Schieffer on Bush's Iraq Lies: "I still give them the benefit of the doubt"

[NNN0LHI]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200512030003

Schieffer on Bush administration's prewar claims: "I still give them the benefit of the doubt"

In an interview on the December 1 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, CBS Evening News anchor and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer noted that while the reason given by the Bush administration for invading Iraq "proved to be wrong," he still gives the administration "the benefit of the doubt," adding, "I don't think they deliberately misled people."

From the December 1 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning:

SCHIEFFER: But when you come right down to it, and, I mean, I always have to tell you where I'm coming from. I mean, in the very beginning, when they told me that Saddam Hussein had a nuclear weapon or was building one, I thought we had to go in and take it away from him. I thought there was no other choice for the president to make. But it turns out that was not correct. Whether -- I still give them the benefit of the doubt. I don't think they deliberately misled people. But the fact is, the reason they gave for going in proved to be wrong.

Though Schieffer appears to have made up his mind about the issue, there is mounting evidence that the Bush administration did, in fact, mislead the country by withholding and distorting prewar intelligence, as Media Matters for America has noted.

[peaches2003]

1. Too Bad

I'm sorry to read this. I have always liked Bob Schieffer, but will no longer be watching him on CBS News or FTN.

[kentuck]

2. There's no doubt in my mind who benefitted from the war....

So I don't give the benefit of the doubt.

[JNelson6563]

3. The term "special kind of stupid"

comes to mind here.

[Call me Deacon Blues]

4. Just one more example of our emasculated press

All of them have been "pals" with the Washington establishment for so long that they don't know how to do their job any more. Either that, or like Andrea Mitchell, they're married to the establishment, or like Judith Miller, they're using (and being used) by the establishment, or like Schieffer himself (whose brother is a DC insider) they ARE the establishment. Believe nothing coming out of Washington.

[applegrove]

5. There are cabals within cabals. Someone like Rove would not care

one wit about the truth. Yet he read the intel in the basement and put stuff on top of the pile in the year leading up to the war.

I'm sure some of them were deluded. Some of them were lead. Some of them knew better but didn't care. Whyever would someone plant Niger forgeries if they thought there was enough info to go into Iraq?

[peekaloo]

6. Is his brother still the Ambassador to Australia?

[Mend]

11. Are his children and grandchildren, nieces, and nephews,

serving our country in the military?

[Karmadillo]

7. One rises to the top in the media world by proving over and over again

that one is willing to say whatever is necessary to support the anti-democratic policies of the ruling elite, no matter how disastrous those policies might be for the rest of the country or the rest of the world. Remember Schieffer is the scum who couldn't bring himself to ask Bush a question on the environment during the domestic issues debate with Kerry. He preferred to focus on the candidates relation with their wives and other crucial issues.

[Thirtieschild]

8. Where is Walter Cronkite when we need him?

I mourn the loss of the CBS I once knew.

[Straight Shooter]

9. It's sad to watch the deterioration of what was once a sharp mind. n/t

[dchill]

10. Once again, Bob Schieffer misses a couple of points:

1. It doesn't matter what Bob Schieffer thinks.
2. It doesn't even have to have been deliberate to have been illegal or impeachable. There were plenty of warnings and plenty of serious doubts on the part of plenty of intelligence professionals about the quantity and quality of Saddams "WMDs".
3. The Bush administration has made a habit of reckless and irresponsible "decision-making" that serves only to further enrich the already far-too-wealthy. Not one single good decision has come out of this White House that represents the interest of or keeps faith with the American people.

OK, that's three, which is technically more than "a couple", but there you have it. Bob Schieffer can be such an ass. He can call it being "fair-minded" but I believe it's just disingenuous. When you withhold and distort, you lie, Bob.