Was the Tim Russert interview/transcript edited?

Bill Moyers rocks. Long may he live and may he keep exposing the crooks for who they are. It's great that PBS carries both NOW, that Moyers started, and his current show. I appreciate having these alternatives on the air. To me, those programs speak more truth to power than the NewsHour.

I was motivated to write this partly in hopes that my posting will push the ignorant Nazi-like anti-Jewish racism of JDee's comment off this page.

BUYING THE WAR, by BILL MOYERS

The video Buying the War is worth watching because it exposes how corrupt the media is.

Bill Moyers was skating on thin ice when he produced Buying the War. I think PBS is the only media network that has been willing to air this video.

Buying the War documents how the corporations that own the major Media networks acted in collusion with WE the government of the USA, in order to trick WE the people of the USA into supporting the invasion of Iraq after the 911 atrocity.

Buying the War begins with Bush admitting to the entire press corps that the press conference was scripted and staged. The reporters laughed but continued to pretend that the press conference was the real thing anyway. Everyone present knew that everyone in the room was part of a farce, and that the purpose of the entire press conference was to fool the American public, so that it would support the invasion of Iraq.

Buying the War failed to mention that WE the US government invaded Iraq because both WE the US government and our media are in the hands of Jews. If Buying the War had revealed THIS unpleasantry, Moyers' career would have been ruined forever of course. Not even PBS would have aired his documentary. Moyers would have had to get on his knees and beg forgiveness like Trent Lott did, not that any Jew would have ever forgiven him. Moyers' skillfully avoided this pitfall by blaming the government for manipulating the owners of the media, instead of the other way round. Moyers is a Texan who is good at playing chicken and swerving just in time. Congratulations, Bill, even if you are a liberal.

Because of this perilous subject (the credibility of the mainstream media), Moyers had difficulty finding insiders who were willing to be interviewed for this Buying the War documentary.

Those whom Moyers did interview were so good that they barely cracked a liar's smile as they went along with Moyers' deceptive coverup. I admired their acting skills and ability to look each other in the face knowingly without outright laughing at each other.

Dan Rather has over 25 years experience as a reporter, so was able to go along with Moyers' ruse perfectly. Reckless Rather skated about as breathtakingly close to the truth (that Jews own most of the media) as any reporter could, without being edited out of the video.

Dan Rather might still be mad at his former Jewish bosses, but knows that if he mentioned that they are Jews, he might be committed to an insane asylum and never heard from again. Rather is a good Texas boy, but has not forgotten being beaten to a pulp by mystery men.

Buying the War is a convincing cover up of the role Jews played in engineering the invasion of Iraq. It makes both Bill Moyers and PBS look like daring heroes who exposed the bad guys, although they actually did the opposite. If you want to know who your real masters are, then ask who it is that cannot be criticized.

Both Moyers and PBS are in the pockets of Jews, and push the agenda of the Jews, just like most of the rest of the media, of course.

As much as I enjoy watching Nova, Nature, Frontline and scientific and historical programs, I do not donate to PBS because I do not want to fund its hate inciting and racist anti-White Black History Month and Holocau$t propaganda.

I suspect that professional propagandists admire Buying the War for its skillful propaganda, since few Americans will ever see through Moyers' subterfuge.

Information about Buying the War is at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html

The transcript of Buying the War can be read at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/transcript1.html

The video (and audio for dial-up access) of Buying the War can be seen at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/vi...id_btw1-1.html

If you want to watch Buying the War on your TV, I think it will be aired several more times during PBS' March, 2008 fund raising campaign.

Democracy Now of Feb. 29th(archive available) in a interview with Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard economist Linda Bilmes reports that the actual costs of the occupation of Iraq have now topped THREE TRILLION DOLLARS with about 4,000 U.S. personnel killed and at least 60,000 permanently injured (excluding residual PTSD cases).
Due to these facts I'm not too worried about Prince Harry Snowden (nee Hewitt) who is a billion-heir and will not be affected by our taxation slavery. People who go to war must accept the likely prospects, as do those of us who exercise our rights via civil disobedience. Armed Forces personnel, before you return to combat in these criminal actions please consider conscientious objection or sanctuary outside our country until we depose the fascists. Thank you

John Prine wrote 35 years ago "A flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore" but in 2002 if you didn't wave hard enough, you were voted from office, ostracized as soft on terrorism, and agin' us. There were visionaries protesting, but alas they were and are marginalized and many remain outside mainstream media.

Keep Bill Moyers on the air no matter what else is on PBS, even if he's all that's left. He is the only truth-in-news we can absolutely count on in my country, anymore. I say mine because I am a Vet. Especially, thank you Mr. Moyers for "Buying the War"!
CounselorDave

From the NY Times:

Q. 2. The Democrats seem intent on pushing into the history of how we went to war and some want to prove "He lied and people died." Will the history support that or some more complicated plot where Hussein actually fooled our intelligence services with a clever deception program? Should the Democrats be careful? - gmasters

A. This is the other half of the WMD fiasco: much of the world, including congressional Democrats, European intelligence services, and United Nations agencies, believed that Saddam had some WMDs -- at least, chemical weapons stockpiles and a biological program. This was far less than the administration was claiming before the war; there's a world of difference between chemical stockpiles and a nuclear program capable of producing a bomb within a year or two. But it was grounds for some worry. According to the report of Charles Duelfer and the Iraq Survey Group, Saddam himself created the illusion that he had some capabilities in order to keep his old enemy Iran at bay; in the madhouse logic of his last years, he was lying to his generals and being lied to by his scientists. He played cat and mouse with the inspectors when they return in late 2002. In this and other ways, Saddam brought about his own downfall. As for the Democrats, some of them also have themselves to blame because they failed to look closely at the caveats buried in the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq. At the same time, they had less access to intelligence than the President and his top officials.

msussman - 1:38 PM ET November 25, 2005 (#119 of 130)
Mick Sussman, Books Producer, The New York Times on the Web

saw the report and admire its earnest workmanlike approach. I now know that the administration did make mistakes. Though I am still confused about weapons of mass destruction. Has we not gone to war and had we relaxed the sanctions, could they have recreated the weapons they once had? I think so.

But this could have been done to Roosevelt after WWII and some here have said so. This report misses one important question: Was Iraq a danger? If it was, and if it was "unfinished business" with UN resolutions to enforce, did we pick the best of several bad paths? How can we know that not doing anything would have had better results? And, now we are in a difficult situation will quitting be the best way out?

Thank you for this careful, detailed, and bone-chilling report on the march to war. The story reveals a particularly black and incestuous cabal between the media, including the so-called establishment press, the cable news programs, the Adminstration, and many Democrats (not just Republicans) in the Congress. The result is the worst foreign policy disaster in American history. The tragedy is that noone is being held accountable. Leading Democrats including Hillary Clinton and John Kerry have really dirty hands, Quislings that they are, they obviously traded integrity and a duty to question the Administration's motives for political expediency. The story explains why the Democrats have not moved to impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney. If leading the nation to war under false pretenses doesn't constitute abuse of power (high crimes and misdeamnors), I don't know what does.

Keep up the good work.

Why did Bush want to go to war in Iraq?

While one can only agree with the facts shared in "Buying the War", which I have just seen on rebroadcast, the program failed to mention that it was not just the conglomerate owned media that let the country down, but PBS itself in 2002/2003 was also heavily favoring the administrations position. After watching every program of Charlie Rose for years, I stopped watching in disgust as he only gave token audience to opponents of the invasion. So while the main media certainly has blood on their hands, lets not forget that the hands of PBS journalists are also sullied.

I will admit, as a thinking American, as soon as the White House began talking about invading Iraq I questioned why. By avoiding US common media I did not get "sucked" into the hype Bush was pushing. I, too, feel that it was pushed by corporate greed for Iraq's oil - just look at who supported it the most and their corporate ties. I always wondered why the US media toed the Bush line while the rest of the world knew the truth. Pity the countries that Bush dragged into his personal vendetta and pursuant of shared corporate wealth. Now I understand perfectly why, everytime Nixon was on the air my mother turned it off. I too cannot stand to hear any more lies out of Bush's mouth. Kudo's to the reporters who tried to tell the truth despite a hurricane of brown nosing reporters. Now I not only have no faith in my government - but none in media. A real true American always questions when they are being asked to die or send loved ones to die for their country. My heart goes out in compassion for all the wasted lives caused by this.

007 9 30
“In the Democratic Presidential debate none of them would commit to taking American troops out of
Iraq in the first terms of their administration, if they should win. That would mean American troops in Iraq
until at least 2013”. In a bushels of rotten apples which one would you pick?
To stop the autocratic “arrogant elitist ruling class” regime is to “AMEND the constitution”, for
ALL the issues should be and MUST be placed on the ballot, in the hands of “the people to express their will ”!
The Congress, Senate , states and others no longer represent “the majority people and their will”.
Laws legislated by the congress, states and local government, funds earmark for wars, bridges to nowhere,
social, economic, and educations development shall and MUST be placed on the ballot for “the people to
express their will”.
To “stop the war or military expansion” it should be in “the will of the people”. To the extend
possible - Expend the “EMPIRE” by SOCIAL, ECONOMIC and FINANCIAL AID”.
Chris

Let's ask, WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Okay? It will go much farther than "why". And to rephrase the last post to WHAT'S GOING ON? WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON? for the question "why" has been impossible to answer by anyone.

A JOURNALIST WOULD DO WELL TO ASK: WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

And can bet the answers will not come from any journalist with access to the White House. Curious--the much touted fear of a journalist not having access! (The real stories are to be found in the mid level people, says Tim Russet)

And the Knight Ridder guys are like Hoffman and Redford.

Better to in fear of reporting lies. A journalist lies, people die.

It's sad.

Sympathies to the reporters who may feel responsible for this war. But isn't war is a racket, a game? It's been going on thousands of years.

Well, one can make up for it. Ask WHAT IS GOING ON?

And WRITE POETRY! See the Robert Bly webcast with Bill Moyers. Read Kabir! Rilke! Rumi! Life is too short to live in a lie without knowing it.

Peace y'all
(Thank you)

Good show, but it does not ask ask why the USA went into Iraq? And why hasn't any reporter, to date, answered this question? Here is another chance for journalists to save face.

Most ALL informed citizens know the questions: Is it a corporate motivated war? Is it personal power? Is it privatization of Iraq? Is it oil? Did it turn out to be bad business?

The evidence was cooked, this is clear. What was the motivation then, and the motivation now for continuing the war?

JOURNALISTS! GET BUSY!

IS ANYONE ON THIS QUESTION?

Finding out WHY may possibly give the clue to the appropriate resolution of this dreadful conflict. And at least, provide some badly needed honesty...beyond the bull.

(Thank you)

DLH's posting on 08/28/07 raises interesting questions. To build on his thoughts, I believe we, as the collective citizenry, would be wise to explore in broad terms, the underlying push toward war in the wake of 911. As a possibility, might it be that we are all responsible in some sense, by needing & wanting a scapegoat to exact our rage and powerlessness on that fateful day of national trauma? Certainly, Saddam Hussein provided a welcome target, given his bravado in attempting to frustrate the United States over many years.

Why did we fight this war? I imagine there are multiple layers; involving preserving the flow of oil, fanatical thinking on the part of neoconservatives, establishing military bases in Iraq, among other questionable goals. However, what concerns me most is what this war informs us of our national psyche, then and now. Do we have the capacity and the will to fully accept responsibility for what we have sown?

I would welcome an exploration on Bill Moyer's Journal, including a wide variety of commentators from different walks of life and experience.

The "reason" bush invaded Iraq has to do with him taking orders from his illumanotti masters. They own both the republican & democratic parties. That's why nothing ever gets done.

The theme of "Buying the War" seems to be how most of the country was largely "bamboozled" into supporting the Bush administration's agenda for the war in Iraq. The media, including the New York Times, Frontline and Oprah, was convinced into not only going along with it, but into actually playing cheerleader for that same agenda. The exceptions mentioned in the piece were some folks at Knight-Ridder (reporters Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel) and Ted Kennedy, both of whom were virtually ignored, despite convincing arguments disputing the claims of the administration. All of this is good stuff to bring up.

But some of the reporting in "Buying the War" doesn't go quite far enough. The question remains, if the issue of WMDs and a link between Al-Qaeda and Iraq was knowingly false from the beginning, as to why the Bush administration invaded Iraq in the first place. Moyers doesn't ask that question, nor has the media explored this issue in a serious way. Further, one has to question why the media adopted the posture of support for the government that it did. Why did it not play its proper role, reporting the facts and pointing out when the facts don't make sense? We hear pundits say that they are allowed to say whatever they wanted, that no one compels them to say something or to hold back, but I find no convincing explanation in any of their remarks. It makes me wonder if these people are being disingenuous, or if they simply fail to understand their own motives. We hear tantalizingly of how Donahue's producers were ordered to produce two conservative commentators for every liberal one, but we don't hear who ordered it, nor do we hear about the author of the famous menu.

Perhaps most importantly, we don't hear the question addressed of whether or not this was really an aberration on the part of the media. Was it a structural flaw? What institutional pressures are operating on the industry, and where do these pressures originate? I see nothing to reassure me that this kind of reporting will not happen again; indeed, it could be happening now. Are reporters and editors, excepting a few mavericks, simply following to a set way to do their jobs, and responding to the influence of a kind of "corporate culture?" How does this culture and its mores influence accuracy in reporting (as evidently it does)? Does the press have a structural role in supporting the foundations of the elite institutions of society, even as it challenges them on the surface? Are most media participants largely ignorant of the context and nature of their distorted stories, much as some members of the administration seem to be? Do they continue to dispense further propaganda, perhaps some of them unknowingly? Is nothing really off limits in reporting? What are the controls, the influences, the institutional stresses? It seems obvious that they exist.

I heard no satisfactory answers to these questions. "Buying the War" should be only the first page of an investigative journal on the 4th estate and the government.

Based on Jonathan Landay's & Warren Strobel's contacts with intelligence officials, the known public evidence, and their experience, I am interested in their assessment of what we knew or should have known about the existance of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, or lack there-of, in the final month/weeks leading up to the war. As a follow-up, why, in their opinion, did the political opposition, the Democratic Party, fail to educate thenseleves and/or confront the Administration's case for war?

Thank you Bill Moyers for providing a platform for researching the inside story of this tremendous tragedy.

Great program! Thanks for the outstanding report. The fact of having this kind of report is the reason why I have such respect for American constitution. After living in 3 countries and spending the last 10 years in the US, I truly come to love this great nation, the more I learn about it. One thing I admire most of this country is people's relentless drive and ability to resolve problems when we see it. I hope we continue to find the truth and solution to this problem we have because this is what's important for our future. God bless America.

