Proof the corporate media is lying when they tell us that everyone thought there were WMDs in Iraq

[Bjorn Against]

It is always important to keep up with current events, but we should never forget that sometimes it is important to look back at past media coverage that led up to the war in Iraq.

When the talking heads that run our news shows are asked why they did not ask more questions about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq before the war the inevitable excuse is always something along the lines of "well no credible sources denied the existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction".

This is a flat out lie and they know it.

Scott Ritter was the former chief UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq, a fact that I believe qualifies him as having far more expertise on the issue of Saddam's arsenal than almost anyone else. He knew that Saddam Hussein did not have Weapons of Mass Destruction before the war. He was even interviewed before the war started, although the interview questions sounded more like questions from a McCarthy hearing than questions that really got to the question of whether or not Saddam had weapons.

Here are a few sample questions from one interview in Time.

"Who paid for the trip? Were any of your expenses paid for by the Iraqis?"

"Some on the right call you the new Jane Fonda, and joke about what you'll call your exercise video."

"Are you being investigated for espionage?"

"Did you write a report, at the time you were doing inspections in Votkinsk in the Soviet Union in 1988 that said the group your wife worked for was full of spies?"

"Did you get any spying done on your trip?"

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,351165,00.html

Despite being attacked mercilessly in the media however, Ritter kept speaking out and then the smears got even worse.

Here is a clip from an article on CNN.com:

ALBANY, New York (CNN) -- Scott Ritter, a former U.S. Marine and U.N. weapons inspector who has been an outspoken critic of a possible war with Iraq, was arrested in 2001 and charged with a misdemeanor after allegedly communicating with an undercover officer posing as a 16-year-old girl, a source close to the investigation has told CNN.

Ritter confirmed the arrest in an interview with CNN Wednesday but declined to confirm any detail about the nature of the case.

"The facts are simple," Ritter said. "I was arrested in June of 2001. I was charged with a Class B misdemeanor and I stood before a judge in the town of Colonie in a public session with my wife by my side."

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/22/ritter.arrest/

Sounds pretty bad, Scott Ritter might be a child molestor. It is not until you get a full eight paragraphs into the article that you find out that the case was dismissed and his record expunged. The case is sealed so very few people know all the facts of the case.

For the media to bring up charges from two years earlier which had already been dismissed, just two monthes before the Iraq war began reeks of a smear job.

The media knew that Scott Ritter was an extremely credible source on the issue of WMDs, yet they tried to tear him apart with allegations completely unrelated to the charge Ritter was making.

Ritter has now been proven to be right on the issue of Weapons of Mass Destruction but he has disappeared completely from the media. They know that his story is proof that the media not only did not ask questions about the possibility of Weapons of Mass Destruction, but they deliberately smeared those who were putting out a case against the Bush Administrations lies.

We must always remember the corporate media is responsible for this war, they deliberately misrepresented the truth and they smeared all those who dared ask questions.

Every major television news network has blood on its hands today.