Iraq "weapons of mass destruction" stories a hoax

CBS's Sixty Minutes' reporter Bob Simon finally told the factual story that had been swirling in rumor for nearly seven years: that the person who provided stories about "weapons of mass destruction" supposedly being developed by Sadam Hussein were completely false.

His nickname was Curveball, an Iraqi refugee who wanted to live and work in Germany. To help his cause, he fabricated stories he thought might give him a leg up to get the equivalent of an American green card to live and work in Deutchland. Phony stories of manufacturing biochemical materials in Iraq.

All untrue, and in fact, German intelligence, when they released his stories, noted in every case that everything he said "could not (as in NOT) be confirmed."

UN inspectors reported there was no evidence of Iraq developing "weapons of mass destruction." They were pulled out when President Bush sent in soldiers to fight his imaginary villain.

The Bush administration was so adamant about going to war with Iraq, they passed on the bogus stories. Even US UN Representative Colin Powell quoted a report about the "eyewitness" who was in fact no eyewitness at all.

Curveball claimed to be a biochemist, and by golly, wouldn't you know, the slightest, most elementary investigation of his education and work history showed everything he claimed about his background to be false.

This is why nearly 4,000 Americans have lost their lives in the civil war that the US fomented, why nearly 30,000 of our troops have been injured, most of them seriously.

The head of the CIA, George Tenent, did not pay attention to German intelligence warnings that "Curveball's" stories could not be confirmed, nor Tenent's bosses, who also received the same information.

This is the reason other nations objected to the incursion of a sovereign nation, Iraq, by the US. They consider the war illegal because there was not a shred of evidence that showed American security was in jeopardy. Some argue even planning the war against Iraq and Iran is illegal, against international law.

When you go to the CBS 60 Minutes page, the video of the story is nearly 15 minutes long; one US intelligence officer who warned others that the information was not enough to start a war is included in this report and has a stand alone statement as well.

By the way, the Iraqi refugee who lied to German intelligence did get his card to live and work in the country and could not be found.

Please remember this malfeasance, incompetence and misfeasance of office when you hear about the need to bomb Iran and start another war. The only result of George Bush's "avoid a third world war" rhetoric is higher gas prices, filling the already full pockets of his oil industry and stock market playing buddies beyone their wildest dreams.

Nothing has changed in Iran over the past several years, but since the Bush administration won't talk with them, apparently the President wants to go to war with people he doesn't talk to.

Meanwhile, because the Bush adminstration moved troops from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, where Osama bin Laden (behind the 9-11 attacks on the US), al qeda, and the Taliban are holed up, havoc is now wrecked in that area. Unless that area is restabilized, ultra-conservative Muslims stand a chance to take over there, which could be a frightening development because Pakistan, thanks to the US, already has nuclear weapons. Iran does not.

Congress tried - and failed - to impeach Bill Clinton for a reprehensible personal, but private, failing.

I don't understand why impeachment proceedings are not already underway against George Bush and Dick Cheney for their reprehensible and unforgivable public failings to every person who has lost life and limb in a senseless, useless, never ending war in the Middle East - a war that has destabalized the world - for which there was not a single fact, no endangerment of our national security or a single reason to fire the first shot.

Sadly, there are those uninformed people who drank the Bush Kool-Aid and continue to spread venomous, inflammatory anti-Muslim, anti-Middle Eastern information, based only on hateful bigotry.

Official information released when they don't want you to read it

The scathing report on our elected representatives not reading or heeding the National Intelligence Evaluation of the potential disaster of the Iraqi war no matter what the president said was released on a Friday.

I posted the story here on a Monday, knowing that weekday news is always considered a little more significant, because after all, "nothing happens on the weekend," right?

Friday is when we normally think of going away for the weekend, or partying or meeting with friends and family or just hanging out.

We don't think of significant news breaking, unless it's a weather crisis, but that's exactly when "news" is released that those in charge of the release don't want it read by all that many people. They want to say they've released the important information, but it's not their fault if you're not aware of it or if you didn't read it.

I've asked so many people I've met (who don't know about or read my blog) about the NIE report and to a person, they were not aware of it. They went home to do their homework, however, because they cared.

Interestingly, the most watched local TV news program is usually Sunday night because everyone's home, getting ready for the week and sitting around the television set together.

But local TV newsrooms ordinarily have skeleton crews on over the weekend because their sense is that "nothing's going on." Heck, CNN, MSNBC and other cable news station seem to reflect that same sensibility. To which I say, "huh?"

Well, yeah. Most government and business offices are closed - you know, the ones that that spoon feed the media most of the news they carry, for sure. But the issues don't go away; problems don't subside, malfeasance and stories worth an investigation or a little extra air time don't take the weekend off.

Um, in fact, wouldn't that be the best time to present a feature, in-depth story that there's no time to air during the week?

TV stations may point to generally lower ratings on Fridays and Saturdays, sure - but my hunch is that if there were a real kick-ass news program, people would watch. Like, lots of people. As it is, if it bleeds it leads or the news reported is just the stuff that falls in front of them like truck and car crashes, fires, shootings, vandalism, etc.

Yes it's "news," but those things can be reported by media of record such as newspapers, leaving television to dig in and get their hands dirty looking at everything from organized crime to corporate fraud to real news. Like, say, a politician who is actually working on behalf of us voters and who is getting something done!

In fact, 60 Minutes counted on the idea that they could get a huge audience of people interested in more complex and in-depth stories for decades. News stories that covered subjects the audience had never heard of before!

And for much, if not most of that time? That program drew more viewers than any other program on television. Rated #1, week after week.

While it's still highly rated, I'm sorry to say I feel as if it's lost most of its fire in the belly urgency to kick a tires and take names and bring significant matters to our attention.

I only know real news - information we should know and knowledge we should have instead of meaningless "information" - is going on all the time and I would much rather see it instead of all the white noise that is reported.

It's just a matter of being aware of where it's happening and how it affects us, that it needs to be reported and making certain staff reporters are there to cover it instead of another shooting, car crash, fire, and other news that is only news because there happens to be a picture to show.

Interestingly, there are a number of ways news organizations now invite you to tell them what's going on because they don't know. Proof of that is local news ratings across the board and across the US are universally as low as they've ever been.

I hope people take advantage of that opportunity because their priorities may not be yours, so we need to let them know. I'll never forget hearing about a story that took the nation by storm three days after it occurred because the reporters initially hearing about it were too young to remember its initial event, so they didn't understand its significance. If a 40 year-old producer for ABC hadn't been there, we still would not have known about it.

Younger staffs are less experienced and knowledgeable, yes, but they're also way cheaper. And today is definitely the day of news according to the bottom line.

As for news those in power want to have certain important news get by us ... be on the lookout for significant stories that are released Friday or over the weekend in hopes they will either be overlooked by media or that stations won't have the weekend staff to investigate them or whether they are reported in such a way that their importance will be neither understood nor perceived by media's already ill-informed American audiences.

What this means is that you can't expect to be spoon fed real knowledge by the commercial or "public" media, you have to be willing to seek it out. It is out there, you just need to be responsible for finding it - or at least letting media know what's going on so others can discover it as well.