When are we going to quit worrying about what the rest of the world thinks considering the UN wanted Saddam in power so they can make money off him? The UN is the most corrupt organization ever and no one seeems to care about the Oil For Food scandal, which happens to be probably the biggest scandal ever. Entire countries keeping a dictator in power to make money and get oil while knowingly letting Iraqis starve and die from easily curable diseases. What's your excuse for that for the world? And please stop with this media friendly Bush conspiracy. It's stupid. Anyone who believes the media was behind Bush in anything doesn't think with a head void of toxins. We took down a dictator who was committing atrocity after atrocity. Anyone who thinks we're doing the same should just move out of the country and be with the rest of the world. Go to your Utopia.

Thanks for again airing The Bill Moyers Journal film "The Buying of the War." I was able to send the people on my e-mail list the PBS link that will allow them to view this excellent report. I personally find it very stressful to know that our Government and the US press are such a bad examples for the rest of the World. This has left a "bad taste" in my mouth and we should all be ashamed of our leadership (all branches)for the path they have lead us down. I don't know what we can do to regain the respect of the rest of the World, but I do know that we need to apology and pay for all of the distruction and death we have caused because of our own ignorance. We have to be a better role model in this world of ours.

My wife and I are average people. Most of our time is consumed by work in order to keep our home and cars paid for and maintained. We've spent our lives raising children and getting by. In know way are we as educated as the politicians that have been hired to work for us but we knew from September 11th that it didn't make sense to spend the resources and time to go after Sadaam. My mother mother in law with her tenth grade education could see throuh the insanity enough to wonder why the citizens of the United States were allowing the media present such a one sided view.It seems that the the American people have been more than happy to hear about enemies such as Sadaam, Brittany Speares and Paris Hilton.

Just to add to John Bain's remarks (August 10, 2007 12:48), Saddam's WMD were disproved long before Bush cherry picked the intelligence. The 36 lies that led to war: http://traprockpeace.org/ios030711.html

But Saddam was going to nuke us - IMMEDIATELY!! That is why we could not wait. We could not finish the war in Afghanistan!! We could not devote our resources to killing bin Laden! NO!! The smoking gun was going to become a mushroom cloud! NOW! Not later - NOW!! He had drones ready to attack us from the ocean!!
Oh BROTHER!! What a crock. And all bought and paid for by the marketing of the administration.
Now we are arming Saudi Arabia when most of those who attacked us on 9/11 were Saudis!
Rice says it is because the region has become unstable because of increasing Iran influence. She LEAVES OUT THAT THE INVASION OF IRAQ AND HOW IT WAS HANDLED AFTERWARD IS THE REASON FOR THE INCREASED INSTABILITY!
So they will arm the Saudis to stabilize what they destabilized? Pretty dumb...

What I can't believe is how everyone fell for all of this to begin with. I mean we already fell for the Nazi "war machine" we helped create with the help of the jews. We armed Hitler just so we would have an excuse to create an atomic bomb, again with the help of jews. We fell for it during WWI, too. We killed the archduke Ferdinand by not getting involved in European affairs. We sank the Lusitania by standing still. But our history books lie to our kids and provide a great tool of ill-education. Just read at www.threeworldwars.com. The evidence is all there man. Just because I smoke a lot of herb and take peyote like in a daily ritual it makes me more keen on these things than the sheep that is America. The real enemy is the right-wing christian fanatics who want to kill everyone and make their own fascist christian state called the United Christians of America. The jews are already helping them out. Just because they don't believe in the same exact religion, they are brothers in arms. I really hope us dopers along with Hollywood decides to stand up before it's too late. The jews are coming, just like how they told us the commies were coming (I do want communism by the way). Oh, the reason why we went into Vietnam isn't because we wanted to keep them from turning into a communistic state, but we wanted to turn in into the first christian fascist state with Pat Robertson as it's dictator. This stuff is all true, man. Freedom rock!
I am having a meeting in San Fran (where else) on the corner of Haight-Ashbury. Anyone interested in joining, plan a trip for Jan 1st, 2008. We will take this country which is rightfully ours and clean any remnant of judaism or christianity from this land. Who's with me?

What I can't believe is how everyone fell for all of this to begin with. I mean we already fell for the Nazi "war machine" we helped create with the help of the jews. We armed Hitler just so we would have an excuse to create an atomic bomb, again with the help of jews. We fell for it during WWI, too. We killed the archduke Ferdinand by not getting involved in European affairs. We sank the Lusitania by standing still. But our history books lie to our kids and provide a great tool of ill-education. Just read at www.threeworldwars.com. The evidence is all there man. Just because I smoke a lot of herb and take peyote like in a daily ritual it makes me more keen on these things than the sheep that is America. The real enemy is the right-wing christian fanatics who want to kill everyone and make their own fascist christian state called the United Christians of America. The jews are already helping them out. Just because they don't believe in the same exact religion, they are brothers in arms. I really hope us dopers along with Hollywood decides to stand up before it's too late. The jews are coming, just like how they told us the commies were coming (I do want communism by the way). Oh, the reason why we went into Vietnam isn't because we wanted to keep them from turning into a communistic state, but we wanted to turn in into the first christian fascist state with Pat Robertson as it's dictator. This stuff is all true, man. Freedom rock!
I am having a meeting in San Fran (where else) on the corner of Haight-Ashbury. Anyone interested in joining, plan a trip for Jan 1st, 2008. We will take this country which is rightfully ours and clean any remnant of judaism or christianity from this land. Who's with me?

Journalists may have been
largely remiss with regard to administration propaganda on the war, but some consumers of the "news" were not fooled. Here is a letter
to the editor I published four years ago:

Apologize and leave

America’s justifications for meddling in Iraq have included Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait (historically a part of Iraq), Iraq’s certain possession
of weapons of mass destruction, the need to win Iraqi freedom and,
most recently, the putative concentration of terrorists in Iraq, this
representing an opportunity to eliminate international terrorism once
and for all on Iraqi, rather than on American, soil.

Do we know—other than via President Bush and his advisors—that
Islamist terrorists are in fact concentrated in Iraq? Wouldn’t common
sense require that this be corroborated by experts with no political ax to
grind?

Enough. The administration would do well to beat its breast and offer a mea culpa to Iraq and to the world. The occupying forces are morally obligated to help pick up the pieces resulting from Iraq’s so-called liberation. They should then leave and mind their own business.

– Ferdinand Gajewski,Ph.D.,
Westfield
(Letter to the editor, the [Newark, NJ] Star Ledger, November 5, 2003.)

I hate BUSH!!! I really don't, just seeing if this one would get through. Bet it does.

Like I said, KOO-KOO

Like I said, KOO-KOO

The fascinating thing about this report was how effective the packaging and marketing of this was done. If there is a significant percentage of people that still believe the "control freak" dictator would partner up with elements that could destabilize his own grip on his country, that is testament to how well it was marketed to the public. It was sole as an IMMINENT AND IMMEDIATE THREAT - so much so that inspections could not be allowed to finish. This was the "tipping-point" argument that forced the "Now, not later" into the equation.

It also shows what happens when you let the Nixon Administration back into power. All the agents from previous administrations will always be lurking in the background to return, so be mindful of that when voting.
The news media decries that they lose viewer-ship, and yet they provide nothing of worth to watch, and anchor it with "news-readers", not hardened journalists. We will let them spiral into an oblivion of accountant red-ink.
Thanks for a critical look at how the media works.
Now if they can just keep breaking the middle class and dumbing down the education system, they can stifle future critics.

I'm a conservative who opposed the invasion of Iraq from the beginning. Years ago in grad school I studied Islam and learned all about the differences between Shia and Sunni. Unfortunately none of our decision makers seemed to know about these differences. The whole process was driven by ignorance and fear. One of the most interesting aspects of the Moyers report was how what is normally regarded as liberal media---the New York Times, Vanity Fair, CBS News, the New Yorker---went along with all the propaganda and rationalizations for the invasion. It's further evidence of how the majority in our society, both of Left and Right, lost their heads in the wake of 9/11.

The reason for my repost is I was attempting to bring some balance. Now it's three against two thousand.

Funny you didn't put up my post so I will write it again with the best of my memory. Weird that among the hundreds of posts that there are only a couple that attempt to dispute Moyers' reporting.
This was yet another Moyers hit piece that only put up facts that he liked and put up none of the facts that he didn't like. Where was Moyers' accusation that Clinton, Putin, Chirac, and many other people who aren't in Bush's pocket said that there were WMD's? Am I supposed to believe that the media was Bush's right hand man? Are you kidding me? What are you smoking? I know you can get left wingers to believe this because they just eat these conspiracies up, but give me a break. Media being Bush friendly, that's a punchline without the joke.
Moyers brought up about how Powell was trustworthy BEFORE his presentation to the UN, but there was very little as to what he presented. I wonder why that was. There was NOTHING about the audio tape US intelligence got with a conversation between an Iraqi general and colonel where they were talking about "cleaning up" things and hiding before the UN inspectors showed up the next day. Where was that? What were they hiding or cleaning? Where was this report? Moyers can't dispute this so therefore he didn't put it in his report, that's why. It also shows the Iraqis were being tipped off on UN inspections since they were supposed to be surprise and unfettered inspections. Explain that one to me.
Why was there no reporting about our IMBEDDED reporters entering an abandoned Iraqi army barracks stockpiled with chemical/biological suits, masks, and cyringes. Did they think we were gonna use chemical/biological weapons on them? I know the left wingers might say "yeah exactly", but please, anyone with a clear head knows why they had them.
Where was the report from the Battle of Baghdad where there were reports of traces of mustard and sarin gas found in the Tigris River? Hmm? Perhaps the Tigris makes those naturally.
What about the +500 canisters of mustard gas we have collected. I know they say they weren't weapons grade anymore, but I don't recall anyone volunteering on having the contents poured onto their hands.
Reading from most of these posts it's easy to see who this story was aimed at... left wing nuts. You can dismiss me by thinking I'm a republican or a Bush man, which I am neither. I vote right down the middle. Truth is this report only showed what Moyers wanted to show, which is typically his style. Even the PBS president has said PBS has been biased in the past. When you present facts only that help the reporter's feelings, but don't report on facts that contradict the reporter's feelings, that's called BIAS. No wonder the old guard of the media is failing. Americans have smartened up to their bias and have gone elsewhere.
Having Dan Rather on was the icing of the left-wing cake. This is the same guy who put up false documents about Bush fifty days before the '04 election because he felt the story itself was true. Great journalism. This is the same guy who when reporting that former Clinton Security Adviser Sandy Berger was caught stuffing the highest of classified documents down his pants and socks pertaining to Bin Laden just before the 9/11 commission made the story more about the timing of the release of the story. He's a complete joke.
I bet Moyers' next piece will be about the 9/11 conspiracy that will have such hardened Bush supporters as Martin Sheen, Charlie Sheen, Rosie O'Donnell, and Thierry Meyssan. I'm sure Dan Rather will give his helping hand as well. From all the left wing nuts I've seen post on here, people are just dying for that report too.
The left wing loons are almost exactly like the KKK (which I was referring to in my 2nd post about preameriKKKan, but humorously didn't post my first writing). Think about it. They huddle within their own masses. They think "the government" is after them. They blame the US government and jews for everything. Everything is a conspiracy. Heck, they're one in the same. Only difference is instead of talking about blacks, homosexuals, and jews, the left wingers talk about "republicans", "Foxnews", and well.... jews.
I really think the left wing nuts wake up each morning and just can't wait to gather together with friends and talk about Bush, Foxnews, and republicans because I've seen it done. No wonder why the very day after 9/11 people were already protesting a war. Instead of calling up friends and consoling eachother, the left wing loons were planning protests. "This is just like back in the 60's maaaaan."
Dismiss me all you want, but I'm not the one who thinks everything is a conspiracy or that the media loves Bush. That takes some special herb to make someone think that's correct.
Moyers had his run when his reporting went unopposed and not scrutinized, but that time is over. Reporting half the story is in Moyers' DNA.
One more question... if Bush is such an idiot as most left wingers claim he is, then how did he supposedly "fool" you into believing him in his case for war?

Thank you very much for your show. Other media outlets should be ashamed to call them journalists. Any high school newspaper reporter could have done a better job. Your show Mr. Moyers highlights the need for Broadcasters using the "Public" Airwaves represent the Public interest and they should not be receiving license renewals when they do not represent the public interest. The FCC and the Citizens of America do not appreciate this bias in the media and we now see the result of this. Enforce the Constitution's First Ammendment for Free Speech and the Constitution in its full language. Do you think what happened to Phil Donahue and Rosie is based upon similar reasons?

I feel ashamed to say I was duped as well. What should the American people do? Where do we go from here? I've never believed everything I hear on the news, but how are people who are not reporters suppose to sift through the trash that is the media and this administration?

Dear Mr. Moyers,

I thank you for your piece on the failings of the media.

I have lived in mainland China for more than four years, and am quite used to the Chinese Communist Party's "He said she said" brand of journalism. Every night the news is "Hu Jintao said..." 'Wen Jiabao said..." etc and then they call that a news broadcast.

Needless to say, every time I return home from China, I am appalled anew that the Washington Post and New York Times, among others who find it suitable to criticize the lack of freedoms in China, participate in this very same form of lazy and subservient journalism that is, in fact, best described as government propaganda.

The again, I am sure if we looked closely at the Post and the Times critiques of China's journalistic practices, we just might find that it is yet another "he said she said piece."

Keep up the pressure,

Best,

Eric M.

How can we start to get more accurate information when it comes to reports in the mainstream media for the actual numbers of people protesting the current administration and this ill fated war that was started on total lies and deception?
Todays headlines read
"Several hundred gather to protest Bush"
About 600 protesters gathered at a demonstration outside a college campus while President George W. Bush gave the commencement speech at the school Saturday afternoon.
http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories/042807/D8OPTBJ04.shtml
I can only assume that this probably means that thousands gathered to protest.
Why?
Well the media has done an excellent job of collaborating with the Bush regime and keeping these facts out of the public spotlight.
On January, 27,07 the Mall in DC was overflowing with war protesters and there was almost no coverage in the mainstream media... no visually effective photos from the air (please no excuses for this atrocity...look at the coverage of the average celebrity wedding.)and the media continued to report tens of thousands, when in reality it was closer to one million.
When I flew out of DC that night and saw a measly clip on CNN in the airport, only showing a small handful of people,with tears in my eyes and pain in my heart, I took solace in knowing that on Monday, I could get an accurate report on Democracy Now.
Sadly the average person is not aware of Democracy Now, or who Amy Goodman is.
It also is apparent that our mainstream media here has little problem reporting and showing foreign rallies and protests when they benefit our war mongering administration.
The PEOPLE can not demand to know what they are not even aware of.
I heard again and again on that day in Jan,07 "I thought I was the only one who felt this damn angry about this administration, and this war."
Our media also failed to report that there was another overwhelming demand roaring through the crowds that day...
Lets' Impeach the President!!!

