It seems that some in Congress are so upset that our troops and their president have achieved what looks like victory in Iraq to seasoned, on-the-ground observers like Michael Yon that they feel compelled to get in their final digs to somehow discredit the war's legitimacy.
One such congressman is Democrat Henry Waxman of California (image originally found at the Washington Post), whose Committee on Oversight and Government Reform decided to re-hash the famous "sixteen words" President Bush used in his January 2003 State of the Union Speech ("The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa").
The conclusion of Waxman's 10-page Memorandum (a PDF at this link) begins by saying:
One of the President's core arguments for going to war against Iraq was that Saddam Hussein was seeking to build nuclear weapons. We now know that one of the pillars of this argument was illegitimate. For more than five years, I have been seeking answers to basic questions about why the President made a false assertion about such a fundamental matter.
Unfortunately for Waxman, who must believe that repeating a lie often enough turns it to truth, the sixteen words were true when Bush stated them, and remain so today.
But Pamela Hess of the Associated Press irresponsibly parroted Waxman's report and his criticism of numerous administration officials for allowing those words into the president's speech. She also repeated the Left's favorite but long since discredited "Bush lied" meme:
Former White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales misled Congress when he claimed the CIA in 2002 approved information that ended up in the 2003 State of the Union speech about Iraq's alleged effort to buy uranium for its nuclear weapons program, a House Democrat said Thursday.
In a memo to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which he chairs, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., also expressed skepticism about assertions by then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that she was unaware of the CIA's doubts about the claim before President George W. Bush's speech.
..... Iraq's alleged attempt to buy uranium was one of the justifications for the Bush administration's decision to go to war. The claim has since been repudiated.
Gosh, this is soooo tiresome.
First "the Bush administration's decision to go to war" wasn't made without consultation; it had congressional authorization. In fact, the contemporaneous headline of the News York Times's story on that authorization called it a "broad mandate."
Second, of course, the "alleged attempt" has not been repudiated. It, or actually they (there were multiple attempts), really happened.
Christopher Hitchens ran down the chronology in a column entitled "The Sixteen Words Were True" at FrontPage in April 2006 (bolds are mine):
In the late 1980s, the Iraqi representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency—Iraq's senior public envoy for nuclear matters, in effect—was a man named Wissam al-Zahawie.
.....At a later 1995 UN special session on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Zahawie was the Iraqi delegate and spoke heatedly about the urgent need to counterbalance Israel's nuclear capacity. At the time, most democratic countries did not have full diplomatic relations with Saddam's regime ..... There was one exception—an Iraqi "window" into the world of open diplomacy—namely the mutual recognition between the Baathist regime and the Vatican. To this very important and sensitive post in Rome, Zahawie was appointed in 1997, holding the job of Saddam's ambassador to the Holy See until 2000.
In February 1999, Zahawie left his Vatican office for a few days and paid an official visit to Niger, a country known for absolutely nothing except its vast deposits of uranium ore. It was from Niger that Iraq had originally acquired uranium in 1981, as confirmed in the Duelfer Report. ..... Italian intelligence (which first noticed the Zahawie trip from Rome) found it difficult to take this view and alerted French intelligence (which has better contacts in West Africa and a stronger interest in nuclear questions). In due time, the French tipped off the British, who in their cousinly way conveyed the suggestive information to Washington. As everyone now knows, the disclosure appeared in watered-down and secondhand form in the president's State of the Union address in January 2003.
..... The Duelfer Report also cites "a second contact between Iraq and Niger," which occurred in 2001, when a Niger minister visited Baghdad "to request assistance in obtaining petroleum products to alleviate Niger's economic problems."
..... The European intelligence services, and the Bush administration, only ever asserted that the Iraqi regime had apparently tried to open (or rather, reopen) a yellowcake trade "in Africa." It has never been claimed that an agreement was actually reached.
Hitchens also noted the following at the Weekly Standard in Septemer 2006 (second-last paragraph at link; bold is mine):
Since the war in Iraq began, two independent British inquiries have firmly reiterated that the original intelligence concerning Niger was sound, and has withstood careful scrutiny. ..... The waters here have been slightly muddied by the production of a crudely forged document dated July 6, 2000, purporting to show Zahawie's seal on an actual agreement for the transfer of uranium. This easily discredited fabrication has allowed many people to dismiss the whole case. But such argument is purely anachronistic: The story of Zahawie's visit was known, and had been passed on by London to Washington, well before the bogus document was circulated. And it was never alleged in George W. Bush's famous 2003 State of the Union address that Iraq had actually inked a deal, only that it had "sought" to do so.
