http://thechronicleherald.ca/Opinion/516663.htmlIN THE MONTHS leading up to U.S. President George W. Bush’s ill-fated invasion of Iraq, war-mongering media pundits eagerly pumped out the propaganda fed to them by the White House about Saddam’s alleged weapons of mass destruction.
When UN weapons inspectors were unable to unearth any concrete evidence of an Iraqi WMD program, and the Security Council voted against the resolution to sanction a military intervention, Bush and his willing cheerleaders were undeterred.
"Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof — the smoking gun — that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud," said the president, and the Republican columnists dutifully cranked out the requisite fear-mongering. By the time the Pentagon unleashed the first of its "shock and awe" air strikes against Baghdad, more than 80 per cent of Americans were convinced that the war was a necessary act of self-defence on the part of the U.S.-led coalition.
After six days of one-sided combat and the rapid conquest of Iraqi territory, some American journalists began asking when they would begin seeing evidence of Saddam’s deadly arsenal. As U.S. special forces had been hastily deployed deep behind Iraqi lines to secure vital oil infrastructure, the more inquisitive members of the media wondered aloud why the same tactics were not used to eliminate the alleged WMDs. U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld curtly diminished those doubting Thomases by categorically stating to the press, "We know where they (WMDs) are. We will find them."
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