I have read comments here at random, and Don't think I can add anything but I am glad you're back, and thanks for an eye opening and enlightening report. What ever happened to syndication and exchange agreements?

Mr. Moyers,

Welcome back; I have always admired your penchance for non-truncated facts that yield a fair and balanced view towards a truth. I have appreciated your lucid commentaries throughout the years. You seem to always enable the opportunity for citizens to gain a view outside a pre-determined box that is ordinarily established by mainstream VOX POX entertainment - so called 'news'.

Thanks also to Mr. Landay and Mr. Strobel for persistence to the truth and the former Knight Ridder Company that supported their investigative tracking.

Mr. Moyers, I am resubmitting this because there is a possiblity that my former statement was not published because something I said may not have been clearly defined, I was aiming for brevity. I will state it again: My thoughts are that you should do a documentary on Sophistry, tying back into Protagorus and Gorgias in Plato. It would be an excellent supplementary to your great work in 'Buying the War' and give some of the public a clear view on how the 'selling out' of the mainstream journalism can happen.

I look forward to your continued commentaries. Thank-you for being here in this world, you are a gift.

Thank you Mr. Moyers, for this enlightening program with Landay and Strobel.

I also want to thank Thomas L, who posted above with a link to the post-gulf war "oral history" interview with Cheney, that showed he must have known what would happen in Iraq if we invaded. He thought the risk was too high in 91. Did Chaney change? Something did.

It seems very clear now that this was, as T. Kennedy said, "cooked up in Texas" before the election, and was not a response to 9-11. Yet, the cooks knew what they were doing--they knew what would likely happen.

The question on my mind now is "why did they do it anyway?" Can we get to the point where we can say more than just, "oil?" What happened in the 90's that made the terrible consequences in Iraq an acceptable price?

It has to be something about the security of the Kuwait operations. All I can say is that I want to know what this is about--what's going on here? Cheney had to be thinking, "chaos is better than. . ." Well, better than what?

One of the K-R reporters asked what was behind the need to sell the war?

The answer is the existence of a unitary, read "imperial," presidency. No one, not even George Tenet - longtime Director of the CIA, could tell the President something that Tenet felt the President would not want to hear.

This isn't the first time a civil servant shirked their duty by not speaking truth. But it may be the time when the consequences were the most dire.

That the American public and its media institutions fell under the spell of advertising witchcraft should make every patriot stand up and head out the door with pitchforks and broomsticks.

Great thanks to you all; Landay, Strobel, and Moyers ---- let's see if the American people now start developing a real appetite for the truth, now that you guys have given them a taste?

The most amazing and audacious thing about this 2008 presidential campaign is the mainstream media’s assumption that the vast majority of the average, humane, ‘working class’ Americans will actually listen to their pompous BS about who we should be excited about among the field of pro-corporate, pro-war, and pro-imperialist candidates that the ruling-class Empire behind this façade of “Vichy America” has thrown against the wall for us to waste our votes on once again.

After seeing the Bill Moyers’ special on “Buying the War”, and seeing this exact same gaggle of pompous and arrogant MSM shills lying us into the disastrous imperial oil-war in Iraq, do they really think that we would trust this pack of media shills and airheads to now be telling us who the best and approved candidates are for continuing to run the deadly ruling-elite scam that our government has become?

Hell, does everyone think we are as stupid as Charlie Brown waiting for Lucy to pull away the football for the umpteenth time? After seeing Moyers' expose on the ruling class Empire's lies and the fawning media parroting of their lies that led to massive financial and person deaths in their imperial Iraq oil-war, do they think we are stupid enough to be listening to the exact same media idiots and pimps about who we should be excited about in the 2008 presidential campaign 'show'?

If the mainstream media was either so stupid and naïve, or (more likely) so complicitous and shilling that they blew smoke up our collective ‘working class’ arses, as Moyers so compelling demonstrated, then why the hell would we ever believe these exact same MSM bastards again? And why on earth would we be listening to them about something as important as the last semi-democratic presidential vote that we may ever have?

The vast majority of the average, humane, and real 'working class' in what's left of our country are finally starting to realize that they have been hosed and screwed by the ruling class Empire and its pompous, sycophant media whores. Average Americans now are beginning to know that the only thing this arrogant elitist "ruling class" Empire is ever going to do is to pervert and 'game' the political system, the economic system, and the media system to screw the majority. Hell, that's the friggin raison d'tat of ruling class Empires --- always has been, and always will be (if we don't stop them).

I cannot tell you how grateful I am to you, Bill Moyers, the Knight-Ridder reporters and their bosses for being authentic reporters, eschewing the "news entertainment" venue for probing for the facts. Whatever happened to going beyond the Who? the What? and the Where? to the When? the Why? and the How???

I, as many previous bloggers have reported, have lost friends in passionately demanding answers before supporting a war that could take my son or his friends' lives. I could not get them to understand that I cried every single morning over each death as it was reported. I can barely stand to see their faces, their names, their ages as they scroll down my tv screen. It is simply unbelievable to me that any American can see this as necessary and just. I have never been so ashamed of being an American, seen as so cold-heartedly willing to sacrifice our young men and women without asking the appropriate caretaking questions that were our duty to ask. We, the American people, are to blame for this war.

I had that problem as well, Jon Roberts. They didn't put my first post up either and I didn't break any rules. I also pointed out how funny it is that among the hundreds of posts on here, only a couple were critical of Moyers. Perhaps this post is supposed to be in the same fashion as Moyers' reporting... only showing what they like and dismissing everything they don't.

I sent in a long response critical of Democrat operative Bill Moyers's revisionist history of the pre-war debate and you guys won't put it up. Just supposed to be one long hallelujah chorus I guess. Change the Post a Comment section title to "If you want to say something good about Moyers". If you want to be critical of him, without profanity, there is a .1% chance your post might make it in. Thanks for keeping independent.

Bob is right about the anti-semitism. I did point out that anti-semitism, while it may used to have been a problem with the right is now a big problem with the left. Israel and the US is blamed for everything under the sun. That old hatred of the jews is making a strong comeback and will only get worse. No one on the loony left will talk about how Israel is the only democrazy flourishing in the Middle East or that even the Palestinians have more freedom in Israel than arabs do in their own countries. A lot of you have shown your true colors. When people think of the horrors of WWII and think about how people could have done such a thing to the jews, one doesn't need a trained eye to see that in this time and even among your posts how it can easily happen again.

Hello Folks,

Your program certainly stirred up a hornet's nest !! Feels good seeing all us Red Blooded American's lettin' it all hang out. This country needs alot more of that ALOT ! Anyone listening?

I watched and chuckled sadly last night at how NOT ONE of those politicians vying for our coveted Presidency had the GUTS to say that THEY BLEW IT TOO !!

Don't just hold Bush accountable but MAKE your own constituency COME CLEAN !!

Hillary Clinton represents New York for goodness sakes and why wasn't she raising these same questions ?
Where was Nancy Pelosi then ?
What about ALL the other politicians that are supposed to do their OWN HOMEWORK.

These are the folks who failed miserably !!

If you want to play the Blame game look at the folks running for office and ask yourself...

Where was their scrutiny at the most important point in our Nation's recent past ??

Get tough people as that is the only way we will get the cream to rise to the top !!

Best to you ALL and thanks to PBS for at least caring enough in their hearts to try and shed some light on this.

~Rob in NY

PS I gotta say though many of the comments here regarding Jewish lobbyists have alot to do with why Hillary and the like let the proverbial wind blow them that way !!

Mr. Landay and Mr. Strobel,
Thank you for your determination and integrity during what was and is a time of xenophobia and nationalistic fury in this country.
I have one question from the show. It was mentioned who owns FOX news, and I doubt that anyone was surprised to find out it was a republican; however, there was a lot of criticism of the NY Times and Washington Post and some hinting of corporate pressure at CNN for "unpatriotic" news, yet there was no mention of the inner workings of these news corps. I think it is at least as relevent as knowing who owns/runs FOX, as these media outlets are widely considered "newspapers of record" in this country with some level of objectivity.
Thank you again for your great work.

Ryan in RI

Thanks very much for being a competent journalist in search of the truth and having the courage to speak the truth. Anxiously awaiting your weekly program. Thank you. Keep it up! Laura

Moyers, Landay and Sobel,
Bravo! Keep it coming. I would hope that more Americans simply begin to ask questions and not take mainstream press or networks as gospel. As your special pointed out, information can be very circular, with the source quoting the media as the source. Whew! Though much of the neo-con websites are scary, I feel I must read all points of view and not dismiss anything. Americans need to stop being spoon-fed and start thinking for themselves. That is your homework for the rest of your life, people. Begin to think, read and analyze for yourselves. Listen, and be calm. I only hope that the next President restores this country's honor and dignity in the world, that the last 6 years have been destroyed by this administration. Re Patriotism, no political party or group have a hold on that! The days of Love it or Leave It should have been long gone. But the patriot police are at it again. Stirring fear and paranoi. I need only read some of the postings above to feel the bigotry, anti-semitism and just plain bad-temperedness going around. Anyway, keep up the great journalism. We need it.

I applaud your efforts to put a dent in the political black arts of spreading propaganda (that is lies and half truths).

1. Has anyone who, in fact, did challenge Bush's black flag patriotism, in the end, suffer any type of retribution besides Phil Donahue?

2. Okay, we all know now(with the exception of those who live in the koolade village) that the war was fermented out of some rotten information and presented with some very clever timing, but what does that mean for the American press in the future? Are there any real changes coming from the Capital press corp or will it be more of the same? To tell you the truth, for me, the changes have been mostly cosmetic.

And 3, I have been aware of the superior reporting by Knight Ridder for the past three years and, because I live in Yuma, Arizona with no appreciably skeptical or questioning source of news, I sought out Knight Ridder on the internet without success. Do you now have an internet site that anyone can hook up with?

K-R and Bill Moyers describe how important it is to be skeptical of almost everything mainstream press and networks provide. Information is circular, citing each other as confirmation...? I am afraid Americans are so dependent on mainstream media that they will not look into opposing views through books, legal docs, etc. We are a spoon fed nation. And after reading "some" of the writings/blogs above, I still see so much hatred and bigotry, the very ilk that neo-cons and others can get into lock-step; remember America Love it or Leave it - this splitting of ideas that places one side as anti-American and un-patriotic unless they too fall into step. My hope is we can get through this administration without another disastrous mistake....like nuking Iran. Please, let's get some statesmanship and diplomats back out into the world as this planet cannot take too much more of a pounding.

Great program.
As a Canadian I am thankful we did not follow the US into Iraq. Now we find ourselves in Afghanistan and asking why.
I greatly respect the US people for their freedom to get dissenting views and facts out in the open as evidenced on your show.
I hope you can keep this up. Chalmers Johnson's books could prove a good source for followup.

Dear Mr. Landay, dear Mr. Strobel,

I found it telling that your excellent work got public recognition in the wake of David Halberstam's untimely death.
I very much hope that you and your organisation will get the credit for upholding the standards of decent journalism set by Halberstam and others also outside of PBS and its excellent programs.
With all the tradition of reporting in the Viet Nam era, it frightens me that little of it seems to be left nowadays. And it is ironic that what might have shielded you from the errors others committed has been the lack of access to the big shots that might have forced you to do the legwork - no offense intended!
As Europeans, we probably only got to the other point of view because there was so much prejudice (justified, alas!) against the Bush administration. Basically, we have got the same problem over here: He said , she said, and what is the infotainment value of the news snippet.
However, it really shook us when jingoism and one-sidedness spilled over from the "fair-and-balanced" to the other networks - sorry, we do not get hold so easily of your papers over here.
I very much hope that the change of ownership of your organisation to McClatchy will not affect the standard of qualilty set by your work.
The day of reckoning for all of us on the left will come when you go after our pet politicians or projects with the same diligence as you did against those we do not like anyway.
May be I won't remember then my pious words of today but somehow I feel you will do your job.
Chapeau!
Augo Knoke

Bill,
You're special was truly amazing and only confirmed what I have always believed. if this doesn't do it for the remaining 29%, I don't know what will. I am amazed at how easily America gives up it's young people. It's been 4 years and only now, after over 3,000 dead Americans (young ones,)is the greater majority finally asking some questions. We have given up our young in Iraq, we give up our young to school shootings (has Virginia changed it's laws on purchasing a gun yet?). Parent's ask tougher questions when their' teen is asked to a party than when they are told by the government to go into a war. I don't have kids, but if I did, you can rest assured I would want a lot of answers, and I would need to believe in the reasons before i sent my kid off to be a bullet catcher for this sorry excuse for a president. And when, when, is the mainstream media going to grow a pair and hold this administrations' feet to the fire on this. They had 32 kids who were killed in the news for a week, a week, talking about what bright futures they had...what about the futures of the dead and wounded soldiers in this war?

I'm so glad I saw this documentary and found some real reporting. McClatchy news is going on my bookmarks bar ahead of the Boston globe and the NY Times. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Buying the War was simply incredible. Thank you so much for the program. Keep up the good work!

Nice to see Moyer back, but what is this documentary telling us? Zilch! Nada!

Its a day late, and over 3300 soldiers short!

The media can now redeem itself by investigating the Missing Email. This will definitely tell the story, and then some, about how these rotten and ugly people in the dirty White House, for the last 6+ years, have ruined this country across the board - all in the name of Greed and Power.

Interesting... I posted a link to this page on a comments section of CBS news. They deleted the entire blog!

I wonder what they are afraid of.

So much for 1st Amendment rights!

Thank God for Bill Moyers! A voice of reason. Now I have a better understanding about our media response after 9/11. On 9/11, we all knew that our country would have to take some sort of action. Osama Bin Laden had been a thorn in our side for some years. Knowing that he was responsible, I and I'm sure most Americans presumed that our military would immediately go into Afghanistan. Then began all this propoganda about Iraq ???!! What the heck did Saddam Hussein have to do with 9/11? Regardless of whether he had WMD or not. Wasn't the 9/11 attack the issue? Apparently not. The American people were looking for some type of vengeance and were willing to accept anything the Bush administration told them. It's taken 5 years for the people to realize how badly they were misled. It's unfortunate.