Bush's sixteen words were right in January 2003, and they remain right today. The he-said, she-said attempts in Waxman's Memorandum designed to show that the CIA had told Bush national security officials not to utter what has proven to be the truth in other pre-State of the Union speeches are thus totally irrelevant wastes of time, ink, and bandwidth.
That an Associated Press writer is serving as a dupe, willing or not, in putting down a conniving congressman's false historical marker is a disgrace. Typical, but still a disgrace.
—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters




















Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Their agenda is continuing,
December 21, 2008 - 01:35 ET by bigtimerTheir agenda is continuing, all this is is more propaganda to bring war crimes/criminality to the Bush administration and this war...they will never be happy with a Victory...they hate Pres.Bush with that much passion, and it will not end until they have someone behind bars...
You know the so-called Neo-cons.
Believe me, congressional hearings are going to be star-studded television with all the msm panting with delight.
Makes one puke knowing what is coming on down the road....heck, just listen to the arm of the DNC network, msnbc...they are now non-stop on this theme, especially with VP Cheney of late...with Matthews leading the way, Olbie and ankle-biter Maddow at the heel...they are on the march, it is past sad, it is desgraceful.
Hess by the way, got full of illusions of grandeur by the pressers Rummie had...too bad...I never, ever cared for the self-aggrandizing witch...I watched/listened to her on C-Span, especially when she was in the Wa. Journal from time to time...it really was hard to take...for me anyway.
The next four years are going to be absolute madness.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Prosecute President Bush?
December 21, 2008 - 09:27 ET by allanfWaxman and Levin don't seem to understand they have already won -- President Bush will be out of office in a few days. Their party controls 2 branches of government.
An attempt to prosecute President Bush will create an unimaginably virulent atmosphere in Washington which will make Watergate seem like those halcyon days of yesteryear.
If this were to happen (it
December 21, 2008 - 09:32 ET by Jack BauerIf this were to happen (it won't), even "Republicans" such as McCain, Snow.et al will be forced to declare that they will spend the next four years going after Obama, and that when they get another majority they will reciprocate in kind.
And that is why is will NOT happen. It's also why Bush did not go after Clinton.
An End to Orderly Transition of Government
December 21, 2008 - 11:41 ET by allanfItems one and two go hand in hand.
War crimes
December 21, 2008 - 10:07 ET by DontFeedTheTrollsThose democrats want payback for the impeachment of the War Criminal Clinton. Nothing less than impeachment of Bush will serve.
D
Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.
...and before I sign off
December 21, 2008 - 02:10 ET by bigtimer...and before I sign off for the night, because this does fit right in here...Joe Wilson/Plame connection.
Plus think ahead to further problems since this all happened, Powell and his No. 2 man Armitage knew all about all of this...so did Fitz and he kept the prosection BS up...until he got Scooter...over nothing to do with any of this.
I could go on, but won't...actually enough said.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Response to both of your
December 21, 2008 - 07:22 ET by motherbeltResponse to both of your comments, bt....
We don't need no stinking truth!!
Truth, schmooth!!
What counts is bashing Bush!
bt - David Boies on Libby - Fitz
December 21, 2008 - 13:13 ET by Gary HallDavid Boies (Gore's attorney in Bush v Gore) on H_C on Fox – March 5th, 2007
Those last two sentences of Boies are striking. then he continnued..
(;~> gary
I guess that 550 metric
December 21, 2008 - 03:12 ET by RR GOPI guess that 550 metric tons of yellow cake uranium that Saddam Hussein had stockpiled was to be used as sand for some beach front property of his?
Still, this is something that the President could easily bring up, but why he doesn't is beyond me.
As cash strapped as Saddam was because of the embargoes, I'm sure he could have sold it to someone on the black market if he really wasn't interested in nukes.
Of course, those U.N. inspectors constantly going into Iraq year after year should have been a clue that something was up.
But, all of that is conveniently forgotten.
One of the 24% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 89% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.
Henry Wax Brain
December 21, 2008 - 04:02 ET by GeneralAlI can't wait for the day when Henry Nostrilitus Waxman talks himself into a corner he can't get out from! Here is the jerk who said "So what?" regarding the Clinton's behavior! When he is finally caught with his pants down he'll be saying "So whats the big deal?"
