"In neoconservative eyes, the Iraq war was not about terrorism; it was about the pivotal relationship between Saddam Hussein and the assertion of American power," Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke observed in their book, America Alone. "Hussein provided, in effect, the opportunity to clarify American global objectives and moral obligations."
The PNAC architects saw Hussein as a blot on American global dominance because he had survived standoffs with the first Bush administration and the Clinton administration. His removal would demonstrate that overt resistance to America's permanent status as the world's uni-polar power had dire consequences.
Hesitant Nation
But the American public was less eager to support, either in treasure or blood, such an open declaration of imperial designs. So, the invasion of Iraq was repackaged as defensive, to protect the American people from even a more devastating 9/11 attack.
In late 2002 and early 2003, the Bush administration and its media allies also demonstrated their dominance of the domestic political scene, unleashing a war fever inside the United States in support of Bush's Iraq War claims.
The few voices of political dissent, such as former Vice President Al Gore, were drowned out in ridicule or under accusations of treason. When a singer in Dixie Chicks dared criticize Bush, trucks were driven over the group's CDs.
Cautionary advice from longtime allies, such as France and Germany, was greeted with fury, too. "French fries" were renamed "freedom fries," and Bush enthusiasts poured French wine into gutters.
The U.S. national press corps also bent under these waves of jingoism. The New York Times and the Washington Post put stories supporting Bush's Iraq War claims on the front page while burying or killing articles that questioned the case for war. MSNBC's Phil Donahue was fired for allowing too many war critics on his show.
Even when Bush's pre-war WMD claims proved false, the U.S. news media played down disclosures that put Bush in a negative light. In 2005, major news outlets shunned revelations in the so-called Downing Street Memo, which quoted the chief of British intelligence as saying in July 2002 that the pro-war intelligence was being "fixed."
Similarly, in early 2006, the big U.S. newspapers were slow to react to another leaked British memo of the Jan. 31, 2003, Oval Office meeting at which Bush plotted ways to trick and bully the world into supporting the Iraq invasion. The memo, which appeared in the British press in early February 2006, finally reached the New York Times' front page almost two months later, on March 27, 2006.
Rice Infatuation
Now, the U.S. news media is turning a blind eye to Rice's revamped war rationale. There has been virtually no commentary in the mainstream press about the extraordinary assertion by a Secretary of State that the United States has the right to invade other countries as a means to eradicate something as vague as "an ideology of hate."
Far more press attention is paid to Rice's stylish clothing and her future job prospects, from her professed interest in becoming National Football League commissioner to speculation that she will be part of the next Republican presidential ticket.
Indeed, the attitude of the major U.S. news media - by not objecting to Rice's hazy doctrine - seems to be that there is nothing morally or legally wrong with invading a country that isn't threatening the United States.
For instance, Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt, who beat the drum often for the Iraq War, penned an opinion piece criticizing congressional Democrats for not embracing Bush's vision of striking out preemptively as part of "a long struggle" against "a new totalitarian ideology" in the Islamic world.
"The Democrats implicitly reject almost everything the Bush administration says about how Sept. 11 changed the world, or our perception of it," Hiatt wrote in an article entitled "Democrats' Narrow Vision." [Washington Post, April 3, 2006]
The PNAC architects saw Hussein as a blot on American global dominance because he had survived standoffs with the first Bush administration and the Clinton administration. His removal would demonstrate that overt resistance to America's permanent status as the world's uni-polar power had dire consequences.
Hesitant Nation
But the American public was less eager to support, either in treasure or blood, such an open declaration of imperial designs. So, the invasion of Iraq was repackaged as defensive, to protect the American people from even a more devastating 9/11 attack.
The few voices of political dissent, such as former Vice President Al Gore, were drowned out in ridicule or under accusations of treason. When a singer in Dixie Chicks dared criticize Bush, trucks were driven over the group's CDs.
Cautionary advice from longtime allies, such as France and Germany, was greeted with fury, too. "French fries" were renamed "freedom fries," and Bush enthusiasts poured French wine into gutters.
The U.S. national press corps also bent under these waves of jingoism. The New York Times and the Washington Post put stories supporting Bush's Iraq War claims on the front page while burying or killing articles that questioned the case for war. MSNBC's Phil Donahue was fired for allowing too many war critics on his show.
Even when Bush's pre-war WMD claims proved false, the U.S. news media played down disclosures that put Bush in a negative light. In 2005, major news outlets shunned revelations in the so-called Downing Street Memo, which quoted the chief of British intelligence as saying in July 2002 that the pro-war intelligence was being "fixed."
Similarly, in early 2006, the big U.S. newspapers were slow to react to another leaked British memo of the Jan. 31, 2003, Oval Office meeting at which Bush plotted ways to trick and bully the world into supporting the Iraq invasion. The memo, which appeared in the British press in early February 2006, finally reached the New York Times' front page almost two months later, on March 27, 2006.
Rice Infatuation
Now, the U.S. news media is turning a blind eye to Rice's revamped war rationale. There has been virtually no commentary in the mainstream press about the extraordinary assertion by a Secretary of State that the United States has the right to invade other countries as a means to eradicate something as vague as "an ideology of hate."
Far more press attention is paid to Rice's stylish clothing and her future job prospects, from her professed interest in becoming National Football League commissioner to speculation that she will be part of the next Republican presidential ticket.
Indeed, the attitude of the major U.S. news media - by not objecting to Rice's hazy doctrine - seems to be that there is nothing morally or legally wrong with invading a country that isn't threatening the United States.
For instance, Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt, who beat the drum often for the Iraq War, penned an opinion piece criticizing congressional Democrats for not embracing Bush's vision of striking out preemptively as part of "a long struggle" against "a new totalitarian ideology" in the Islamic world.
"The Democrats implicitly reject almost everything the Bush administration says about how Sept. 11 changed the world, or our perception of it," Hiatt wrote in an article entitled "Democrats' Narrow Vision." [Washington Post, April 3, 2006]
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