From my perspective all I see is a ever increasing decline of standards in America. This exceptional documentary is yet another warning sign of how this nation is on the brink of mental and moral collapse.

Fortunately I was one of the lucky ones who saw the evidence for what it was, a charade by the administration to enter into a war for political gain. It's been hard these last five years knowing what a crock the so called war is while friends and neighbors lapped it all up.

The sad part is that even though these idiots at the top are likely to be ousted next year the replacements, in there own way probably won’t be much better. It seems the only idea the leading Dem’s can come up with is that of running away from Iraq. While I'm all for bringing the troops home I do believe it's slightly more complex now the genie is out of the bottle. I think the only candidate that seems to have somewhat a head on his shoulders is Joe Biden but I don't know much about him.

Personally I think we should pull out immediately but leave a peacekeeping force in Baghdad, at the oil platforms and on the borders. Along with this we should go hog wild and pump the rest of the $123bn into job programs, network and lifestyle infrastructure to get the poor Iraqi's back on their feet. My theory is that if every Iraqi has a nice HD theater system with 24 hour CNN and Fox News they might become as docile as we are.

Is there any chance that Landy and Strobel want to run for office? They would certainly receive my vote.

Now that's journalism worthy of getting off the couch and jumping on-line!

Thank you all so much,
PBS-KETC St. Louis Viewer

Bill,
keep up the good work. I look forward to watching more of your shows in this format on the internet.

Thomas

who is this speaking?
"the idea of going into Baghdad for example or trying to topple the regime wasn't anything I was enthusiastic about. I felt there was a real danger here that you would get bogged down in a long drawn out conflict, that this was a dangerous difficult part of the world, if you recall we were all worried about the possibility of Iraq coming apart, the Iranians restarting the conflict that they'd had in the eight year bloody war with the Iranians and the Iraqis over eastern Iraq. We had concerns about the Kurds in the north, the Turks get very nervous every time we start to talk about an independent Kurdistan."
"Now you can say well you should have gone to Baghdad and gotten Saddam, I don't think so I think if we had done that we would have been bogged down there for a very long period of time with the real possibility we might not have succeeded."

see
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/oral/cheney/2.html
yep, old dick cheney. he sure was smart back in '89.
what happened?

Could the press please tell me: Does Bush ever listen to shows like this? Does he ever read the papers, news magazines, or other publications, books on Iraq, etc. to get even an inkling of what the public is thinking of his administration? I really think he could be on another planet...we see him on tv dancing with bongo drums at the White House, read how he still backs his old chum the AJ, gives no credence to the Congress. I really don't understand the man. How can he be so 'out of it,' when it comes to the majority opinions of the people? I would really like to know.

It appears. as long as there is PBS there
will always be Bill Moyers. You can't
get rid of him and his clan.
PBS is this apostate's "crysal cathedral".

San Diego

America after the great show Bill Moyers did with
" Buying the War " we need to go to the streets and protest. And do everything we can to hold those responsable for this outrage done to us and our great solders to task. How many more must die?? Call your House and congress members tell them we need to stop the Bush administration.
How much more lies must we take from them. Do we not remember how they Trashed President Clinton for lying about his affair.. "What was their ponishment to him? Impeachment

This is what TV should be about a thought provoking thorough review that stimulated me to think about these issues. I must admit that in the busy world we are often in I do not have the time to listen/read this type of journalism enough. After tonight you have stimulated me to do a better job. Keep it up and how do we get more of the Knight Ridder news?

There were those of us who wondered, during the run-up, how Iraq could have resumed ANY weapons development program while under UN inspection, NSA survelliance and a rigidly enforced "no-fly" zone over much of the country. It just didn't seem plausible. So why weren't the people with direct, first hand knowledge appearing on TV or the newspapers?

Mr. Moyers gave us all the answers to that question last night and those answers were ugly and shameful. American journalism, print and electronic, failed utterly to perform their role in our democracy.

Thank you very much for showing us the true cowardly face of Washington.

Mainstream stories: http://www.killtown.911review.org/911smokingguns.html

Full timeline: http://www.killtown.911review.org/oddities.html

Another goodie: http://www.killtown.911review.org/aids.html

Dear Mr. Moyers,

I'm a long-time fan, but this is the first time I've written about a piece you've done.

I heard about "Buying the War" on Thom Hartmann's radio show and set my TiVo.

WOW! This piece was TRULY amazing! Thank you.

I remember the lead-up to the war. I was one of the 100K+ protesters in Washington that cold day in the January before we invaded.

Why? I didn't have access to a Knight-Ridder newspaper - I live in the suburbs of Washington, DC.

Friends with clearances assured me that the reasons were clear and right for going to war.

Yet, I never believed them.

Why?

At that time, I rode the train to my job in downtown DC every day. I read the Washington Post every day.

Yet, I never believed our reasons for going to war.

Why?

There was Hans Blix, and he found *nothing*! There were our own US inspectors, and they found *nothing*!

I just had this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that we were going to Iraq no matter the facts.

It was all there for us to see - regardless of friends with Top Secret clearances who assured us otherwise and regardless of our access to Knight-Ridder.

We could clearly see that facts were not going to get in the road of this administration. We could clearly see that diplomacy would not be given any chance.

So, please know that we were not all fooled!

- Pat

I am not an avid blogger. But Moyer's show was so exemplary I had to write. What strikes me when reading alot of these people's blogs - is how much anti-semitism is still roaring out there. It really is terrifying.

Thanks again for a great show, Bill.

Who were the coalition of interests who conspired to invade Iraq?
1. armaments industry and all those from big to small who derive jobs/income from it.
2. Oil industry
3. Israel and its Likud minded supporters.(.code word "neocons")
It seems that the first two groups have profited immensely from the endeavor. Oil is now selling at 50 dollars a barrel. The war business is booming.
Israel is much worse off.

Mr. Moyers, thanks for the program. You did a very good job. The MSM dropped the ball because they wanted that next "big story" coming from the mouths of the lying conservanazi republikans.

I see you have shaken the idiot tree and a few conservanazi goons fell out and left their insults here.
Again, keep up the good work.

To question a corrupt government not support it's illegal actions, is patriotic.

When all opposition is shouted down by the conservanazis, a corrupt and incompetent power like bu$h remains.

BUCK FUSH!

So, what about this impeachment thing? Are we supposed to be serious about the so-called rule of law? Or is this just a fancy way of doing a smack-down of the media?

I don't think so. I love Bill Moyers. But unless I am going crazy and there is some kind of mass delusion, where is the justice in all of this? I don't want just a chastened media. I want a chastened government.

Then again, it's like that old fox and hen thing, isn't it?

A great piece and long overdue. As a Canadian how loves her cousins to the south, I have been heartsick at what Bush and his neo-con posse have been doing. Please do a follow up and explore this issue, particularly the link between business / media / goverment. There is much, much more here. Can you also address who is benefiting financially from the war in Iraq. That might give us a clue as to why the Bushies really invaded the country. Continue the great work.

It's so wonderful to see Mr. Moyers back on PBS. “Buying the War” is an excellent documentary.

Bill Moyers’ career is truly an inspiration to us all. (from Joseph Campbell to the state of Medicine, to politics)

Thank you so much for being there!

Those who posted negativelly against Bill have to be the very ones he lambasted

Thank you so much for your great reporting about the runup to the Iraq war.

I hope you're still investigating what the Bush administration really did to sell the war to the American people. While I think it's important that the MSM takes a huge rap for their propagandizing for Bush, I also think we must find out why the administration wanted this war, exactly how they manipulated intelligence information, and if they made any promises to news corporations, like tax cuts, etc., to get them to do their bidding. I also want to know exactly who has profited from this war.
I have a basic belief that people generally do what they want to do, especially if they have the power to do it. So far, death, destruction and destabilization of Iraq and the entire Middle East are the only things that have been accomplished. And that makes me wonder why the Bush administration wanted it.

Dear Mr. Landay and Mr. Strobel,

Thank you so much for your dedication to the truth. You are truly what every journalist should be.

I have some thoughts that I would like to share with you. I hope you can take the time to answer my questions.

Do you believe that the media failed to investigate the events of 9/11 just as it failed to investigate the claims about Hussein and Iraq? Did the media, as well as the public, simply accept what the government told them? The government, who led a controversial and arguably incomplete investigation into the events leading up to and of that day?

How many journalists have read the 9/11 Commission? Why has no one reported on such interview's as Charlie Gibson's with Marlene Cruz, a carpenter who survived explosions in the basement of one of the World Trade Towers? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSGZYP--wz0

Why would the administration fail to do a proper investigation of 9/11 if we are under the threat that they repeatedly tell us we are? Why would they turn the focus to Saddam, with intentionally fabricated and unreliable knowledge, if we had truly been attacked by Al Qaeda? This administration has removed our rights granted in the First Amendment by the Patriot Act, they have taken away Habeas Corpus through the Military Commissions Act, they have moved toward martial law in the John Warner Defense Act and they have repeatedly engaged in torture and extradition, all in the name of National Security and the prevention of 9/11 attacks. Yet, right after 9/11, they set out against a man they knew had nothing to do with the attacks of that day. Osama bin Laden, isn't even wanted by the FBI for the attacks of 9/11...he is wanted for other crimes and acts of terrorism.

I believe our media did not just fail us on the coverage leading up to the war and throughout the war, but they have failed us by never questioning the events of 9/11. It is not crazy. It is not unpatriotic. 9/11 was the catalyst for the "war on terror" and it is a day that the administration continues to relentlessly mention and use in attempts to frighten us into submission. They are constantly reminding us, because they want us to feel that questioning the events of that day is unpatriotic and an insult to not just the victims but our country as a whole. However, the most patriotic thing we can do is to take a stand, research this most significant and painful day, and expose to the world, the holes in the story that have not been filed and the questions that remain unanswered.

A very well researched timeline of events can be found at wanttoknow.info and http://www.911pressfortruth.com/timeline.

Thank you for your courage and your time,
Alicia Roldan

Great to see the reasoning, competence and humanity of Bill Moyers back along with the shows reporters who really search for the truth and have integrity.

I have been a fan of Thomas Friedman for a long time, thus I was very disenchanted to learn he refrained from participating in "Buying the War". Why?

Thank you for another brilliant report and thank you for having the courage to try to rescue journalism from what's it's become.

I'm also a skeptic and I won't buy any of this story until I hear it from a more reliable source than the Obnoxious Bill Moyers.

I Think that it's about time that all American Politicians and journalist take a course in middle eastern history. I'm really tired of hearing Imbeciles like Hagel, Kucinich, Murtha and Kerry inventing absurd Vietnam analogies. These people are so naive that they don’t even know that they are studying the wrong war. We baby boomers need to get over our mid-life crises and learn about the grown up world of the 21st century.

Doug

Knight Ridder reporters are unsung heroes... if only the Fairness Doctrine was in place when they were trying to get the truth out, then hundreds of thousands of lives would have been saved!

Knight Ridder needs to report on PNAC. They are the American version of Al Qaeda , and Cheney is their OBL. They are funded the same way as Al Qaeda too, by money funneled primarily through three "charity foundations" into PNAC racketeering organization.

Please , Knight Ridder, do a 90-minute investigative report for PBS about PNAC !

Thank you Mr Bill Moyers for coming back to PBS and for this excellent expose on the Media during the lead up to the Iraq War. I hope this will be replayed in my area for the people who don't have a computer. This is "must See TV"

I truly believe if the coverage of the protest had been televised there would of been more opposition to the war. Just due to the facts of the previous gulf war. Anyone who understood any of the outcome of that conflict would have by logic knew that iraq was left with nothing to work with in the way of nuclear anything. Not only that it was not bio or nuclear terrorism that took down the twin tours. Bush had to find a way to go after Saddam because he threatened his father's life. Not forgetting the bully type mentallity that Bush Jr. has. The People of this country are not dumb they are intelligent enough to figure things out if the press had just truly given us the facts. We as a society due rely on the media to give us the facts because we do know the politicians give us such rederict that we need the press to a balane of honesty and not bologna.
I think the media forgot as well as the government that there still is a middle class with intellegence.

Your investigative report was excellent but only further bolsters my resentment for the current adminstration and the media, except the few who want to bring the truth to light such as yourself. And that brings us to another point that you haven't directly made but gets right to the root of the problem. Your show is on PBS. Not CBS, NBC, or any of the major networks. As a result, only a small percentage of the people who really need the truth actually get it. Keep up the good work and I'll do my part to spread the word.

Another excellent work by Mr.Moyers.

Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel have shown more courage and truthfulness in their research than Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein did in the 1970s. I have begun to breathe a little deeper tonight after viewing Bill Moyer's Journal. These last 6 years have been so crazy and layered with lies & deception. I have felt that we, as a nation, had lost our capacity to root out the evils of neo-conservatism shored up by a complicit corporate media. We all know now to skeptically read the NY Times, Washington Post and the Wallstreet Journal. If we speak up, the Bush-Media cabal may be stopped in further launching their traitorous long range "Plan for America." The big mass media conglomerates are clearly linked to selling trusting Americans the Iraq War and the conservative dogma - it was, as I feared, a corporate, fascist spin machine – hell bent on flinging hate and fear upon every American. Now we know of this tragic plague of deception – conceived in the White House and directly linked to our airwaves & newspapers. Beginning tonight, let's have the media compete for our redemption. Vote by viewing only sources that are credible & proven - and for me that only includes Link Network with Amy Goodman, Air America and Keith Olbermann (only) on MSNBC. Happily NOW I can add Maclatchy Newspapers and PBS' Bill Moyers to my favorites. You are true Americans in the tradition of our founders. Many thanks for your excellent work! Jim O'Connell, Minneapolis

Mr. Moyers: I heard about your program while watching Bill Maher's Real Time Show. I live in Atlanta, GA. For some reason, neither of the two PBS stations in Atlanta aired your program - they chose to air some old rock and roll repeat programs. In a very perverse way - I think that act alone proves your point.

I valued last night's program on the media's role in the run up to the invasion of Iraq. As a former newspaper reporter (in a long-ago era), I was left feeling, however, that there needs to be a Part II to expose what is going on higher up the food chain in both print and tv ... in particular, for all news media, the editorial meetings where the decisions are made about page one (and the rest of the pages), about what stories get run, get re-written, get killed, get assigned. The implicit and/or explicit role of the publishers and the owners also needs to be brought to light. That is, how does the influence flow from someone like a Murdoch or owner(s) of the Washington Post (etc., etc.)?

Thank you for this fine piece of journalism, and please do not let Bill OReilly and his goons pesture you. Bill uses fear and intimidation much like President Bush does to get his points across. Fight back.

