Weapons of mass deception

Bill Clinton lies about getting a hummer and gets hauled through impeachment hearings. George Bush lies about weapons of mass destruction to justify going to war and the media yawn, even when a smoking gun documenting the deception surfaces.

What the hell’s going on?

On May 1 the Sunday Times of London revealed documents indicating that, at the same time the Bush administration was publicly saying it sought a diplomatic solution to the problem of Saddam Hussein, it had already made a secret decision to invade Iraq — even if it had to “fix” a few facts to justify that invasion.

Based on copies of secret memos it obtained, the Times reported that in a July 2002 meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top intelligence and military advisers, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said that, although Bush had already apparently decided to invade Iraq, the case for war was “thin” because “Saddam was not threatening his neighbors, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran.”

Far be it from the Bushies to worry about trifles like that. If reality doesn’t justify policy, then adjust reality.

According to the Times, meeting minutes show that the head of Britain’s intelligence service — fresh from high-level meetings in Washington — told Blair that in order to justify Bush’s decision to attack, “the intelligence and the facts were being fixed around the policy.”

If you’ve heard none of this, well, you can be forgiven.

The U.S. media’s coverage of this issue has been underwhelming, to say the least, which would explain why you might not have heard about a May 5 letter to Bush signed by 89 U.S. representatives. Rep. John Conyers of Detroit was the chief author of that letter, which, among other things, asks Bush flat-out: “Was there a coordinated effort with the U.S. intelligence community and/or British officials to ‘fix’ the intelligence and facts around the policy as the leaked document states?”

As of Monday, the administration had not responded to the query.

“The silence is deafening,” Conyers tells News Hits.

But the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee is determined to press the issue. Noting that no one has refuted the legitimacy of the leaked documents, Conyers calls the revelations potentially “damning,” and, if true, reveal monumental abuse of power.

Conyers is also disturbed that the mainstream media has so far “just rolled over” when it comes to reporting on this issue.

“It’s the 600-pound gorilla at the table that no one has noticed,” Conyers says.

In defense of our fellow journalists, News Hits feels compelled to point out that investigating blow jobs is way easier and infinitely more fun than uncovering the duplicity used to justify a war that has cost 1,600 American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars.

Despite a lack of interest from the press, Conyers wants some answers.

Creation of a fact-finding delegation that would go to London is being considered. Either way, Conyers says, he intends to press the inquiry.

“When 89 members of Congress ask the president for a response to questions, we’re not going to just go away,” Conyers says. “We need to get a detailed response.”