Iraq and the "L" Word (barf alert)

Washington Post ^ | 11/22/05 | Richard Cohen

[blitzgig]

Along with such creations as American POWs still being held in Vietnam and the Bill Clinton drug-smuggling operation at a remote Arkansas air strip, the unhinged right wing has now invented the myth that Democratic members of Congress have called President Bush "a liar" about Iraq. An extensive computer search by myself and a Post researcher can come up with no such accusation. That's prudent. After all, it's not clear if Bush lied about Iraq or was merely the "useful idiot" of those who did.

The term "useful idiot" is not a reflection of IQ. I resurrect it from the Cold War days when anticommunists used it to contemptuously describe certain communist sympathizers. I think sometimes the phrase probably went through the dark mind of Vice President Cheney and certain other Bush administration officials who must have known that their dear president was exaggerating the case for war. Cheney, for one, is too smart and too calculating not to have known that the envelope was being pushed past the point of verifiable truth.

In fact, the man who just recently took a McCarthyite swipe at Democratic war critics had no equal in exaggerating Saddam Hussein's (nonexistent) nuclear weapons program. In just one month -- August 2002 -- Cheney repeatedly warned of its imminent danger.

[digger48]

Cohen should do his search on something other that a kids Etch-a-Sketch.

I can think of at least a halF-dozeN instances where he has been callED just that, ON THE FLOOR OF THE SENATE!

[facedown]

Cohen is a useless idiot.

[massgopguy]

If Iraq had no Nuclear weapons program then why did Scott Ritter say that Iraq had three Nuclear weapons assemblies when he testified before the Senate Intel Cmmt. on Sept 5, 1998?

[BerniesFriend]

I didn't have to link the article to read this sad commentary...you can just sense the hate from the opening..remember the maxim..dems saying hateful things about gop is ok..gop "quoting" dems or defending themselves is wrong and evil..

[MeSpikeLibs]

Apparently this guy has never heard Air-head America or read anything that any Democrat has ever written about the war.

[irons_player]

His masters at the post will only allow him "intranet" access.

[BlueYonder]

The term "useful idiot" is not a reflection of IQ. I resurrect it from the Cold War days when anticommunists used it to contemptuously describe certain communist sympathizers.

Excuse me but wasn't it Lenin himself that coined the term "useful idiot" to describe members of the left wing (like Richard Cohen) in the free world? Those whose sympathies advanced the communist cause?

[The_Victor]

This search of the Congressional record took about ten minutes using the term "President" and "lied."

http://thomas.loc.gov/

I immediately found a speech by Charles Rangle entering into the record an article by James Breslin. I'll check for more.

SPEECH OF HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL OF NEW YORK IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2005

• Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce into the Record the commentary entitled ``War must be a local issue'', written by Jimmy Breslin in the November 9, 2005 issue of Newsday.

• Jimmy Breslin's writing cuts to the heart of an issue and this article does just that. He focuses on how the President's lies are perpetuated at the local level, in this case by Mayor Michael Bloomberg; and how some in the Congress and we as citizens accept those lies because we are living ``in a time of National Alzheimer's.'

[Rummyfan]

Cohen's search? I don't believe he even knows what this 'internet' thingie is. And Google? Fuhgeddaboutit!

[ClearCase_guy]

Cohen is such a bad reporter. Incapable of research. Ignorant of history. Blind to his own bias.

Readership is down. Have they figured out why?

[R. Scott]

Cohen should do his search on something other that a kids Etch-a-Sketch.

Cohen should do his search on something other than major leftist media outlets like newspapers, TV news shows …

[KarinG1]

I can't, or more accurately won't, go into detail but I know that 'remote' airstrip right outside Mena in Polk County and I can assure you from personal knowledge those drug smuggling charges are true. The sheriff at the time was named Al Hadaway and the prosecutor was Joe Hardagree. I may have misspelled one or both of those names. A judge named Ford was also complicit (I'm pretty sure I spelled Ford correctly). I hope they don't come after me again. At least I lived to not tell about it. Others were less fortunate. I don't wish to join them.

[frankiep]

democrats have NEVER said that President Bush lied?!?!?!?