Does Anyone Believe
December 21, 2008 - 06:52 ET by richb313I read this article this morning when I woke up. I am sorry to say I am not surprised. This behaviour is delusional. The refusual to accept reality and to substitute one of your own is patholgical. I am certain thier are medical terms to describe this condition, but I am not a doctor so I will leave that to the professionals. We really need to make sure that these people get the help they deserve. Perhaps a sanity hearing or an intervention is in order. It must be communicable because so many people seem to have developed this condition all clustered around a single location. We must remember to be compasionate and not challenge these peoples perceptions directly. I understand this only causes them to dig thier heels in even more firmly and deny reality even more. Medical help must be obtained at once. Competency hearings must be held to determine if they can continue to live unsupervised outside of institutional care. Nancy Pelosi seems also to have an advance case of this condition.
Someone should contact the CDC. Washington might have to be quaruntined. Would some Doctor or Healthcare professional please assist us with this matter. It is of the upmost urgency. To delay any further would only confirm the liberal misconception of conservatives not having any empathy. Let us come together and prove them wrong.
What's really scary is what
December 21, 2008 - 07:24 ET by motherbeltWhat's really scary is what may be coming.
Imagine the trouble they can get this country into, if they just blindly believe everything The One says, in the same way that they shut out reality when Bush was in office!
Now that's scary!
AP=ahole propagandists.
December 21, 2008 - 07:41 ET by eaglewingz08AP=ahole propagandists. It's like reading pravda and izvestia. And Waxman is such a POS that Congress should continually fly its flag at half mast for having such a low life as a member.
Our society can't. . .
December 21, 2008 - 07:45 ET by WingletDriverthink critically and refuses to do any meaningful research on important subjects. This is the sad state of affairs caused by the NEA and socialists taking over public education.
Waxman
December 21, 2008 - 07:58 ET by jakotaHenry Waxman just might be the ugliest man alive - not only in looks - but in demeanor as well. Shoe slime is more pleasant than this man.
Yeah, what's up with. . .
December 21, 2008 - 08:50 ET by WingletDriverliberals and ugly? They go together like PB & J.
Thanks for all you do
December 21, 2008 - 08:20 ET by Vivaldi5George Orwell once recommended that "we all keep our eyes open and see to it that the lies do not creep out of the newspapers and into the history books." ("As I Please," 17 Nov 1944)
When one sees people like Henry Waxman and Pamela Hess working so hard to get the lies into the history books, I'm glad that people like Christopher Hitchens, Tom Blumer, and the whole NewsBusters team (and many others on the conservative side) are there to say, "Not so fast!"
Thanks, Mr. Blumer, for taking the trouble to keep track of the "sixteen words" controversy, and for refuting it as often as the liars try to make it a 'known fact.'
Need Congressmen with cojones
December 21, 2008 - 08:22 ET by TheHistorianIf the Republicans had any guts, they would circulate a petition of censure against Henry Waxman for the lies he told in his memo. The last of 550 tons of yellow cake was just received in Canada this summer http://www.philly.co... , which puts all of Waxman's memo as a lie. Congressmen should be censured for lying. In fact, what the Republicans ought to do to sandbag the next "ethics" bill is to put in it a $10,000/day fine for each Congressman who lies on the floor, in writing, etc. That would both balance the budget and reduce clowns like Waxman to pauperism, which is what he has actually earned.
As far as AP goes, everyone knows their agenda is so left that they twist in counterclockwise circles. My recommendation is to quit even reading their stuff with just cause.
"What experience and history teach is
this - that people and governments never have learned anything from history,
or acted on principles deduced from it."
G. W. F. Hegel
How do these people get votes?
December 21, 2008 - 08:23 ET by pbthinkerI've said that, without the dishonest press we have, the Democrats couldn't win an election. The beginning of the 16 words "British Intelligence has learned......" continues to be true, to this day. Where is the lie? No one is willing to back people like Waxman into a corner and ask him that question. If that were done, on national television, this would go away in an instant. Apparently, the press feels it's not responsible to protect the President of the United States (only if he's a Republican) from slanderous remarks.
The picture that this presents to me is that, for the next 2 years, the Democrats will continue to lie and deceive the public trying to solidify their gains in the congress. They want power and will continue to do this stuff, with the assistance of the press, to turn people off against all Republicans.
Finally, Waxman is elected every 2 years because he represents a group of Democrats who only want a partisan hack in there representing them. He's patently dishonest, not only in his representations here; but also in his statements on energy and global warming, which he will attack in the same dishonest way.
The Democrats should be ashamed of the way they've conducted themselves, as far as the 16 words are concerned, but they continue to lie and win, so why change now. Without an honest media, there is no need to change strategy.
Election 2008-God's way of showing us that elections count.
