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.”
HOLY MOLY - this woman is the face of CBS news and here is her insulated, very incurious and weirdly uninformed take on the most important story of the day…”everyone in this room would agree that people were misled” and it’s “pretty much accepted,” that the war was a mistake. She “never understood” about Iraq?
Well, if it’s “pretty much accepted,” that the war was a mistake, that would be thanks in large part to the media machine that has done a great deal to help people forget why we went in there in the first place, a machine that has reported the things it has chosen to report, and left the rest to go unremarked upon. MUST we give a refresher to Ms. Couric? MUST we remind her that it was the policy of the United States ever since - under Bill Clinton - we established the Iraq Liberation Act in which we stated our intention to depose Saddam Hussein, not only because he’d tried to assassinate an American President (remember? - scroll down the link) but because we believed, the world believed, everyone believed - St. Bill Clinton, and his holy chorus believed - that Saddam had a huge stockpile of WMD, and in a post 9/11 world, Ms. Couric, any president - ANY president - would have been stupid, foolhardy, irresponsible and remiss NOT to go after Saddam Hussein.
Are people’s memories really that short? Does Katie not remember that President Bush went to the UN and talked about much more than WMD as a reason to liberate Iraq. He laid out NUMEROUS reasons, completely SPELLED THEM OUT for you, based on the intelligence he had - intelligence, btw, which Mrs. Clinton said in 2003 was “consistant with what we saw in the White House” back when she and Bill were co-presiding. Are you the least bit curious, Ms. Couric?
1. Iraq’s government openly praised the September 11th attacks on America
2. Iraq shelters and supports terrorist organizations
3. Saddam Hussein has an appetite for nuclear weapons
4. Saddam likely possesses biological and chemical weapons
5. Saddam’s repression of the Iraqi people
6. Saddam’s Abuse of Children
7. Violence against women
8. Iraq has not returned prisoners
9. Saddam possesses prohibited missiles
10. Weapons inspectors have been shut out of Iraq for four years
Invading Iraq took out Saddam, liberated a tyrannized people…we’ve had difficulty helping the Iraqi’s to their feet - after 35 years of tyranny, torture and subjugation it’s not easy to get people to trust themselves and each other. Mistakes have been made, for certain. But is Katie Couric really going to say that it was a “mistake” to do these things, especially based on the intel we had? It seems to me that if anyone but President Bush had led this invasion, the press’ take on it would be very different. If a President Clinton had done it, we’d be hearing stories about whether or not he (or she) should be added to Mt. Rushmore. No, I’m not exaggerating.
So, recap: from 1998 to 2003, the liberation of Iraq was the stated policy of the United States Government. Everyone believed Saddam had WMD. After 9/11, such a one - so armed - could not be permitted to remain in power.
Ms. Couric, instead of opining on this with nothing but your comfortable social clique narrative behind you, why not get a little curious and find out who gave Bill Clinton all that bad intel, to start with? Where did it come from and why? That’s a question I never see anyone in the press wonder about.
Jonah Goldberg has more thoughts on Couric’s remarks.
Update on good news in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Powerline has a good piece linking to the story of what Congressman Kline - who knows a thing or two about the military - found when he went to Iraq.
“The security situation there is just truly amazing. Just amazing,” he said in a telephone interview. Kline said the Marine battalion commander there told the lawmakers that violence is way down.
“One of the great advantages of going is you can look and get a sense of what the atmosphere is,” Kline said. “People are going about their business, the shops are open, they’re walking around the street.”
You may as well go read it there; you won’t read it on any page one. I doubt it will lead any news programs.
Others weighing in: Pajamas Media has a good round up
amused cynic
September 26th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Couric Weighs In…
PJM ROUNDUP: Speaking at the National Press Club Tuesday evening, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric stated, “Everyone in this room would agree that people in this country were misled in terms of the rationale of this war,” adding that……
September 26th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Anchoress:
I think you mean 1998 to 2003.
But it is true that people like Couric seem to be suffering from amnesia. I remember ABC doing a report on Saddam’s ties with Osama back in 1999 when Bush was still the Governor of Texas.
The following is from the American Thinker and it is about Zinni’s conversion to anti war General. This is what the General was saying back in Feb 2000:
Nevertheless, in February of 2000, long before President Bush assumed office, Zinni felt confident enough to provide a strikingly familiar threat assessment on Iraq�to the Senate Armed Services Committee:
# �Iraq remains the most significant near—term threat to U.S. interests in the Arabian Gulf region.� This is primarily due to its large conventional military force, pursuit of WMD [emphasis mine], oppressive treatment of Iraqi citizens, refusal to comply with United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) …
# �Despite claims that WMD efforts have ceased, Iraq probably is continuing clandestine nuclear research, retains stocks of chemical and biological munitions, …� Even if Baghdad reversed its course and surrendered all WMD capabilities, it retains the scientific, technical, and industrial infrastructure to replace agents and munitions within weeks or months. [Emphasis mine]
# �The Iraqi regime’s high regard for WMD and long—range missiles is our best indicator that a peaceful regime under Saddam Hussein is unlikely.
# �… extremists may turn to WMD in an effort to …overcome improved U.S. defenses against conventional attack.� Detecting plans for a specific WMD attack is extremely difficult, making it likely such an event would occur without warning. [Emphasis mine]
# �Extremists like Usama bin Laden …benefit from the global nature of communications that permits recruitment, fund raising, and direct connections to sub—elements worldwide.� Terrorists are seeking more lethal weaponry to include chemical, biological, radiological, and even nuclear components with which to perpetrate more sensational attacks. [Emphasis mine]
# �Three (Iraq, Iran and Sudan) of the seven recognized state—sponsors of terrorism [emphasis mine] are within this potentially volatile area [CENTCOM], and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has been sanctioned by the UN Security Council for its harboring of Usama bin Laden.
September 26th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
[...] III: This is turning into an all Katie night. The Anchoress weighs [...]
September 26th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
*hug*
Thank you, Ma’am.
I know we don’t always agree, but I was starting to feel like someone yanked out of one time line and dropped into another; wondering if I was the only person who remembered Iraq in the news before 9/11 was even a thought….
September 27th, 2007 at 10:59 am
If I may paraphrase Moe Howard … “Katie Couric is a thimble-headed Gerkin!”
September 27th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
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November 7th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
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