I have no question. I have only frustration and near complete disrespect for those in the media and the many politicians who joined in on the pre-war cheerleading for whatever reasons. Certainly this cheerleading was based on little fact. The standard line heard over and over of, "everyone believed Iraq had WMD's" ignores people like me who read newspapers and watched and listened to a variety of news sources each day. I possessed no secret information to lead me to this conclusion. Personally, and objectively, I'd say that I was about 80% sure there were no WMD's. Maybe people who didn't watch or listen to news or didn't read newspapers can make the legitimate case that they were snowed by the Bush PR campaign for war. That number most certainly far exceeds the majority of the public, but I do not blame this group. But those in the media or political business have no excuse. Surely not reporters of any professional quality, and certainly not ANY politicians can offer this excuse today. These people jumped on the Bush bandwagon for several reasons: fear for their jobs, fear of the next election, or because they may have been hired Bush PR guns. Least likely, it was because of complete ignorance. The Bush PR machine back then was a steamroller, which threatened one way or another to take out any politician or reporter not playing with their team. Most reporters and politicians knew that the wrong position regarding the war could mean the end of their careers. To be clear, it was suicide to question the whole WMD argument in the US in the lead up to war. Those of us who did were ignored or looked upon as stooges.
In hindsight, I suspect that the people who actually turned out to be the real stooges, the reporters and politicians blindly supporting the war back then, are still too scared to admit their ignorance. I suspect that the most guilty of those leading us into this bogus war (our president and company) will never face a shred of responsibility or punishment for what I am at least 80% sure today was NOT an innocent mistake...they knew!
I am sick beyond words at this probability.
I would hope that one day the knowing media could gather up enough gumption to really go after the root cause of this disaster.

Wow, this is great information. I wish I would have known about this sooner.

To all involved in the making of "Buying the War":

While it saddens me that the MSM has seen fit to become "cheerleaders" for BushCo. instead of reporting truth to the American people, I am beyond happy for journalists like Bill Moyers, Jonathan Landay and Warren Stobel who are out there doing the work the MSM refuses to do.

America needs the TRUTH; America NEEDS MOYER.

Respectfully,
Veronica Feinstein

Superb piece of journalism. My gratitude for your return to speaking for those of us who are voiceless. Now, can we have a similar expose on the current attempt, by many of the same egregious manipulators, to sell us a war on Iran?

Have to agree with Jim Miller and many other comments made here along the lines of why the Bush administration wanted to invade Iraq. You see many news analyses in the press but rarely do you see a news analysis addressing this question. The focus on "mismanaging" the war also avoids this whole issue. What does it mean to "win" in Iraq? Exactly what's the goal: a client state guaranteed to be pro-U.S.? control of the oil fields and leverage over nations that need Middle East oil? a boondoggle for the military-industrial-petroleum complex? defeating the Vietnam syndrome? all of the above? We know it's not about democracy. Given the number of democracies we've overthrown, it couldn't possibly be about democracy.

I stand corrected. Maybe you will post the the following:

Is it unpatriotic to ask questions? Why are we really at war? With such good investigation, we might find corrupt government at its best.

Bill, why have you not touched on these questions as:

CNN released footage of the Sheraton Hotel security camera showing that a plane did not strike the pentagon, but rather a missle? Why won't CNN air it? They released it on the internet on an early Sat. morning last year. Is this a game? If this is false, let's debunk it.

Why did the owner of WTC #7, Larry Silverstein, purchase the twin towers in July '01 along with a $5.5 billion insurance policy extending coverage for damage arising from terrorism?

Who is David Rockefeller? What is Skull & Bones & the Bohemian Grove?

Websites? loosechange911.com
and
prisonplanet.com

Rose O'Donell was really let go because she refused to back down from debating the government's involvment in 9/11?

Why did the BBC report WTC #7 falling 20 minutes before it really fell? Who knew what when? Who planned what, why?

Who is Alex Jones?

What is the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)? Trilateral Commission?

What did the demolition compounds of Thermite/Thermate have to do with the three buildings destruction?

When does theory become fact?

Who is bold enough to address these questions?

The Bible tells us to pray for our leaders. We can also expect accountability.

Shall our indpendent networks tow the goverment's line? Shall America be distracted with Brittany Spears, American Idol and other useless news & programs while tantamount questions of national security go unanswered?

Are the networks controlled by certain foundations that they fear to touch the subject of 9/11?

This appears to be way over party politics. Talk about Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld all day long, but never address 9/11.

Excellent investigative reporting searches out truth. That is what made America the greatest nation on earth.

Can anyone assist here?

Thanks very much for an excellent show!!! Appreciate your tenacity, integrity, and courage to speak the truth. Thank you. America needs you!!!

Missed the showing last night but just finished watching on my computer // wanted to say thanks for an honest look into how mainstream media participated in falsehoods leading us to war -- sad, but true. Now if only you would investigate 9/11 and the many unanswered questions in that mess alone. I am one of the so-called conspiracy 'nuts' that believes 9/11 and our own government (a rogue element operating from within) was linked in more ways than any 19 Arab terrorist could ever hope to be. WTC-7 and the near 2-hour stand down of military fighter jet aircraft are but two issues in this regard.

Thanks for the coverage regarding media participation (or lack of it) -- your presentation was outstanding.

I cannot believe there hasn't been a sequel to "All the President's Men". I am sure it would make one hell of a movie.

Well ~ apparently my blogg of query regarding the other reasons we're at war, has stepped on some toes. As of 4/14/07, 4:15pm, it has not been posted. I wonder why PBS will only give a wink to 9/11? Why are they censoring a blogg that falls within the purview of an acceptable commentary of possibly relevant material?

Thank you for being real journalists, by which I really mean people who value truth and engage in critical thinking to pursue it.

Going beyond even the important Iraq issue, you demonstrated on the show tonight what the process of critical thinking is in action. You were not satisfied with what you were hearing, so you were skeptical and kept asking questions. This is the essence of critical thinking, and critical thinking is the main defense against language serving to obfuscate reality (rhetoric).

Valuing truth and pursuing it through reason (critical thinking) is rare in our species, society and even in your profession. It is virtually absent from the public discourse on almost all important societal issues and problems. It's absence, which knows no political bounds, is the fundamental reason why we are in zugswang in Iraq and the underlying cause for most of our problems and binds, here and throughout the world.

By contrast, Peter Beinhart illustrated what critical thinking is NOT - when he spoke of reading lots of material, i.e. of consuming information. However important information is, critical thinking, i.e. asking questions and thinking about things, including what one reads, is more important.

They should show the excerpts of your comments alongside those of people like Beinherts in every school,including journalism schools, as a good way to illustrate and teach critical thinking.

A great program. I was surprised that it was suggested that the level of press coverage had fallen below the norm during the Bush administration. This has been the norm all the way back to FDR. Landay and Strobel are as unusual as Woodward and Bernstein

Funny you didn't put up my post so I will write it again with the best of my memory. Weird that among the hundreds of posts that there are only a couple that attempt to dispute Moyers' reporting.
This was yet another Moyers hit piece that only put up facts that he liked and put up none of the facts that he didn't like. Where was Moyers' accusation that Clinton, Putin, Chirac, and many other people who aren't in Bush's pocket said that there were WMD's? Am I supposed to believe that the media was Bush's right hand man? Are you kidding me? What are you smoking? I know you can get left wingers to believe this because they just eat these conspiracies up, but give me a break. Media being Bush friendly, that's a punchline without the joke.
Moyers brought up about how Powell was trustworthy BEFORE his presentation to the UN, but there was very little as to what he presented. I wonder why that was. There was NOTHING about the audio tape US intelligence got with a conversation between an Iraqi general and colonel where they were talking about "cleaning up" things and hiding before the UN inspectors showed up the next day. Where was that? What were they hiding or cleaning? Where was this report? Moyers can't dispute this so therefore he didn't put it in his report, that's why. It also shows the Iraqis were being tipped off on UN inspections since they were supposed to be surprise and unfettered inspections. Explain that one to me.
Why was there no reporting about our IMBEDDED reporters entering an abandoned Iraqi army barracks stockpiled with chemical/biological suits, masks, and cyringes. Did they think we were gonna use chemical/biological weapons on them? I know the left wingers might say "yeah exactly", but please, anyone with a clear head knows why they had them.
Where was the report from the Battle of Baghdad where there were reports of traces of mustard and sarin gas found in the Tigris River? Hmm? Perhaps the Tigris makes those naturally.
What about the +500 canisters of mustard gas we have collected. I know they say they weren't weapons grade anymore, but I don't recall anyone volunteering on having the contents poured onto their hands.
Reading from most of these posts it's easy to see who this story was aimed at... left wing nuts. You can dismiss me by thinking I'm a republican or a Bush man, which I am neither. I vote right down the middle. Truth is this report only showed what Moyers wanted to show, which is typically his style. Even the PBS president has said PBS has been biased in the past. When you present facts only that help the reporter's feelings, but don't report on facts that contradict the reporter's feelings, that's called BIAS. No wonder the old guard of the media is failing. Americans have smartened up to their bias and have gone elsewhere.
Having Dan Rather on was the icing of the left-wing cake. This is the same guy who put up false documents about Bush fifty days before the '04 election because he felt the story itself was true. Great journalism. This is the same guy who when reporting that former Clinton Security Adviser Sandy Berger was caught stuffing the highest of classified documents down his pants and socks pertaining to Bin Laden just before the 9/11 commission made the story more about the timing of the release of the story. He's a complete joke.
I bet Moyers' next piece will be about the 9/11 conspiracy that will have such hardened Bush supporters as Martin Sheen, Charlie Sheen, Rosie O'Donnell, and Thierry Meyssan. I'm sure Dan Rather will give his helping hand as well. From all the left wing nuts I've seen post on here, people are just dying for that report too.
The left wing loons are almost exactly like the KKK (which I was referring to in my 2nd post about preameriKKKan, but humorously didn't post my first writing). Think about it. They huddle within their own masses. They think "the government" is after them. They blame the US government and jews for everything. Everything is a conspiracy. Heck, they're one in the same. Only difference is instead of talking about blacks, homosexuals, and jews, the left wingers talk about "republicans", "Foxnews", and well.... jews.
I really think the left wing nuts wake up each morning and just can't wait to gather together with friends and talk about Bush, Foxnews, and republicans because I've seen it done. No wonder why the very day after 9/11 people were already protesting a war. Instead of calling up friends and consoling eachother, the left wing loons were planning protests. "This is just like back in the 60's maaaaan."
Dismiss me all you want, but I'm not the one who thinks everything is a conspiracy or that the media loves Bush. That takes some special herb to make someone think that's correct.
Moyers had his run when his reporting went unopposed and not scrutinized, but that time is over. Reporting half the story is in Moyers' DNA.
One more question... if Bush is such an idiot as most left wingers claim he is, then how did he supposedly "fool" you into believing him in his case for war?

A great program. I was surprised that it was suggested that the press had failed. The performance of the press during the Bush administration was typical of its performance all the way back to FDR.
Landy & Strobel were as uncommon as Woodward and Bernstein.

mr moyers

first I have been (and still am) a long time fan

of yours going back to the your days as a

commentator at cbs

that having been said I have to say that,

reguarding your documentary "buying the war" I am

disapointed

while it was "good", in these times, in today's

context, good is not good enough

it was informative but did not come close to

conveying the level of importance and urgency of

crisis that we face today

the subject matter of your show is not about any

"ordinary" concern or problem

it is about the group consciousness process that

has been successfully hijacked by nothing short of

criminals

even if you give them the benifit of doubt and say

that their motivations are pure and idealogical

this does not take away from the fact they are

willing to perform criminal even treasonous acts

to achieve their ends

you only imply things that need to be stated

outright, such as: the commercial journalistic

process is systemically broken AND advise people

to look for other avenues in finding out the facts

(or to develop those avenues)

even if advising is beyond the scope of what a

purly objective journalist should do these these

are not ordinary issues

in effect you give mainstream journalist as "pass"

without properly challenging their integrity

in this context, at this level of importance it's

laughable to here people who make a substantial

income make excuses that they would risk their

"professional reputation" or that they may even

loose their jobs

if "journalist" let this kind of thing happen

without proper challenge we, as a whole, will

loose far, far more

at this point we don't have the government

imprisoning or killing journalist for writing

their point of view -- or do we? -- I can't say,

who can when so much power is centralized and used

in secrecy

the point is that we are being lead down the road

to becoming a true fascist state and the type of

people doing this (this goes beyond the current

adminstration -- wake up) do not stop their effort

by simply embarrassing them with the truth

if things are to change we have to cross the line

into activist journalism, journalism which not

only exposes but challenges ALL of us as a 

people to become creative in our civil duites

i'm sorry to say your report falls far short of

this mark

Excellent program Bill Moyers. Great reporting - glad to see you back on PBS. Your report makes me even more furious with this administration and their pro-war propaganda. Our young American soldiers sacrificed their lives for nothing. As Robert Kennedy Jr. said so eloquently, “For two weeks after 9/11, there were spontaneous candlelight vigils in Tehran, initiated by Muslims who loved our country. It took more than 200 years of disciplined, visioniary leadership by Republican and Democratic presidents to build these huge reservoirs of public love. We were the most beloved nation on the face of the earth. And today-in six short years, through monumental incompetence and arrogance, this White House has absolutley drained that reservoir dry. America has become the most hated nation on earth. There are five billion people who either fear or just don't know what to think about the US. For me that's the most bitter pill to swallow.”
What a terrible waste!

From the L A Times

McClatchy net income drops 67%

The next story they should do is how the Newspaper Industry fraudulently reported inflated circulation numbers for years

Then jump to exactly WHY Google's model is successful. Advertiser's had been getting screwed for soooo long the backlash and resentment is an Ocean deep !!

People now have a choice to Advertise elsewhere and guess what they LOVE it !! Trackable return on investment not smoke and mirrors.

The entire foundation of the Newspaper business is one colossal SHAM which has now come home to roost.

Let's see thm follow on with coverage on THAAAAT !!

That would take BALLS of some alloy metal that has not been invented yet !

My last post - the Blog manager's are thrilled about that I'm sure

~Rob in Ny

Thanks Bill for pursuing the truth and the big powerful media sources who kowtow to the almighty dollar over objective journalism!

Why did they refuse to question the Bush administration's arguments for going to war with Iraq ? Corporate moguls own these papers and did not want to lose corporate business, wanted to appease Jewish concerns about preserving the state of Israel, and did not want to appear unpatriotic.

The Bush Administration was unsuccessful in eradicating Al Quaeda and needed to justify their invasion of Iraq so they tried to make the terrorist connection. The Bush/Cheney case for war with Iraq was developed long before 9/11. It offered them an opportunity to secure our oil interests in the Middle East given the instability in the region. All their corporate friends also benefitted like Exxon-Mobil and Haliburton.

