans seats in ’02 and got Bush a
second term in ’04, but it wasn’t enough in ’06. Karl Rove decided the best
way for Republicans to retain control of the House and Senate was to embrace
the war in Iraq and run against the Democrats as “Defeatocrats” and “Cut and
Runners.” It might have worked, had not most Americans decided they did
indeed want to cut and run. Not right away—the voters want an orderly
exit—but they weren’t buying Bush’s big lie about the Democrats.
Bush campaigned this fall as though the Democrats were the real enemy, not
the terrorists. “They [Democrats] think the best way to protect the American
people is wait until we’re attacked again…If you don’t want your government
listening in on terrorists, vote for the Democrats.” Now that the Democrats
have won, watch Bush try to off-load blame for the failure in Iraq. If the
Democrats won’t go along with whatever cockamamie scheme he comes up with,
he can always accuse them of losing the war.
Days after giving Defense Secretary Rumsfeld a ringing endorsement,
declaring he would be there until the end, Bush fired him. It was the most
obvious lie of his presidency. And it tripped so easily off Bush’s tongue.
There was none of the stammering that usually accompanies his public
utterances. It was as big a lie as Rove’s assertion on National Public Radio
that all the public polls pointing toward a rout for the GOP were wrong. “I
have the math,” Rove proclaimed. A lot of people believed Rove, but the
voters didn’t.
The administration had the media snookered much of the time. Stories that
were underreported largely because they ran counter to administration spin
include:
a.. A study that shows the death toll among Iraqis has reached as high as
655,000. Extensively researched by teams of doctors commissioned by the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Md., the
study—and the controversy over its sampling methodology—was given scant
attention by the media because it was so far out of line from the
administration’s projection of perhaps 50,000 civilian deaths. That’s still
a horrendous death toll of innocents in a country the size of Iraq. Now, 100
bodies routinely turn up every day in Baghdad’s morgues, the victims of
sectarian violence, and the report, published in October in The Lancet
medical journal, seems to be closer to the truth than anything the Bush
administration has acknowledged.
b.. Private contractors in Iraq. There are 100,000 government contractors
in Iraq, a number that rivals the 140,000 U.S. soldiers in the country. It’s
dangerous work; some 650 contractors have died there. They do a lot of the
jobs the military used to do, everything from providing security and
interrogating prisoners to cooking meals for the soldiers. They work for
military contractors like KBR and DynCorp International, which are helping
train the Iraqi police force. This is the largest contingent of civilians
ever operating in a battlefield environment, and there’s been no
congressional oversight or accountability. That should change with the
Democrats taking over the investigative committees on Capitol Hill. The
abuses may be just waiting to be uncovered.
c.. America’s secret torture prisons, whose existence Bush acknowledged as
part of his tough-guy campaigning this fall. Set up in the aftermath of 9/11
to hold suspected terrorists indefinitely, the legality, morality and
practicality of these so-called “black sites” have come under scrutiny.
After a brief flurry about the use of torture tactics like “water boarding,”
where a prisoner is made to feel he’s drowning, the story of these
CIA-operated overseas prisons faded. Yet they contributed to the central
tragedy of the Bush administration, the collapse of America’s standing
around the world.
Lies and Obfuscations
A look back at some of the biggest falsehoods of 2006.
Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Updated: 1:03 p.m. ET Dec 22, 2006
Dec. 22, 2006 - In the spirit of holding our political leaders accountable,
this year-end review will tabulate the worst lies told by Bush and company,
along with several stories that were underreported in the media. Much of
what was generated got lost in the fog of war, but the long arm of history
will retrieve these moments. As the president said in his news conference
this week, if they’re still writing about No. 1—George Washington—there’s
plenty of time before the historians can properly evaluate No. 43. Judging
by the mess in Iraq, it could be 200 or 300 years—if ever—before Bush is
vindicated.
Bush has shifted his rhetoric in deference to the grim and deteriorating
reality on the ground in Iraq. Asked by a reporter on Oct. 25 if we are
winning the war, Bush said, “Absolutely, we’re winning.” Offered the
opportunity at his press conference to defend that statement, Bush has
adopted a new formulation. He now says, “We’re not winning, but we’re not
losing.” That sounds like the definition of a quagmire.
Exploitation of the war gained Republicans seats in ’02 and got Bush a
second term in ’04, but it wasn’t enough in ’06. Karl Rove decided the best
way for Republicans to retain control of the House and Senate was to embrace
the war in Iraq and run against the Democrats as “Defeatocrats” and “Cut and
Runners.” It might have worked, had not most Americans decided they did
indeed want to cut and run. Not right away—the voters want an orderly
exit—but they weren’t buying Bush’s big lie about the Democrats.
Bush campaigned this fall as though the Democrats were the real enemy, not
the terrorists. “They [Democrats] think the best way to protect the American
people is wait until we’re attacked again…If you don’t want your government
listening in on terrorists, vote for the Democrats.” Now that the Democrats
have won, watch Bush try to off-load blame for the failure in Iraq. If the
Democrats won’t go along with whatever cockamamie scheme he comes up with,
he can always accuse them of losing the war.
Days after giving Defense Secretary Rumsfeld a ringing endorsement,
declaring he would be there until the end, Bush fired him. It was the most
obvious lie of his presidency. And it tripped so easily off Bush’s tongue.
There was none of the stammering that usually accompanies his public
utterances. It was as big a lie as Rove’s assertion on National Public Radio
that all the public polls pointing toward a rout for the GOP were wrong. “I
have the math,” Rove proclaimed. A lot of people believed Rove, but the
voters didn’t.
The administration had the media snookered much of the time. Stories that
were underreported largely because they ran counter to administration spin
include:
a.. A study that shows the death toll among Iraqis has reached as high as
655,000. Extensively researched by teams of doctors commissioned by the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Md., the
study—and the controversy over its sampling methodology—was given scant
attention by the media because it was so far out of line from the
administration’s projection of perhaps 50,000 civilian deaths. That’s still
a horrendous death toll of innocents in a country the size of Iraq. Now, 100
bodies routinely turn up every day in Baghdad’s morgues, the victims of
sectarian violence, and the report, published in October in The Lancet
medical journal, seems to be closer to the truth than anything the Bush
administration has acknowledged.
b.. Private contractors in Iraq. There are 100,000 government contractors
in Iraq, a number that rivals the 140,000 U.S. soldiers in the country. It’s
dangerous work; some 650 contractors have died there. They do a lot of the
jobs the military used to do, everything from providing security and
interrogating prisoners to cooking meals for the soldiers. They work for
military contractors like KBR and DynCorp International, which are helping
train the Iraqi police force. This is the largest contingent of civilians
ever operating in a battlefield environment, and there’s been no
congressional oversight or accountability. That should change with the
Democrats taking over the investigative committees on Capitol Hill. The
abuses may be just waiting to be uncovered.
c.. America’s secret torture prisons, whose existence Bush acknowledged as
part of his tough-guy campaigning this fall. Set up in the aftermath of 9/11
to hold suspected terrorists indefinitely, the legality, morality and
practicality of these so-called “black sites” have come under scrutiny.
After a brief flurry about the use of torture tactics like “water boarding,”
where a prisoner is made to feel he’s drowning, the story of these
CIA-operated overseas prisons faded. Yet they contributed to the central
tragedy of the Bush administration, the collapse of America’s standing
around the world.