Bush Administration Made 935 False Statements Prelude to Iraq According To Study

The report has accused Bush and his aids of publicly making 935 false statements about the security risk that Iraq posed two years after the attacks that took place on September 11, 2001. “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 report read. This study was conducted by both the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism. Asides from Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice have also made false statements about Iraq that accumulates into the total 935 false statements. According to the study, Bush made 232 false statements about Iraq and Saddam Hussein possessing WMDs. Bush made 28 false statements about Iraq’s link to Al-Qaeda. Colin Powell had made 244 false statements about weapons and 10 with the link between Iraq and Al-Qaeda. Rumsfeld and Press Secretary Ari Fleischer made 109 false statements each. “It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al Qaeda,” the report had read as it also cited multiple government reports. “Some journalists – indeed, even some entire news organizations – have since acknowledged that their coverage those prewar months was too far deferential and uncritical,” the report states. The study also included a statement by Dick Cheney back in 2002 at the national convention of Veterans of Foreign Wars. “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction,” Cheney said to the convention. He added: “There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.”