(Hat tip to a Daily Kos diary.)
At this point, the errors are so massive and so ongoing that this is no longer just sloppy journalism.
The Washington Post editorial board is intentionally shilling for the Bush administration in an effort to provoke war with Iran. It's what the Post did to help get us into the Iraq war, and now they're doing it again. What other possible excuse is there for the Post editorial board printing informtion they know to be false?
Here's what the Post claimed in today's editorial:
In Iraq -- where American soldiers are dying from Iranian-supplied roadside bombs...Powerful sentence. Only problem? It's not true.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told us this week that there is no evidence that Tehran is behind the road-side bombs in Iraq. None. Zero. Now sure, Bush and Rumsfeld claimed it was true earlier this week. But anyone who actually follows the news knows that the chairman was asked about this the day after and said he'd seen no proof whatsoever to back up the charge.
But now, a few days later, the Washington Post puts the charge out there as not only alleged by the president (wrongfully), but as absolute unrebuttable fact.
Let's review the facts that the Washington Post just couldn't seem to handle:
1. Monday, Bush claims Tehran is behind the IEDs:
Some of the most powerful IEDs we're seeing in Iraq today includes components that came from Iran. Our Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, told the Congress, "Tehran has been responsible for at least some of the increasing lethality of anti-coalition attacks by providing Shia militia with the capability to build improvised explosive devises" in Iraq.2. Tuesday, General Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs, says there is no proof Tehran is behind any of this:
The top U.S. military officer said on Tuesday the United States does not have proof that Iran's government is responsible for Iranians smuggling weapons and military personnel into Iraq.3. Saturday, the Washington Post publishes already-debunked Bush talking points, but now AS UNREBUTTABLE FACT.
President George W. Bush said on Monday components from Iran were being used in powerful roadside bombs used in Iraq, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week that Iranian Revolutionary Guard personnel had been inside Iraq.
Asked whether the United States has proof that Iran's government was behind these developments, Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon briefing, "I do not, sir."
Now, the Post may try to claim that they never said Tehran was behind the IEDs, they just said the devices were "Iranian-supplied" - maybe they came from Iranian, uh, Martians, and not the Irani government - I mean, that's consistent with the Post's wording, isn't it?
Of course, that's not the implication of the editorial - the editorial is based on the Irani government holding a quid pro quo over our head, and thus it implies that the Irani government has charge over the IED supply network, just as Bush and Rumsfeld have claimed, and just as the general has already disproven. Not to mention, we already know Bush and Rumsfeld lied about claiming Tehran was behind the IEDs, so why should the Post take the rest of the Bush's statement, that the parts are coming from Iran at all, as unrebuttable fact?
Seriously, this is beyond a simple error. It is beyond sloppy. This is yellow journalism at its worst. It's worthy of FOX News and the Washington Times. Either the Washington Post is being run by children who don't have a journalistic bone in their bodies, and who watch cartoons all week rather than actually follow the news, or the Washington Post knows what it's doing - it's whoring for the Bush administration in order to get us into another lie of a war.
We are talking about the justification for getting our country into a third war here, and the Washington Post can't seem to get its facts straight - again.
Katherine Graham would be turning over in her grave at what you people have done to her newspaper.
PS As we reported earlier this week, the Brits covered the Iran-IED story last fall and determined it was a hoax.
