An inconvenient truth
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An inconvenient truth
The only thing that's worse than forgetting the past is forgetting the recent past, as many journalists have done. Most journalists who pimped relentless for the war in Iraq and for the powers that be have paid no penalty for a mistake that killed many people. Former Washington Post investigative reporter turned novelist Lorraine Adams explains why she based a character on Bob Woodward in her latest novel:
[I] would talk to the people who have no power and who are affected by the people in power, and that gives a much more useful picture of the way policy affects the human soul. Woodward, who started as a reporter who did that, who knocked on doors and talked to people on the ground, became a celebrity. In becoming a celebrity, he invariably saw it as a much better deal for him, in terms of making money, to talk to other celebrities inside Washington: presidents, their chiefs of staff, vice presidents, their chiefs of staff. We have learned that Deep Throat was an FBI official, not an agent, an official. He was on, what we call, the 7th Floor. I think Woodward’s capitulation to interviewing people in limousines, as opposed to people on the subway, is something I feel is partly responsible for the fact that we ended up in Iraq. Because so many reporters, Judith Miller is the most egregious of them, spoke to Scooter Libby and some other higher officials, and never spoke to intelligence people on the ground. They swallowed wholesale Colin Powell at the U.N., and [ultimately] their limousine reporting meant that 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives. I don’t think anything can be so neatly drawn, but I think in this case it can be neatly drawn.
I'm sorry. This is the Age of Obama -- what was I thinking. No looking back allowed!
Comment removed.
Man, what a pathetic bunch of commenters on this blog. I mean really, no one does anything but anonymously criticize a Pulitzer Prize winning author and a blog that is widely respected across the country. Anonymously of course. Losers, all of you. And pu55ies too.— Les Ismore- Mannie, can you come up with a new theme for crying out loud. I mean every freakin' day you show how stupid you are by not knowing the difference between a blog and a news item. You are probably the most pathetic of all. What a loser...or maybe Billy Atkinson ties with you. Nothing ever relevent except your incessant whining....Losers— Les Ismore
"Anonymously of course. Losers, all of you." Oh the irony. So people are losers for criticizing Will, but you're a picture of bravery for anonymously criticizing them? Got it. Another epic logic fail for Les.— RG- I'm not criticizing Will for not posting my favorite topic of the day nitwit. All most of the wingnut posters do here is criticize the topic selection and whine all freakin' day. It takes 0 balls to criticize someone who puts themselves out there every freakin' day. As I said pu55ies one and all.— Les Ismore
- "All most of the wingnut posters do here is criticize the topic selection and whine all freakin' day" I guess you don't see the irony of Will complainign about the lack of journalism yet posting incessantly about inconsequential figures like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. Postings that simply serve as a sales pitch for his book. In other words, shortbus, Will's a hypocritical self promoter.— RG
- And of course when has Manny Trillo, Billy Atkinson, Refounder or the rest of them ever made one cogent point here. Classless trolls in my humble opinion. RG you are the ultimate troll but at least you try to stay on topic and debate. These other pus55ies just come here to throw stones anonymously of course. They need to get out from their moms basement and see the light of day once in a while.— Les Ismore
- Inconsequential figures like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck??? YOu gotta be kidding me. One was almost vice president of the United States and the other is trying to create an insurrection using the weak minded and uninformed. Get real RG.— Les Ismore
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- and midgets is a font of knowledge...hahaha...— Les Ismore
- "One was almost vice president of the United States and the other is trying to create an insurrection using the weak minded and uninformed." Are they writing or voting on laws, Les? Or are they just convienent boogeyman for Will to sell books?— RG
- "It takes 0 balls to criticize someone who puts themselves out there every freakin' day." Yet you criticized President Bush, and still blame him a year and a half after he left office. Pot meet kettle. Logical consistency Les, look into it.— RG
- One would LOVe to be in government and the other just pretends that he wants to overthrow it RG. Kind of like Rand Paul but scarier. When you have right wing rags announcing that they have the scoop on Sarah Palin's latest facebook post, as much as I hate to say it, she has influence in our politics.— Les Ismore
- While I certainly agree that the supposedly left wing media did a poor job asking questions and challenging officials, I think the bigger problem is our population. The simple truth is that 75% of Americans supported this war and most of them couldn't tell you the difference between a Sunni and a Shi'ite. In other words, journalists sold idiots what they wanted to hear. Liberal politicians were afraid of the poll numbers and, like cowards, backed down to Dubya. The problem is that Americans who have no idea what they're talking about have opinions and pollsters take them seriously. The real problem is us, and we got what we wanted.— Contract Aaron
- " Yet you criticized President Bush, and still blame him a year and a half after he left office." And your point is....?— Les Ismore
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