We no longer have democracy in this country, it is an oligarchy. We don't have a free press they are beholden to corporate interests and shareholders. It is time for us to take our country back and regain a democratic system.

Much of what Bill Moyers reported is criticism of the media. Thus do not expect the media to spread his words very far. While our troops show great courage, few print and broadcast journalists will ever say: "We are responsible for what happened. We are very sorry." Cowards all!
They are like a smoke detector with no battery.

I had been aware of background events in Afghanistan in the days before 9/11, and gasped the day after when Bush administration representatives went on CNN and tied the WTC attacks to Iraq. It was through that prism that I questioned every piece of drum-beating propaganda in the following months. I'm no expert, but if I could recognize the propaganda for what it was and call bullsh*t, why couldn't Rather, Jennings, & Wolf, et al?

Thanks for your bravery and backbone in reporting the information you were getting, and to your editors and publishers for having the courage to run what was counter to everything the mainstream media was putting in our faces, daily. I only wish more editors had had the courage to run it.

The report was good except for the ommission of the influence that American Jews and Israel itself had in the push for war. Unfortunately, until Americans hear the truth, these same poeople will push us into a war with Iran very shortly.

Get some balls and tell the whole story. Oh, I forgot, you don't want to bite the hand that feeds you.

The power of the media can not be underestimated. Like Spiderman...with great power comes great responsibility. I commend the Knight Ridder reporters for keeping their nose to the ground and not getting swept up with the ongoing "war" propaganda. From day one I knew this war in Iraq was not right. What bothers me is why the American masses couldn't see past the smoke & mirrors. Excellent report Bill Moyers!

Thank you Mr. Moyer for your insightful documentary. However, AIPAC wasn't mentioned for their part in this mess.

This Blog is amteur hour

Posts are constantly rearranged when you refresh

It's 98% pandering to the creators and I bet this doesn't make it to the Blog anyway.

Good grief. The media at their best I guess !!

You all are being left in the dust by the internet society that has already had the torch passed to it and accepted it and are running, running, running with it !!

Good Luck and Good Riddance

Rob in Ny

Alot of American's were smart back then., and even instinctively aware (along with just about a first grader's logic), That's why there were huge protests which went pretty much unreported.

That being said.. atleast all of this is now being officially recorded, and publicly "discussed", Maybe that will be effective in some way. At one time in this country..,exposure such as this had some actual effectiveness. I pray all hope is not lost.

I haven't been able to watch the program all the way through, as of yet.

So far, it seems, there were alot of clarified facts..,
people pinned down..,
like tails on donkey's. This is expected to feel reassuring.

However.., it's just moving the food around the plate.., but noone's eating.

The most striking.., frightening snippet.., I was able to catch.., was the 60 minute reporter stating "We had to present it lightly.., make light of it."

That was all I had to hear.

Rather than this new acceptance of light hearted presentations.., what really needed to happen.., and still needs to happen.., to really effectively pull the weed from the root-
(meaning.., to literally save the authenticity.., integrity.., and literal value.. of this very country..,)

What needs to happen is a forceful ruthless demand for accounting.., and the
confident belief in your country to expect it. Not to sit by and watch fellow journalists get shredded.., and thrown into the waste bin.

I know having this responsibility is scary. I know the greatest wish is that someonelse had it. Who wants to step up in this way? Noone, of course. Everyone wishes we could trust the authenticity of people in authority. The alternative burden is too heavy. However.., this is the position you journalist's are in. Everyone has their different positions.
We.., as a people are not used to needing to organize.., or having had to in a long time. Something like this can not be tackled by a lone ranger. Divided we fall (that division is what's counted on.., for most descrepencies to pass through detectors). Trust.., that unity can move a mountain.., and then go move it! Thanks! Call me when it's done! (Just kidding.., Im tryin to do my part in my neighborhood)-

The jist of all Im saying is..
I've seen alot of this show.., but

now..

What are we going to do about it?
Make light of it?
Like the 60 minute reporter opted for?

Maybe that will solve it.

Thanks Bill..
You.. are the greatest!
PS.. It was so good to see Dan Rather again! Welcome home Dan! I hope you come back!

In an earlier post, I suggested we read alternative media. I forgot to mention that may become more difficult starting on July 15th.

Earlier this year, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) rejected a postal rate increase plan offered by the U.S. Postal Service. Instead they opted to implement a complicated plan submitted by one of the media giants. Under the original plan, all publishers would have a mostly equal increase (approx. 12 percent) in the cost for mailing their publications. The new plan overturned this level playing field to favor large, ad-heavy magazines at the expense of smaller publications. It penalizes thousands of small- to medium-sized outlets with disproportionately higher rates while locking in privileges for bigger companies.

Stand up for independent media: send a letter to congress and the postal service here — http://action.freepress.net/campaign/postal

I sell food products to restaurants in Chicago, did not graduate from college and never even attempted a New York Times’ crossword puzzle. In other words, I’m your basic dipsh**; yet here I was throwing shoes and other objects at my TV four-plus years ago every time some idiot was on talking up the reasons we HAD to invade Iraq.

If a Homer-brained guy like me could see the bull these people spewed, why couldn’t the Ivy-schooled journalist unearth the truth? Why didn’t the people who had the power and ability to question and fact-find do their goddamned job!

From Bill Moyers Journal "Buying the War” – Knight-Ridder’s NORM SOLOMON: "These were supposed to be the most discerning, sophisticated journalists in the country writing this stuff, and they were totally bamboozled."

Shame on you, American Press, with the exception of the Knight Ridder team.

Great job Bill Moyers.

Bill's program had a lot of valid information but all this information had been in the Internet blogs for years. One great omission was AIPAC's and Israel's contribution to the deception. Another was the fact that Jewish neocons were some 90% of the deception team--both in the government and in the media (NY Times, Wash Post, Wall St. Journal...)

Thank you for the program. It is very important and I hope you will run it as many times as possible. The way the media was used in the run up to the invasion was a lot like gaslighting. How could one trust one's own research when the front pages kept publishing misleading stories?

Thanks Bill Moyer,Knight-Ridder and Dan Rather(whom I feel is another victim of Bushes war).This documentary should be required viewing for journalist students.Do you think it could be shown on cspan sometime in the near future?Maybe we bloggers could push for additional showings from other sourses.

Interesting report. Here's what I take from it. What motivated the media to not get the word out was its agenda- to make money which means print/broadcast that which sells and not to print that which does not sell. What sells- responding to public fear.

The Gov desire after 9/11 -Not to let another destructive event like 9/11 happen again. One Gov solution- get rid of Sadam. (other motivations may be possible). The media responded to greatest public fear of another 9/11 and turned a blind eye to our rightful fear of government's hidden agenda.

In the Moyer’s 25 April report I again see the media agenda - make money/increase viewership by responding to public fear. Now it’s focused on the fear of government.hidden agendas.

Report approach- present the government as manipulative and critic the media for not reporting about manipulative government. There was no stated reason why the viewers should now trust the media and no explanation of this reports agenda.

If this sounds cynical its because what I didn't see in this report were clear statement of the reports agenda. Why should any one believe in a media (left or right) that has failed in the past to get to and report the truth. Credibility has to be earned and only by stating you agenda and proving it in a convincing way can it be achieved. Blindly trusting either the government or the media because they respond to our most current worst fear is not the answer.

We long ago concluded that we had to get our national news from alternative sources. That said, we deeply appreciate Bill Moyers, PBS, and all who interviewed for the show airing the truth in national media. If it had been FOX, we would have expected to see and hear spins on the show in the news the next day, keeping it out in the "public". This show was clearly news-worthy in itself, but what do we see and hear today about it? Nothing. PBS, please re-run this show ASAP and often.

Thanks for a great documentary. And thanks to the real journalists, like Landay and Strobel, who stood as an example to the profession of what it can be. Thanks to the government officials who did speak out to tell us what they knew ahead of time.

And to the devil with those dishonorable people who lied then and continue to lie now.

Mr. Moyers,

Thank you so much. You are a king among men.

All U.S. wars over the past century were preceded by a carefully planned and executed campaign of deception that involves (1) censorship of key facts followed by (2) injection of false information (propaganda) via the media. American journalists and media executives have always played a central role in this sordid process. The Iraq war is just the latest example.

Ever since President Wilson hired progressive journalist George Creel to sell Americans on World War I, the close working relationship between the national media and the war planners has grown ever closer and more efficient.

Do not be fooled into thinking this happens by accident or from incompetence.

Just remember that during war the first casualty is always the truth.

Terry Hansen
author of 'The Missing Times'

Good program but for those of us who go to alternative news sources like Democracy Now!, FAIR, Pacifica Radio and so on, this was old news.

The best thing you could do is ask PBS and NPR to add Democracy Now! to their regular schedule of programs.

Then perhaps this society might become a bit more media literate.

I agree with Maggie Bott - kudos to the Knight Ridder boys for getting it right, but for Canadians and, I imagine, others, this was an obvious load of BS from the beginning.

So while statements such as Tim Russert's 'I wish my phone would have rung' may be sadly telling (you're a reporter, you idiot), I think we also need to examine why so many Americans, politicians included, allowed themselves to be misled by 'the powers that be.' If the rest of the world could discern the deception, why not you?

And let us neither forget that Americans re-elected Mr. Bush nearly 20 months after the invasion of Iraq, when it was more than apparent that they had been sold a bill of goods.

I don't, therefore, really buy the whole 'woe is the media-betricked me' image. People get the media, government, and society that they deserve.

OIL, OIL, OIL......

This program's presentation of the facts makes sense to me.
I'm convinced that most media orgs were either compliant or negligent in their reporting on this issue. However, there's no excuse for how the American public benignly accepted the irrational case made by the Bush admin for attacking Iraq. A minimal effort would've allowed us to see through it all but we didn't do it. Worse, we didn't want to do it. We wanted revenge for 9/11 and we wanted it fast and against the easiest target we could find. And we still don't have the guts to put our foot down forcefully enough to stop the madness.
Shame on all of us.

Another thing...If this blog is screened for hurtful and malicious comments, how come the comments about "zionist conspiracy" nonsense was not removed? Also, how come there are no opposite points of view about the program? I could not find a single posting not praising the program. Nice diversity!!

Nearly everything the administration said or did with respect to the Iraq war falls apart when confronted with a simple aphorism:

The wisdom to act is not wisdom in the actions chosen.

What made this war, at this time, in this way, THE way to proceed after 9/11, and against Islamic radicalism? No one, in my experience, has made any of the sorry lot of clowns who drove the Iraq war forward address that simple question.

Whenever they are confronted, they invoke a need to be strong and resolute. Arguabley one of the most significant lessons of the 20th century was that it is quite as deadly to be foolish (WWI, Vietnam)as it is to be weak and irresolute (fascism and WWII).

Fighting wars in a world with WMD's takes on the aspect of striking matches in a dynamite factory. You may get away with it for a while, but if ISN'T a good idea.

I am a Foreign in this country (from Brazil) and getting through this war has been very painful. I have never believed in this adminstration's case for the war against Iraq. First WMD and then free the Iraq people! The few articles I could find that raised questions against the war always seemed founded in actual facts. I thank you for doing objective journalism. I do believe the American press has blood in its hand for its courdice and for being part of the Administration's propaganda machine.

Regina Sant'Anna

As many others who watched "Buying the War" last night, I am left with the question: Why? Why did Bush do this? And how, as a human being, could he have done it? Why did he and so many others lie to America? I want to know why and I want all Americans -- and the whole world -- to know why. I think it must be recognized, however, that not all Americans want to know why; some don't even want to acknowledge that the lies even occurred. I know many right-wing (read: religious) Americans who still insist Bush is doing God's work, that the WMD were there -- maybe just hidden in the desert or something; that only left-wing, unpatriotic liberals would even consider not supporting the Commander in Chief. (Even when Bush was first elected, I shuddered at the notion of this cowardly man as Commander in Chief of our armed forces.) I am now more cynical than ever about our politicians, the so-called servants of the people. The huge danger now, it would appear, is that we all know we can't believe anything we're told -- so we may find ourselves unwilling to support a TRUE threat to our country. Has this nation ever been at a more dangerous (and depressing) crossroads? Is there any hope for a better future for our grandchildren? I am one depressed grandmother.

I was inspired that Bill took on this issue. I was also so impressed and inspired by the two journalists from Knight Ridder. Thank you so much gentlemen. Your courage is worthy of some sort of award and we average Americans owe you an enormous amount of gratitude. You stand honest in the face of powerful people bent on hate and destruction of our way of life and I’m not taking about the terrorists of the world. I’m talking about the big-bucks conservative talk show hosts and pundits who so easily influence the less informed and historical lacking amongst us. I went to bed last night thinking it might make a difference.

Then I turned on the morning news and watched as our media had on guest after guest using the same language as the people exposed as liars in Bill's program. So does it matter? It’s a sad state of affairs. Will the media ever go back to being a pillar instead of being a sound box that regurgitates the company line? All the cable news shows still refer to the war as a "war on terror" when, in fact, anyone who has spent anytime looking into it or even simply watching Bill's show should know that we are being sold a bill of goods and our media is the lackey middleman. There a few people left in the profession of journalism that shouldn’t feel the shame that they so rightfully deserve.

I urge the brave journalists out there to stand up and speak the truth. Please know that there is a silent majority out here that wait to support you when the un-American Rush’s, O'Reilly’s, Hannity’s and their mislead minions come screaming for your heads.

If you want to know why the media was mute, you need to google The Money Masters pt1 & 2
Also: Freedom to Fascism

RON PAUL for President!

Good doc, but too little, far too late. Watching the American news media from Canada during that period we were repeatedly amazed, disgusted, frightened, at the lack of response to what seemed very clearly to be straight lies emanting from the White House. The interviews in the doc basically say "oops we made a mistake". But for virtually everyone to have decided NOT to report on the real story, something else was going on. It appears now and appeared at the time that the US was in a very serious state of mass delusion. Scary when you think about it.

I also thought Bill Moyers, though usually a good interviewer, was even now making some of the very same mistakes that he was critiquing. He was quite hard on Peter Beinart, certainly with good reason, but very easy on Dan Rather who should simply be ashamed of himself. Why the tough posture on Beinart, and easy posture on Rather, who without doubt was infintely more influential than Beinart in shaping the mass story.

I expect more from Moyers.

A big "thank you" to Bill Moyers for this excellent program.