Will This Help?
December 21, 2008 - 08:45 ET by Crashhttp://www.howobamag...
"A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument." Hilmar von Campe
STRONG DELUSIONS grip the DemocRATS ...
December 21, 2008 - 10:12 ET by Jayke... on a daily basis. They are assisted in thier delusional thinking by a scheming and plotting PROPAGANDIST media with a clear objective: PROMOTE LIBERALISM at all cost. Truth be DAMNED! The delusion is that they believe they will get away with it. Their SINS will find them out and they will have to give an account for every careless word and OUTRIGHT LIE. Especially while NEWSBUSTERS and other blogs are around. GO GET 'EM NB!
How low does a politcal party need to go before ...
December 21, 2008 - 10:41 ET by LJSALAZAR... it becomes a tyranny? I feel like I'm being lied to all time by the media and the dhimmicrats. I consider this a form of oppression. It's an oppression of the mind. What we need is a truth revolution. You can consider me a patriot for truth.
Yes, it's even on fact
December 21, 2008 - 09:58 ET by Dave DYes, it's even on fact check.
http://www.factcheck.org/bushs_16_words_on_iraq_uranium.html
Of course fact check also has the Shinseki thing and they got that wrong too. I'm surprised they're doing this instead of focusing on their more immediate goal which is to give Obama credit for success in Iraq.
The Inmates are Running the Asylum
December 21, 2008 - 12:15 ET by nofateIt's sad but true that the absolute insane, communist leaning, deranged Bush hating left is taking the reigns of power in less than one month now. They have now been given the means to begin fully dismantling the republican form of government left to us by our founders. It is truly a sad time for all of us that believe in property rights, capitalism, and freedom. Whether we emerge from this in four or eight years, the whole of American society and our way of life will be changed forever, not only from his actions and those of congress, but for one or two more generations at a minimum due to the two to four SCOTUS appointments he will make. This has been their goal since the turn of the century when TR, and Wilson began implementing the long march agenda on the American public, i.e. make the "reactionary", "backward" thinking portion of the electorate appear to be crazy and out of touch with reality. I think there are enough of us though that will fight this however we can, that they will fall short of their ultimate goal of having the state control it all. But we will probably look a lot more like those western European systems than not. God bless us all!
"The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."
michaelyon-online.com
WAXMAN LIES
December 21, 2008 - 12:25 ET by JWFCongress declares war and funds wars. The President runs the war.
Congress passed the public law 207-143 on 16Oct2002, the authorization of the use of force against Iraq. That was 2 months prior to the State of the Union speech. Henry Waxman was a signatory to that law and voted yea.
Waxman indicts only himself.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
Hey Tom - on Iraq's nuclear quest..
December 21, 2008 - 13:00 ET by Gary HallHey Tom - on Iraq's nuclear quest..
Other than the fact that darn near every pertinent member of Clinton's team, Bill Clinton, himself, Al Gore, Gen. Wes Clarke, Albright, Cohen, etc., and notable Democratic members of congress (loved by the MSM) like Sen. John Edwards, had come out and said that Bush had received the same information that the last administration had and had come to the same conclusion - there were many stalwart believers, in both parties, to the very end. Most in the Clinton and Bush administrations held the view that Saddam had a nuclear program to build nukes and had stated so publicly during the 2002-2004 period, but had not pulled it off yet; but there were exceptions.
Take Sen. Carl Levin, who in late 2005 still held the line:
Justice------
December 21, 2008 - 13:17 ET by Roscoe MendagoWaxman and those with like minds should be awakened one "cold" morning by someone with a green face.
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than him. John Stuart Mill---
http://www.moonbatte...
December 21, 2008 - 13:28 ET by GregEhttp://www.moonbatte...
Waxman is just ...
December 21, 2008 - 14:27 ET by SentryDanWaxman is just another one of the village idiots who continues to run his mouth. He like Dodd, Kennedy, Kerry, Reid, Pelosi, etc. like to hear themselves rant. I'm willing to bet that they all have a tv set tuned to each of their liberal media outlets just so they can listen to themselves.
I truly believe that not one of these liberal politicians honors or has honored the oath of office they took when they were sworn it.
Remember folks, Freedom isn't Free. It was bought with the blood and sacrifice of the men and women who are serving and who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
For those who fought for it, Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.
Ah, the irony
December 21, 2008 - 14:33 ET by acumenWe must stand up to governments that persecute their own people, and reaffirm our unwavering commitment to fight all crimes against humanity and the efforts to hide them from the rest of the world. - Henry Waxman