FAIR alert: Cheney's Iraq deceptions

[G_j]

www.fair.org/activism/npr-cheney.html

ACTION ALERT:

Cheney's Iraq Deceptions Leave NPR Speechless

January 23, 2004

Vice President Dick Cheney rarely submits to one-on-one interviews, so the chance to question him directly presents a valuable opportunity for journalists. Unfortunately, National Public Radio's Juan Williams failed to challenge Cheney's questionable claims about Iraq on the January 22 broadcast of NPR's Morning Edition.

In response to a question about the administration possibly backing away from its pre-war claims about Iraq's weapons, for example, Cheney reiterated the long-discredited claim that military trailers found in Iraq were Saddam Hussein's so-called mobile bio-weapons labs: "We know, for example, that prior to our going in that he had spent time and effort acquiring mobile biological weapons labs, and we're quite confident he did, in fact, have such a program.

We've found a couple of semi trailers at this point which we believe were, in fact, part of that program. Now it's not clear at this stage whether or not he used any of that to produce or whether he was simply getting ready for the next war. That, in my mind, is a serious danger in the hands of a man like Saddam Hussein, and I would deem that conclusive evidence, if you will, that he did, in fact, have programs for weapons of mass destruction."

In fact, the trailers are anything but "conclusive evidence" of an active unconventional weapons program. The London Observer newspaper (6/15/03) reported that "an official British investigation into two trailers found in northern Iraq has concluded they are not mobile germ warfare labs, as was claimed by Tony Blair and President George Bush, but were for the production of hydrogen to fill artillery balloons, as the Iraqis have continued to insist." A British biological weapons expert who examined the trailers told the Observer, "They are not mobile germ warfare laboratories. You could not use them for making biological weapons. They do not even look like them. They are exactly what the Iraqis said they were-- facilities for the production of hydrogen gas to fill balloons." The hydrogen-producing system, intended to fill balloons that help correct for the effects of wind on artillery, was originally sold to Iraq by the British firm Marconi Command & Control, the paper reported.
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ACTION: Please contact NPR ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin and ask him if he thinks NPR should have challenged Cheney's dubious claims about Iraq. You might also encourage Morning Edition to evaluate the accuracy of Cheney's statements in an upcoming broadcast.

CONTACT:

National Public Radio
Jeffrey Dvorkin, Ombudsman
Phone: [phone]
[e-mail]

Morning Edition
Phone: [phone]
[e-mail]

=================
Bush's Chief WMD Hunter: 'I Don't Think They Existed'
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0123-12.htm

Cheney's Latest Distortions on Iraq 'Evidence'
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0123-02.htm

[KG]

1. anybody think juan williams would challenge a cheney lie?

of course not, thats why he got the interview.

it's telling that the junta leaders rarely talk to any journalist that might call them out on their BS.

that why they tell so many outrageous lies, they know nobody will call them out.

[NJCher]

2. sent mine

Encourage everyone else to do so, too.

Why on earth should our public airwaves continue to give this liar a forum?


Cher

[G_j]

3. thanks

to relentlessly remind them who is listening. (we are)

[G_j]

4. kick

:kick: