MRC/NB's Bozell on FNC's 'Hannity & Colmes' About Couric on Iraq

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Brent Bozell, President of the MRC which runs NewsBusters, appeared Wednesday night on FNC's "Hannity & Colmes" to discuss comments Katie Couric made hostile to the Bush administration decision the launch the war in Iraq. Couric spoke about the Iraq war at a Tuesday night "Kalb Report" forum at the National Press Club (C-SPAN2 will air it Wednesday night at 11:15pm EDT). Couric contended that “people in this country were misled in terms of the rationale of this war” and she expressed frustration: “I've never understood why [invading Iraq] was so high on the administration's agenda when terrorism was going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that [Iraq] had no true connection with al Qaeda.”

Bozell reminded viewers of how, in a September of 2006 profile of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice which aired on 60 Minutes, after Rice wondered “what's wrong with assistance so that people can have their full and complete right to the very liberties and freedoms that we enjoy?”, Couric retorted: “To quote my daughter, 'Who made us the boss of them?'” (MRC CyberAlert posting with video)

Video clip of Bozell on the September 26 "Hannity & Colmes" (5:30): Real (4.1 MB) or Windows Media (3.5 MB), plus MP3 audio (1.9 MB).

An excerpt from "Couric weighs in on Iraq, Rather," by Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin in the September 26 Washington Examiner:

Speaking at the National Press Club Tuesday evening, CBS "Evening News" anchor Katie Couric pulled back the curtain on her personal views of both the war in Iraq and former "Evening News" anchor Dan Rather.

"Everyone in this room would agree that people in this country were misled in terms of the rationale of this war," said Couric, adding that it is "pretty much accepted" that the war in Iraq was a mistake.

"I've never understood why [invading Iraq] was so high on the administration's agenda when terrorism was going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that [Iraq] had no true connection with al Qaeda."

Further, Couric said the Bush administration botched the war effort, calling it "accepted truths" that it erred by "disbanding the Iraq military, and leaving 100,000 Sunni men feeling marginalized and angry...[and] whether there were enough boots on the ground, the feeling that we'd be welcomed as liberators and didn't need to focus as much on security." She added "I'd feel totally comfortable saying any of that at some point, if required, on television."

The former "Today" show anchor traced her discomfort with the administration's march to war back to the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The whole culture of wearing flags on our lapel and saying 'we' when referring to the United States and, even the 'shock and awe' of the initial stages, it was just too jubilant and just a little uncomfortable. And I remember feeling, when I was anchoring the Today show, this inevitable march towards war and kind of feeling like, 'Will anybody put the brakes on this?' And is this really being properly challenged by the right people? And I think, at the time, anyone who questioned the administration was considered unpatriotic and it was a very difficult position to be in."...

The September 4 MRC CyberAlert has a list of Couric's worst bias from the past year, including on Iraq.