Then what the hell have they been complaining about for the past 3 years?

What a friggin idiot this guy is. Expect this line of "reasoning" to be the new DNC talking point. Hopefully the sheeple have a memory that goes back at least 10 minutes and realize that the dems are, once again, full of crap.

[The_Victor]

Got another one by searching on "Bush" and "lied." Direct link to the record http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r109:1:./temp/~r109Ir9u7x::

IRAQ AND THE MARCH IN WASHINGTON, D.C. -- (House of Representatives - September 27, 2005)

   Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, Cindy Sheehan, who was arrested yesterday for simply exercising her constitutional right to freedom of speech outside the White House, has awoken a

[Page: H8379]  GPO's PDF

sleeping American public. She deserves a great deal of credit for her tireless campaign against the Bush administration's lies and abuses which have governed the war in Iraq from the very beginning. Her campaign awakened the American people to realize just how awful this war truly is.

   This weekend over 300,000 Americans, and I know it was more than 100,000 as reported by the press because I was there, over 300,000 Americans demonstrated the same resolve as Cindy Sheehan by showing up in force at a rally in Washington, D.C. It was one of the first times since the 1970s that so many people had descended on the Nation's capital to protest a war.

   If strength of numbers demonstrates the injustice of a particular policy, then the thousands who participated in Saturday's march depicted the wrongness of the Iraq war.

   Most Americans know that the war in Iraq is not increasing our national security, that by continuing to fight an unwinnable war the President is ensuring our national insecurity.

   Most Americans know that the Bush administration had no plan for how to conduct the war. They had no plan for securing the country once Saddam was deposed; and now they have no plan for ending the war.

   Most Americans know the terror and chaos that plague Iraq cannot be resolved simply by staying the course. I am sure the families of the 2,000 American soldiers and countless thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians killed in this war would argue that the last 2-plus years of fighting have not brought much stability to Iraq or to their lives.

   Let us not forget about the thousands of American soldiers who were not killed in Iraq, but whose lives will nonetheless be changed forever as a result of injuries sustained during the war: arms and legs lost, shrapnel wounds cutting into every body part, emotional trauma. How will these wounds ever heal?

   The thousands of Americans who bravely serve in our Nation's military deserve better. In fact, all Americans deserve better. They deserve better than an endless war that is slowly draining our national coffers. They deserve better than $9 billion of congressionally appropriated funds being lost; $9 billion lost. That is really pretty hard to imagine. Lost under the Coalition Provisional Authority's watch, or the new $1 billion that has gone missing to the Iraqi Government, U.S. money intended for training of Iraqi security forces.

   While the Bush administration is failing the American people through its foreign policies, they are also neglecting priorities at home. Just take the recent hurricanes that have bombarded the southeastern United States over the past month.

   If anything, Katrina and Rita have demonstrated just how skewed our national priorities have become. The Federal Government failed to assist thousands of Americans, mostly poor, mostly underprivileged, mostly African American during their great time of need.

   What we need now is an independent commission to investigate how the hurricane response was botched so badly. Unfortunately, the Bush administration's response to the failures at home is just like his response given to its failures in Iraq: deflection and misdirection of any blame whatsoever.

   President Bush has announced that he will establish a partisan, congressionally appointed oversight committee; but that is not what the American people need. That is not what the American people deserve. We need an impartial, independent commission to get to the bottom of why the National Guard was in Iraq and not in the United States to protect its citizens.

   Mr. Speaker, it is clear that we need a drastic change in policies, both at home and in Iraq. The American people know when they are being lied to, when they are being misled.

   It is time that Congress started doing what it was created to do: represent the will of the American people, rescue victims of natural disasters, and rescue our troops by bringing them home.

[sgtbono2002]

I cant help but wonder how Cohen cleans himself after taking a Sheehan. Its obvious he cant find his ass with either hand.

[Rudder]

Does Ted Kennedy's rant---"Lie after lie after lie after lie..." count?

[The_Victor]

Does Ted Kennedy's rant---"Lie after lie after lie after lie..." count?

I would think so. Shall I see if I can find it, or have we laughed at Cohen enough?

[MNJohnnie]

Simply amazing what lengths the Lie all the Time Democrat establishment with their pet stooges the Dinosaur Media will go to to avoid accepting responsibility for their out of control treasonous rhetoric. Just more proof that the Democrat Party is too incompetent and corrupt to be trusted with any measure of power at any level.

[Steve_Seattle]

Cohen would probably try to argue that none of the following are accusations that Bush lied, because the exact phrase "Bush lied" does not appear:

1. "The Bush administration misled the American people . . . "

2. "The Bush administration knew the intelligence was flawed . . . "

3. "Bush misrepresented the facts . . . "

4. "The Bush administration outed Valerie Plame to punish her husband for telling the truth about WMD's . . . "

5. "Bush claimed that Iraq posed an imminent threat . . . "

Now, none of those sentences use the exact words "Bush lied," but the implication is obvious. Cohen is being utterly dishonest.

[cpdiii]

Cohen is not stupid. He is just a bigger liar than his fellow democrats. It is not easy to be a bigger liar than them, but Cohen has risen to the challenge and succeeded.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Does Ted Kennedy's rant---"Lie after lie after lie after lie..." count?"

Cohen would say, "Ah, but that doesn't exactly say "Bush lied,' does it?"

[MNJohnnie]

5. "Bush claimed that Iraq posed an imminent threat . .

Bush never said this. So Cohen is lying when he claims this. Therefore since Cohen is willing to LIE about what Bush said, it makes the rest of him claims suspect as well.

[MNJohnnie]

CLINTON: Good evening. Earlier today, I ordered America's armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British forces. Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors. Their purpose is to protect the national interest of the United States, and indeed the interests of people throughout the Middle East and around the world. Saddam Hussein must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas or biological weapons. I want to explain why I have decided, with the unanimous recommendation of my national security team, to use force in Iraq; why we have acted now; and what we aim to accomplish. Six weeks ago, Saddam Hussein announced that he would no longer cooperate with the United Nations weapons inspectors called UNSCOM. They are highly professional experts from dozens of countries. Their job is to oversee the elimination of Iraq's capability to retain, create and use weapons of mass destruction, and to verify that Iraq does not attempt to rebuild that capability. The inspectors undertook this mission first 7.5 years ago at the end of the Gulf War when Iraq agreed to declare and destroy its arsenal as a condition of the ceasefire. The international community had good reason to set this requirement. Other countries possess weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. With Saddam, there is one big difference: He has used them. Not once, but repeatedly. Unleashing chemical weapons against Iranian troops during a decade-long war. Not only against soldiers, but against civilians, firing Scud missiles at the citizens of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Iran. And not only against a foreign enemy, but even against his own people, gassing Kurdish civilians in Northern Iraq. The international community had little doubt then, and I have no doubt today, that left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will use these terrible weapons again. The United States has patiently worked to preserve UNSCOM as Iraq has sought to avoid its obligation to cooperate with the inspectors. On occasion, we've had to threaten military force, and Saddam has backed down. Faced with Saddam's latest act of defiance in late October, we built intensive diplomatic pressure on Iraq backed by overwhelming military force in the region. The UN Security Council voted 15 to zero to condemn Saddam's actions and to demand that he immediately come into compliance. Eight Arab nations -- Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman -- warned that Iraq alone would bear responsibility for the consequences of defying the UN. When Saddam still failed to comply, we prepared to act militarily. It was only then at the last possible moment that Iraq backed down. It pledged to the UN that it had made, and I quote, a clear and unconditional decision to resume cooperation with the weapons inspectors. I decided then to call off the attack with our airplanes already in the air because Saddam had given in to our demands. I concluded then that the right thing to do was to use restraint and give Saddam one last chance to prove his willingness to cooperate. I made it very clear at that time what unconditional cooperation meant, based on existing UN resolutions and Iraq's own commitments. And along with Prime Minister Blair of Great Britain, I made it equally clear that if Saddam failed to cooperate fully, we would be prepared to act without delay, diplomacy or warning. Now over the past three weeks, the UN weapons inspectors have carried out their plan for testing Iraq's cooperation. The testing period ended this weekend, and last night, UNSCOM's chairman, Richard Butler, reported the results to UN Secretary-General Annan. The conclusions are stark, sobering and profoundly disturbing. In four out of the five categories set forth, Iraq has failed to cooperate. Indeed, it actually has placed new restrictions on the inspectors. Here are some of the particulars. Iraq repeatedly blocked UNSCOM from inspecting suspect sites. For example, it shut off access to the headquarters of its ruling party and said it will deny access to the party's other offices, even though UN resolutions make no exception for them and UNSCOM has inspected them in the past. Iraq repeatedly restricted UNSCOM's ability to obtain necessary evidence. For example, Iraq obstructed UNSCOM's effort to photograph bombs related to its chemical weapons program. It tried to stop an UNSCOM biological weapons team from videotaping a site and photocopying documents and prevented Iraqi personnel from answering UNSCOM's questions. Prior to the inspection of another site, Iraq actually emptied out the building, removing not just documents but even the furniture and the equipment. Iraq has failed to turn over virtually all the documents requested by the inspectors. Indeed, we know that Iraq ordered the destruction of weapons-related documents in anticipation of an UNSCOM inspection. So Iraq has abused its final chance. As the UNSCOM reports concludes, and again I quote, "Iraq's conduct ensured that no progress was able to be made in the fields of disarmament. "In light of this experience, and in the absence of full cooperation by Iraq, it must regrettably be recorded again that the commission is not able to conduct the work mandated to it by the Security Council with respect to Iraq's prohibited weapons program." In short, the inspectors are saying that even if they could stay in Iraq, their work would be a sham. Saddam's deception has defeated their effectiveness. Instead of the inspectors disarming Saddam, Saddam has disarmed the inspectors. This situation presents a clear and present danger to the stability of the Persian Gulf and the safety of people everywhere. The international community gave Saddam one last chance to resume cooperation with the weapons inspectors. Saddam has failed to seize the chance. And so we had to act and act now.

