Study: Bush led U.S. to war on 'false pretenses'

Hundreds of false statements on WMDs, al-Qaida used to justify Iraq war.

updated 2:30 a.m. ET, Wed., Jan. 23, 2008 (excerpt; title link)

"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida," according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."

"The cumulative effect of these false statements — amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts — was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.

(Buddha) The concentration of ownership of the major news outlets should be of some concern to us all. If the powers that be have an ulterior motive or the few watchdogs among these groups are asleep at the wheel we have problems like this. With all of the independent media outlets available there is really no reason for our nation to be led around by the nose like this. Please cross-reference stories that are of critical importance and spread the word. I link to several news sites and blogs that I trust and I encourage you to add to or amend this list as you see fit. The point here is to take full responsibility for and advantage of your 1st Amendment rights. We must be informed in order to have any control over our collective (and individual) destiny.