Bob Woodward: "The only way to find out if (WMD) really existed is to get on the ground."

[sabra]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070228/ts_alt_afp/japanusiraqwarmedia_070228155825

US reporter urges more aggressive media

<snip>

The celebrated Washington Post reporter said the media should have done more to verify whether Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein had secret weapons as alleged by US
President George W. Bush as a reason to go to war.

"We should have been much more aggressive," Woodward told a conference in Tokyo.

"I've thought what I could have done," he said. "The only way to find out if (weapons of mass destruction) really existed is to get on the ground."

But he said the round-the-clock deadlines of the modern media were hampering investigative journalism.

"It's a crazy media environment. We need to slow it down. We need weeks, months or even years to work on stories," Woodward said.

[Jacobin]

1. Poor guy. He's soooo 2003

Pretending that even if Iraq had WMDs that this justifies an invasion, attempted conquest and attempted occupation.

A very slight alteration from the RW talking points on their 'excuse' to invade.

[shain from kane]

2. "We need weeks, months or even years to" cover up stories. Plame information

withheld until after the time when it would have no effect on elections.

[vireo]

8. Don't forget the warrantless wiretapping story

I guess the NYT was just trying to verify it. :sarcasm:

[LSK]

3. MAYBE REPORTING ON WHAT HANS BLIX WAS TELLING YOU????

YOU KNOW, THE GUY WHO WAS ACTUALLY THERE AND FINDING NOTHING???????????

:grr:

[BOSSHOG]

5. Let's see

Hans was ON THE GROUND wasn't he?? Gosh bob, I'm just an old fart retired Sailor living in South Mississippi and I figured it out years ago.

[coalition_unwilling]

9. Saddam Hussein's brother-in-law defected to Jordan in the mid-

1990s and was extensivley debriefed by Western intelligence at the time. During debriefings, SH's BIL told debriefers that he had personally given the order to destroy ALL REMAININING STOCKPILES OF IRAQI WMD after the end of the "first Gulf War". This might explain why Colin Powell, as late as January 2001, was saying that SH had no WMD capability and that strategy of containment was working, a fact conveniently forgotten by the corporate whore press as they beat the drums for war.

[BOSSHOG]

10. I love to aggravate

the flag wavers with:

Clinton got rid of Iraq's WMD and there would not have been a terrorist attack on 9-11 if Clinton had been president because Clinton did not need a terrorist attack and had no desire to let such a thing happen.

[walldude]

7. No shit... Woodward is desperate to salvage his

credibility.. hehe too late asshole.

[endarkenment]

4. Asshole

ASSHOLE

The UN inspection teams were on the ground, brainiac - on the ground and verifying that every 'absolutely no doubt certain' claim of the vile administration was false. An honest reporter could have reported on that BEFORE the criminal cabal kicked the UN out.

[MADem]

6. Get on the ground, eh, Bob? And, what? Plant it there, for your government and corporate masters?

Wow, such a concept...Mister Suckup lecturing the world on how to be "Dan Ratheresque"--gee, we remember Dan, the guy who reported from Vietnam with a flak jacket and a steel pot on his head?

He didn't need "weeks, months or years" to report on stories. He got off his ass and got over there.

Maybe Bob could take some modern day lessons from Jill Carroll, too.

But hey, no fancy hotel suite, no entourage, and no smarmy, silken access to the corridors of power, ya CIA mole!

The man is just passe. His finest hour happened back in the Nixon administration, and it's been all downhill from there.

No doubt Nixon is saving him a seat by the fire....

[Vinnie From Indy]

11. Give it up Bob! You have the scarlet "W" brand

You are an obvious BushCo shill and have been since the beginning. It is beyond reason to believe that you "didn't" know that this war was being created out of thin air.

Woodward's attempt to regain credibility is as pathetic as Sandra Day O'Connor running around lamenting her 2000 vote to install King Smirky the 1st as our "Dear Leader". The shame and dishonor that they earned will hang around their necks throughout history.