Quantifiable mendaciousness: 935 lies

Statistics can be a bore--unless one is talking about baseball, of course--but sometimes they serve an important purpose.

Since the very outset of the administration's propaganda campaign to whip up support for an invasion of Iraq, critics have been saying, quite simply, they're lying.  It took until well into the occupation for that sentiment to become pretty much the accepted truth.  They lied.

Now, the depth of the administration's mendaciousness has been quantified.  They lied 935 times on 532 occasions, to be exact.

The figures come from a just-released study of administration statements about Iraq during the two-year period following 9/11.  The study was conducted by the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism.  You can read the full study and report, The War Card:  Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War, at CPI's website.

If I'm right that they lied is now the accepted wisdom, it may not seem important to put a number on their sanguinary deceitfulness.  There is the possibility that the release of this report, which I do think is important, will rekindle some of the debate over this administration's inherent dishonesty.

In any event, it is useful to have such a handy index to what was a very complex--and successful--campaign to manipulate public opinion.  It will make for an easy-to-understand chart at the impeachment hearings and later at the war crimes trial.

Some more links about the study:

AP Report 1/23/08 - Study: Bush, Other Officials Issued Hundreds of False Statements Before Iraq Invasion

NY Times 1/23/08 (A pathetically insufficient report - Website assembles?  What kind of verb is that for a headline?) - Web Site Assembles U.S. Prewar Claims

Comments

[TD]

Welcome back, Paul. Thanks for all that you do.