Truth brings clarity, cleansing and potential healing. But the tougher part is doing the homework to honestly face ourselves and name our own fears in order to experience our own healing, and ultimately our healing as a people. As long as we cover up our fears with military might, greed, arrogance, and violence for that illusion of security, we will continue down a path to ultimate self-destruction.

We need those who are ready and willing to keep asking the deeper questions in order for truth to shine. To Bill Moyers and others, keep up the courage!

Congratulations on outstanding work.

Do you think the economics of reporting (eg. the buyout of Knight-Ridder by McClatchy) has contributed to the dearth of truly "investigative" reporting...and if so, what trends do you see for the future of journalism?

Had the media told the truth, it wouldn't have made any difference. Remember that the media DID tell the truth about the UN WMD inspectors, by continually reporting that inspectors were on the ground for four months before the war began, and that no hint of WMDs had been found.

That was enough evidence that WMDs did not exist. The media didn't hide the news about the inspectors; it was in every newspaper. So we can't blame the war on the media. It's to be blamed on the Bush administration lies, and the gullibility of everyone who read about the UN inspectors.

Several posts here have said "I believed the media." Then why didn't you believe the media when they reported that no WMDs were found in the four months before Bush attacked Iraq? That should have opened your eyes...

Well Done, I just watched the show and it was the first primetime tv critique of Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL) that I've seen.
It was interesting to hear the CEO of CNN say that they were snapped into line by FOX's aggressive reporting tactics. To examing this fear more closely I'd recommend the documentary 'Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism'
Also I recently saw the documentary 'Iraq for $ale' and would recommend it if you liked this. Keep digging KR! Moyers Thank you.

Mr Moyers,
You are definately the
best damned investigative
reporter that we have in
this country.Thanks for
coming back to PBS.
Ivan Dixon

Great reporting on a topic full of revealing insight on what has happened in the 21st century to America. The person who commented that we Americans have allowed ourselves to be mere Consumers. Living our lives in America for the next consumer sale looking for the next material thing.

It is sad to know that so many of our fellow Americans have had their lives changed forever due to the actions of a single individual, President Bush (43). I have been saiding for years that as Americans we should demand a creation of a basic aptitude test so we can judge whether or not a person is fit to be President of the United States. It would call the Presidental Aptitude Test or PAT. If, such a test had been in place our current president would had failed the Foreign Affairs section.

I would lke to see Bill Moyers produce & broadcast a comprehensive program on what are the essential qualifications for the job position classified as United States President other than age, place of birth etc.

Scott Ridder on MSNBC Hardball got me thinking that maybe this case for war was BS. Immediately I found the writings of Knight Ridders guys and others overseas that made it abundently clear that we were being sensationalized by the mainsteam media and forced into war. Knowing that our case for war was BS, when the moment came to enter Iraq I heard on the radio while driving and felt sick to my stomach, literally.

There are two basic questions I would love to see you explore.

1) Why the white house was in such a frenzy to go to war.

2) Why was the media complicit. You showed that they were complicit and incompetent, even fraudulent, but the issue of why was only touched on. That could be a whole other show.

Thanks so much sir.... about time someone put together a piece like this.. DO NOT STOP HERE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!

Excellent program. Lets hope the lessons learned resonate with more in the mainstream.

Your hard work is appreciated.

Great show, thanks to KR for sticking with their investigations. Another reason, as if we needed one, to stay away from network and Beltway sources. Thanks also to Moyers for a good summary of what we as a nation purchased from Bush. The only element missing was the linkage between Likud/AIPAC and the neocons.

This is the only place in broadcast journalism where we were going to see this truth. Spectacular show...please repeat it. I feel like crying. How can this administration be punished for their criminal deceit, the disaster they were determined to initiate, and the lives of 3000 dead young Americans which they wasted without purpose or mercy?

Excellent piece! This needs to be put on mainstream media outlets. Unfortunately, not enough people watch PBS.

If we can put this on a internet media outlet like youtube, it will spread like wild fire!

Mr. Landay and Mr. Strobel, I would like to contribute a gazillion dollars (it'll take me awhile to get it together) to the journalism schools that produced such exceptional reporters. Thanks for your skepticism and persistence. I think just for the heck of it I'm going to give Tim Russert a call so he can continue to pretend he's a real journlist.

Thanks for the informative program. Please do a repeat of it and a follow-up. Kudos to Landay and Strobel.

I think that a list of all the reporters and pundits that were clearly in the pockets of the administration and right wing extremists and did their bidding should be distributed and protests mounted to have these people fired - not for expressing their opinions, but for deliberately misleading the public by presenting biased "opinions" as verified "facts". After all, people such as Don Imus and Dan Rather, were severely punished for their on-air missives, even though as bad as these were, no one died as a result; while tens of thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands maimed as a result of what the pro-war reporters and pundits said prior to entry into the war - and they still have their jobs. What kind of justice is that?

I also believe that what people like Perle, Kristol, Safire, Will and others said in order to help sell this despicable war, should be LOUDLY repeated every single week (and placed prominently on YouTube) until this disastrous war ends! They should be publicly humiliated at every opportunity in the same way that they threatened to humiliate and punish those few brave souls that questioned the basis for the war. Why are they being let off the hook and, worse yet, rewarded for what they did? Rather than still drawing big salaries for continuing to regularly dish out more of this kind of "crap" that passes for journalism, they should probably be cleaning latrines somewhere - how about in Iraq?

Perhaps there should be boycotts organized against the various news organizations that still employ these people. Let's start with Fox news and ABC news!

And please feel free to forward this comment to all of the (IMO) aforementioned "incompetent scumbags".

The Truth Seeker

P.S. Why not also post the entire program on YouTube because many young people don't watch PBS and its important for them to learn about this?

Four days after 9/11, I found myself yelling, "Dammit, stop telling me how to feel!" at my TV at the sight of yet another hyper-patriotic commerical. I needed only four days to realize that the media's reaction to 9/11 had the makings of a vast right-wing conspiracy. The firing of a reporter who questioned Bush's whereabouts, plus CNN's policy of prefacing reporting of the invasion of Afghanistan with reminders that "they" had killed "us," confirmed my supicions.

I took out my frustration on the Internet, where I found out that the bin Laden and Bush families have been doing business together for years and that Osama got his basic training from the CIA. I knew I was on to something, and have gotten the bulk of my news from the Internet ever since, with the help of political message boards and the birth of the blogosphere.

My only regret is that the anthrax attacks on the media wasn't mentioned--fear of an envelope containing powder may have done as much to intimidate reporters as fear of an envelope containing a pink slip. Aside from that, I didn't really learn anything "new" from the show--except how it feels to see the investment I made in journalistic integrity six years ago turn into a jackpot!

Watched the exceptional program on the lead up to the Iraq war... Excellent! I have wondered over these months if Bill Moyers accepts the official version of the events of 9/11? I am not a particularly paranoid person, BUT, upon close observation, there is no way for me to buy the original story. It clearly was not the work of extremists with box cutters! Are there any plans to examine 9/11 in future programs?

GREAT WORK! Please keep it up - we need you, Bill!

There seems to be a happy coincidence developing, which one might even attribute to the passing spirit of humanist, Kurt Vonnegut.

At the exact same time Bill Moyers' "Buying the War" and many other Internet-based truths are revealing the corrupt and lying corporate media and quickly escalating the public awareness that the elite, corporate media is guilty of abusing average ‘working class' Americans --- “treating them like a rich kid’s Christmas toys”; Dennis Kucinich, with his populist/progressive courage to attack the Bush Empire and Cheney with impeachable offenses against the American people, is likewise revealing the corrupt and lying corporate political scam that has allowed our democracy to be stolen by a guileful global corporate elite Empire hiding behind this crooked façade of “Vichy America”.

The American 'working class', which is the vast majority, is starting to “See Clearly Now” (as the song goes) how they have been abused and lied to and they will turn against this corporate Empire controlled political scam and corporate controlled media scam with a vengeance.

Hopefully, with your efforts both the corporate elite political structure and the corporate corrupt media structure will fall FAST and HARD.

My question involves the proper stance for a reporter who is reporting a speech about Iraq by a political figure like Sen. Lieberman. I have in mind the frequent reference to "the enemy" who must be "defeated." The hearer is meant to imagine Al-Quada as "the enemy" when in fact the action proposed by the speaker will involve Al-Quada only very little or not at all. For example, the "surge" is justified as crucial to defeating the "enemy" without mentioning that the violence in Baghdad is attributable primarily to a civil war. In that civil war, who is the "enemy?" The Shias? The Sunis? Obviously, neither, yet the speaker has not wanted the listener to focus on the ambiguity of his speech. May the "reporter" do that? If so in what context? May a reporter's "comments" be included in a front page article or must they be in an op-ed type piece. Thanks for a great program. I have ordered the DVD.

Mr Moyers,

You are a great American.

Thank You !

Terrific journalism...happy to see Bill back.
Nothing was mentioned about the handling of the pre-war information by PBS "News Hour." Was it similarly cowed by public opinion and the Republican administration? Oddly enough, the internet seems to have hampered my take on the war. Before connecting to the internet, I listened constantly to NPR. However, once I was connected to the web, I devoured the Wash. Post and the NYT--neither of which displayed much critical thinking. Add Tom Friedman columns and Powell's UN appearance to the mix and who was I to question their conclusions. Since the awards, I have added McClatchy to my bookmarks and read BEFORE the other two. I couldn't wait to see Landay, Strobel & Walcott last night! Koodoos to Dan, Bob,& Tim for appearing.

Let me echo the "thanks" for terrific reporting. If only other news organizations had followed your lead, America obviously wouldn't be in the position we are.

My question would be, where are the series of stories indicating who is benefiting from this war. It's obvious that we're not in this war for the reasons given -- so the only other explanation is that there is a powerful cabal that wanted this war for reasons I would expect revolve around money.

From the oil fields of Iraq to the gas pipeline in Afghanistan.
From the military industrial complex to the contractors working to 'rebuild' Iraq.
With a trillion dollars up for grabs, those with the political, business and personal connections have surely made a killin' (pun intended).

With that much money and so many mouths at the trough there must be some trail that leads back to the pockets of many of the biggest war-hawks (chicken-hawks).

All necessary sources should be devoted to tracking down the connections and following the money to those who have increased their wealth at the cost of tens of thousands lives.

Finally the masses get a good summary of how the military-industrial complex/neocons highjacked America.

I say hang em high. And clean house and senate. Is this a form of government deserving to be a model for any country?
Not.

Many people outside the Beltway were skeptical about the WMDs because it was obvious they were a pretext for the invasion of Iraq. The real reason for the invasion had been calculated by the neo-cons when they took the plan to to Clinton and Israel. Even after no WMDs were found, the neo-cons, said, "So what? The real reason for the invasion was to change the Middle East. What was alarming was that so many pundits, and columnists played the game about intelligence on WMDs instead of using elementary political skepticism. The war was already planned. Finding an plausible excuse in WMDs was clearly an excercise in mollifying public opinion. The undertold story is how the neo-cons brought this off.

WOW!! I was, at least as a bar going 20 - 21 year old at the time(2002-2003), sucked in hook, line, & sinker to the evidence furnished me by the news media.

As a younger person, I never really though to challenge what the major media channels were reporting, how could I have been so wrong.

I know wonder, as this continues to happen, what/who to believe and trust, where to get my information, and if anybody may be held accountable for their actions.

I just saw a piece on my local public station yesterday, here in Chicago, about the possible/probable corruption of media and the negativity that media consolidation would bring. This was a speech by John Nichols given to the League of Women Voters. I feel that, maybe not in whole but at least in part, their may be a connection with those views and the misrepresentation given by many news media groups in this country.

I've always taken most things with a grain of salt, but recently have begun to be much more interested in this whole field and have now raised a serious eyebrow very high as to what has and is going on.

-Christian Anderson 24
Chicago, IL

So glad to have Bill Moyers back on PBS. My question: would it really have made any difference to have honest, objective, fact-finding reporting during the run-up to the war, given the rubber-stamp Republican congress which refused to scrutinize any administration policies?

Bush should be impeached and then tried as a mass murderer. Rove should be drawn and quartered for enableing the
the murders. The neo-cons should all
be droped off in Bagdad to be properly
welcomed with flowers and candy.

Thanks for your good work.

And the Washington Post still doesn't understand why I canceled by subscription after 30 years. Maybe this will finally sink into their thick neocon-apologist skulls, and they will realize that the W. Post has become just another propaganda arm of the fascist Bush administration. They probably don't even care anymore.

Thank you for an excellent report - that makes me even madder than I was before about the war and the way we chose to go to war. I am now even more mad that most of the media so miserably shirked their duty and responsibility to "tell the truth".

What can a citizen do to press the media - especially TV - to ask, and keep asking the tough questions until they are honestly satisfied themselves that they are reporting the truth? I pick on TV because I know there are many young people (under 40) who only get their news from TV and the web. I greatly appreciate your reporting, but I do not recall that much of what the two featured Knight Ridder reporters wrote made it to the front page of our local Knight Ridder paper - The Charlotte Observer.

How can we hold/ encourage/make/etc. journalist seek a truth that they believe as individual contentious reporters? How can we impact their corporate superiors to allow and support their reporters in their quest for truth? I want the unvarnished truth - good, bad or indifferent. I thought that is what good reporting was supposed to be about.

If it is possible one might interpret this mess with a positive attitude. No one with a half a brain will ever believe anything said by Bush, Bush, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, Libby, Pearle, Krystal, etc,etc again. These are the so called military authorities who let Bin Laden get away.
JimO

Thank you all for your journalism excellence.
Was there a reason you didn't address why the Bush Administration have pratically given up on it's goal of finding Osama bin Laden?

Great program Bill Moyers!!

Now people know why I have referred to the news media as "The News Media corpSE. They are dead from the neck up.

Thank-you Reuters and Bill Moyers for slamming the "LAPDOGS" that did not do their jobs!

John Walcott, Jonathan Landay, Warren Strobel are today's Ben Bradley, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein!!

How ironic that C-Span did not have Walcott, Landay or Strobel on their morning program this morning after Moyer's show aired, yet they did have warmonger Bill Kristol on instead! Proof we still have a lapdog media corpSE! They haven't learned a damn thing!!

It was good (and sad) to see all of that info in one place. Two caveats: hindsight is (or more easily can be) 20/20, and much of that info was available before the war, but only if you went beyond mainstream media. Relying solely on newspapers, major newsweeklies, and networks and cable news outlets is (and obviously was) a recipe for disaster.

We all should be grateful for "Buying the War." But we should resolve to read alternate sources from now on: there are many weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly magazines and journals that tell it like it is, as well as alternate sources on the Web.

