Leila Fadel is McClatchy's Baghdad bureau chief. Like most MSM journalists, she likes to present herself as non-partisan and objective but her true lefty feelings bleed through on her blog. She recently blogged about the Soros-funded report "False Pretenses," which was released last week. (This report outlined a long list of supposed lies and deceptions by the Bush administration leading up to the Iraq war.) Fadel gave the report her unqualified support.Why do I see problems with the report? Well, let's start with the funding. The study was funded by left-wing George Soros. Soros, of course, is a major financial backer of MoveOn.org. His political contributions go almost exclusively to Democrats (contribution record here). Soros told the Washington Post in 2003 that removing George Bush from office was the "central focus on my life." Undeterred after Bush's reelection, Soros continued funding anti-Bush groups.
One of Soros' activities is to fund studies that supposedly discredit Bush administration. (One such study, the Lancet Study, claimed 650,000 Iraqis had been killed in the Iraq war, but the study has been widely discredited. ) So, Soros has a record of funding anti-Bush studies that turn out to be bogus. You'd think that would be enough to raise some red flags with Leila Fadel.
But beyond the involvement of Soros, how about the substance of the report? Well so far, the report isn't standing up well to scrutiny by bloggers. Big Lizards takes a whack here. Also: Pronk Palisades, Captain's Quarters, and Moose Calls. I blogged about the release of the report here.
The endorsement by Leila Fadel tells you more about her than it tells you about the Iraq war.
Previous:
.
.