From Bill Clinton's Dec 16th 1998 Speech explaining his ordering airstrikes against Iraq during his Impeachment.

So Mr Chohen, did you hero Bill Clinton lie too when he said: First, without a strong inspection system, Iraq would be free to retain and begin to rebuild its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs in months, not years.

[MNJohnnie]

cohenr@washpost.com

Here is the scums email address if any of you want to point out the obvious stupidity of this column.

[Just A Nobody]

In the third paragraph/section down there is a link titled "Bush lied about lots of things"
When I click it it goes to the US House of Rep. page. However, I get the old "The requested page could not be found"
http://bushwatch.com/bushlies.htm

Then there is this lovely place.....
http://www.bushlies.net/pages/9/index.htm

"This kind of lying from Bush is very consistent" comes from this delightful site.....
http://www.lies.com/wp/2005/11/13/bush-told-the-truth/

So, I have not yet found a direct quote where members of of CONgress said, "President Bush is a liar!"
However, they have used every nuance to do so.

[Rudder]

Cohen is lost at sea.

[Just A Nobody]

"He lied to Congress to start the war. And now 53% of the American public says that *** if it is clear that Bush lied, they would support Congress considering impeachment *** proceedings against the president."

This quote is offered at this site and gets to the heart of what this gibberish. They intend to impeach President Bush and they will lie if they have to in order to succeed.
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/005940.php

[Forte Runningrock]

The only ones lying about Iraq are the usefull idiots like Richard Cohen who work for LMSM (Lying mainstream media).
The WAPO sure has been churning out the moonbat crap the last couple of days. What are they trying to divert attention from? LMSM's Plame conspiracy that has now fallen apart and is exposing MSM for the lying story fabricators they are.

[Just A Nobody]

Reid originally called Bush a "liar" in 2002 after a speech that Bush gave about storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, saying, " President Bush is a liar. He betrayed Nevada and the betrayed the country."

2-16-02: "I'm very disappointed. I know my president has lied." Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/02/20/national/main501842.shtml

Later, in an interview with Rolling Stone from June 2, Reid confirmed that he had called Bush both a “liar” and a “loser”:

Q: You’ve called Bush a loser.

Reid: And a liar.

Q: You’ve apologized for the loser comment.

Reid: But never for the liar, have I.