Now what? I think two of the most compelling questions are: "How do we extricate ourselves from a war we never should have started in the first place, in a way that doesn't make what we've already made worse, even more so?" and "Shouldn't those who lied to us to sell the war be punished?"

Thank you for maintaining your professionalism and integrity though this darkness of our history.

GREAT REPORTING!!!!!!!!! It is a shame that it came to late for the Iraq people and the American soldiers who gave their life for nothing. Our moral standards have lowered a lot since Watergate. To think that a president was forced to resign for that!!!! Chenney, Bush and Rumsfeld are war criminals.

That's the how, what about the why?

In 2002 I knew the rationale for war was a pack of lies. The war protesters saw through Colin Powell's UN speech, and all the other transparent pro-war propaganda.

Let's talk about the question Moyers never even raised: Why did the war happen?

James Bamford was on the show. He has a theory, explained in his book. His book was featured, but not his theory. Bamford says we went to war for Israel. He makes a good case. Worth a look, maybe? The connection between the neo-Cons and Zionism is both undeniable and unmentionable.

Michael Klare, not on the show, says we did it for the oil: "Blood for Oil." Pretty obvious on the face of it. I don't remember hearing the word "oil" on the Moyers show.

A third explanation is what I call "Legionnaires' Disease," the tendency for a wartime president to have dictatorial power, and hence the temptation to create a war to get that power. This was covered indirectly, but America's love of war, which makes it possible, was not. If the country has had enough peace, and is ready for the next war, the lies that get us into it don't have to be very convincing. The just have to be quotable.

Handy acronym: OIL. Oil, Israel, and Legionnaires' Disease. Interlocking causal factors. Notice that weapons of mass destruction and terrorism don't count. They were merely the sales pitch, and once the war started they were no longer needed. But unless we understand the real reasons for the war, we will never have a clue about how to get out of it.

Next time, let's do some digging. Tell us something we don't already know.

Thank you for an excellent report - that makes me even madder than I was before about the war and the way we chose to go to war. I am now even more mad that most of the media so miserably shirked their duty and responsibility to "tell the truth".

What can a citizen do to press the media - especially TV - to ask, and keep asking the tough questions until they are honestly satisfied themselves that they are reporting the truth? I pick on TV because I know there are many young people (under 40) who only get their news from TV and the web. I greatly appreciate your reporting, but I do not recall that much of what the two featured Knight Ridder reporters wrote made it to the front page of our local Knight Ridder paper - The Charlotte Observer.

How can we hold/ encourage/make/etc. journalist seek a truth that they believe as individual contientious reporters? How can we impact their corporate superiors to allow and support their reporters in their quest for truth? I want the unvarnished truth - good, bad or indifferent. I thought that is what good reporting was supposed to be about.

Sincerely, John Highfill

That's the how, what about the why?

In 2002 I knew the rationale for war was a pack of lies. The war protesters saw through Colin Powell's UN speech, and all the other transparent pro-war propaganda.

Let's talk about the question Moyers never even raised: Why did the war happen?

James Bamford was on the show. He has a theory, explained in his book. His book was featured, but not his theory. Bamford says we went to war for Israel. He makes a good case. Worth a look, maybe? The connection between the neo-Cons and Zionism is both undeniable and unmentionable.

Michael Klare, not on the show, says we did it for the oil: "Blood for Oil." Pretty obvious on the face of it. I don't remember hearing the word "oil" on the Moyers show.

A third explanation is what I call "Legionnaires' Disease," the tendency for a wartime president to have dictatorial power, and hence the temptation to create a war to get that power. This was covered indirectly, but America's love of war, which makes it possible, was not. If the country has had enough peace, and is ready for the next war, the lies that get us into it don't have to be very convincing. The just have to be quotable.

Handy acronym: OIL. Oil, Israel, and Legionnaires' Disease. Interlocking causal factors. Notice that weapons of mass destruction and terrorism don't count. They were merely the sales pitch, and once the war started they were no longer needed. But unless we understand the real reasons for the war, we will never have a clue about how to get out of it.

Next time, let's do some digging. Tell us something we don't already know.

Moyers had one glaring error in the program.

He fell for a media-perpetuated lie himself, when he stated that the UN inspectors were ejected from Iraq by Saddam in 1998. They were actually removed at the request of Clinton for their protection from his December 1998 bombing of Iraq.

What a great show.

For folks asking "why" this whole thing was pulled: Look at this story about a defense contractor, David L. Brooks, who threw a $10 million Bat Mitzvah for his daughter in 2005 with Aerosmith, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Kenny G, 50 Cent and others performing:

http://www.gnn.tv/articles/1915/50_Cent_the_War_Profiteer_and_the_10_million_Bat_Mitzvah

http://digg.com/business_finance/Ben_Stein_Digests_Our_Terrifically_Broken_Economy

http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/50-cent/multiple-bullet-wounds-hold-spoiled-jewish-girls-in-rapture-140134.php

There is BIG MONEY in WAR folks ...

Thanks for exposing the salivating neocons and the pliant press in the period between 9-11 and the start of Bush's war.

Tim Russert is a Republican megaphone, and "Meet the Press" is really "Meet the Russert."

Russert tried to blame others for his lazy reporting of questionable pre-war intelligence. During he show, he even blamed the public for NOT making his phone ring. Excuse us: You're the reporter. Why didn't you pick up the phone, call your mid-level sources and report on their doubts instead of being spoon-fed by Cheney?

Glad Bill Moyers is back on PBS. Really glad.

A very nice job. But there's another story that's getting exactly the same treatment: Global Warming. Iraq War skeptics were branded unpatriotic and couldn't get ink. Global warming skeptics are labeled stupid, and they can't get ink either.

Like the Iraq War, if you dig beneath the surface, the claims don't make sense, and there is hardly a consensus on the anthropogenic causes of global warming. But try finding any of that in the media. It's not there.

People belive in Global Warming because they want to believe in it, just like people believed Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 because they wanted to believe that. As H.L. Menken noted almost a century ago, "There is always a well-known solution to every human problem--neat, plausible, and wrong.

Mr. Moyers, where were you five years ago, when the Iraq War fraud was being perpetrated? And will you similalry wait until a time when it is safe to investigate The Selling of Global Warming?

Before Bush Sr., Iraq had one of the highest standards of living in the world - higher than that of the USA. Every citizen received FREE health care, education (including university) and there were no taxes. Now the people have no or little food, electricity or running water, functional hospitals or schools.

GOD BLESS AMERICA for bringing democracy to Iraq.

Like a surprisingly tiny fraction of all the commenters, I am wondering why -- if you could do the expose that you just did -- why you can't cover the evidence of official complicity in 9/11? There is a mountain of it, as you certainly should know by now. Do you really want to go down in history as being "not as bad as most of the mass media"?

We're about to go to war with Iran, unless the military disobeys (as it should). Aren't you participating in an even worse example of the same kind of cover-up as with Iraq, by being silent about the 9/11 evidence?

Here's the tip of the iceberg, with NO DOUBT about the facts (unlike with WMDs):

- Dozens of specific warnings that were ignored, and FBI field requests for investigations quashed by Washington superiors

- No response to the excessive put options the week before on AA, United and other affected companies, which are watched in real time by the national security apparatus

- Total violations of standard operating procedure in hijackings

- Three different stories told by the Pentagon as to why no interceptions

- $ Millions in hush money to the families so they won't sue (which would allow them subpoena power) or talk to the media (listen to the ones who didn't take it)

- THREE unprecedented engineering failures in one day and no serious, scientifically valid investigation -- none at all for 411 days, and that one horribly compromised with conflicts of interest. The "failures" exhibited most of the features of controlled demolition, which are not seen except in cases of controlled demolition. Al Qaeda lacked access to the Towers and WTC 7 to plant explosives.

All this and much more at 911Research, Crossing the Rubicon, and The 9-11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions.

See also http://journalof911studies.com, where my commentary has just been published on one of the few debates ever between two experts on opposite sides of the real 9/11 issue: Who really had the motive, means, and opportunity to conduct the attacks _the way they were carried out_? Not al Qaeda.

I would like to commend you on such a fine piece of journalism. Hopefully, this report will stimulate and encourage a re-evaluation on the part of all legitimate media agencies of their mission as important agents in the system of checks and balances that sustain any democracy to prevent such a chronic case of reporting laziness and complicity with ill-conceived government policies and plans from happening in the future. I believe that most TV networks in North America have cynically morphed from journalistic entities into entertainment tabloids that have lost sight of the real purpose of their existence. The fact that it was PBS that began the dialogue on this issue is a sign of hope and reinforces again why public broadcasting is so important in a democracy. Thank God for PBS and the CBC in Canada.

Three comments in response to an excellent and long-overdue report:

1) Bill Moyers ought to know about selling ill-conceived warfare. I wish he'd express some regret for the blood on his own hands over Johnson's Vietnam.

2) The reason America swallowed this deception is that Bush/Rove are experts at pandering to the moronic majority. Remember, the average IQ is 100; that means a large number of people are easily fooled. (Madison Ave knows this, which is why TV journalism is so pathetically bad.)

3) As Bush/Rove have now learned, you can't fool all the people forever. Eventually your own hubris will catch up with you. Too bad it had to cost more than $1 trillion and countless lives. What a terrible waste!!!

Regards,
MTB

As usual great reporting. This piece left me with two questions that I hope Bill and his team will be following up on.

Why - if the administration knew the information was faulty at best and worked so hard to market the war, what was the real reason behind it. Was it related to the secret energy meetings Cheney held early in the administration.

What next - the administration clearly mislead the american public and the world to engage in an unlawful war. What should become of the architects of this disaster? Are they less than war criminals? Shouldn't this be of primamry importance to the media and people that were used and mislead?

WHY?
Bush said: "After all he is the guy who threatened to kill my dad"
Bush wants to be a "War President"

Then there is religion: People need someone to trust, someone to talk to who does not look down on them and scold them, so they invented god and his disciples.
Religious people need someone. Like Jim Jones, Applewhite, Robertson, Baker, Falwell, Moon, and it is no surprise that the religious right flourishes.
They gave them Bush, and people flocked to Bush who listens to a higher father than Bush 41.

It is a shame. Religion should be something good for people, but the current leaders are all corrupt, Phelps, Falwell, Robertson, Perkins and all the others who want to make the US into a christian country. They claim that this country was founded on Judeo Christian doctrine, which is huey. They claim that freedom of /from religion gives them the right to diplay their beliefs anywhere they please. The Constitution also provides for my pursuit of happiness. Am I allowed to display my sexual perversions anywhere I choose? People are free to exercise their religion, not ANYWHERE they choose, just ANYHOW they choose, in the appropriate venue.

Gentlemen,

Thanks for your fine reporting and your continued patriotic efforts.

It seems clear that much of the reluctance of the main stream media to aggressively question the administration’s case for war was a fear of being perceived as un-patriotic and un-American. In other words the coverage was driven by business decisions; by a fear of losing viewers or readers. Clearly one would hope that a responsible media would serve the public rather than patronize it. But doesn’t the public share some of the responsibility?

It would be so much easier for each of us to forgo our own responsibility if we could believe that as a nation we were duped by an administration that had we only known was dishonest (or at the very least misleading) we would have acted differently. We would individually and collectively have no responsibility for the actions of our leaders, we would be absolved. It’s the position the Democrats have taken…..”If I had only known then what I know now, I would not have voted to authorize”, as if that should absolve them of their opposition responsibilities.

The truth is for all of us who cared to be reasonably informed and who wanted to form an objective opinion there was more than sufficient evidence in the public domain to harbor at least a healthy degree of skepticism, if not of the need for invasion then of its timing. There was always reason to question whether the real impetus for invasion was imminent threat, to wonder whether the nation was engaged in a sufficient conversation, whether it was even in engaged in the right conversation. No matter how you slice it this was always a war of choice. We as a nation that far too often craves tabloid histrionics to illuminating journalism, that en masse responds to emotionally charged invective and eschews reasoned discourse, that seeks immediate gratification in personal and public life, that covets easy answers to complex problems in particular if no personal sacrifice is required, went along for the ride.

It is good to finally see the media (at least Bill Moyers and PBS) take a look at the role it played in selling this war. We can hope that this kind of self examination reveals the mistakes made and the lessons to be learned. But I have my doubts that similar fiascos can be avoided if the public does not engage in some manner the same sort of exercise. Yes, as a nation we were sold a bill of goods but only because we allowed that to happen. I hope this country takes ownership of its complicity, painful though that might be, and learns the lesson that collectively we bear much responsibility for the invasion; those who bought it all, those who acquiesced, those who had doubts and didn’t speak loudly enough. Some bear more responsibility than others but as a group we should be accountable. It was our choice, we were the empowerers.

It’s really rather scary to contemplate what might be possible when the manipulators and the manipulated are so in tune. Will we as a people learn from our collective mistake?

How in the world that freak got elected to a second term behind homophobia preached in pulpits I don't know, but, if the bible-thumping folks are crazy enough to elect that clown to a second term, they're crazier than Al Qaeda in my book.... WAY crazier ...

I don't really know how we're even still talking about these nuts. They faked the evidence for the war, they outted Plame, they even called Kerry a COWARD for his performance in Vietnam (!!), they've created crazy stories about heroic deaths of our children--when they were killed by our own bullets, etc., etc., etc. They've LIED AT EVERY POSSIBLE TURN TO GET WHAT THEY WANTED. They should have been nothing more than a faint skid mark on the seat of a forgotten pair of the country's underpants by now. What is the problem here?! Arrest these fools, try them for treason and let Pelosi do what she can to put this mess back together and apologize to the rest of the world. WHY would anybody LISTEN to that ADMINISTRATION ANYMORE?!? THEY WILL JUST LIE ABOUT EVERYTHING AND ANTHING. DOES ANYBODY NOT UNDERSTAND THAT?! HAS ANYBODY MISSED THAT ELEMENT OF THEIR M.O?

Honestly, what is everybody waiting for? If I run down to 7-11 and steal a bag of Gummi Bears, I'll be in handcuffs within seconds in this fabulously paranoid police state we have now. What would Bush have to do to get the cuffs slapped on his silly ass!?!? He's lied to everybody about everything and killed tens of thousands of people!!!! Sheeesh..... if they can run the whole country into war on cooked up baloney over a few months, we should be able to lock them up within an hour or two, right ..? We really should do something before they vanish in the night to shack up with Osama on his yacht in Marina del Rey ...

Great Show! Great Reporting. I'm still left with the question of "Why?". The Administration lied, they manipulated intelligence reports, they exaggerated threats, they spun every fact like a top. For What Purpose? Why did they want to go to war with Iraq so badly? Anyone?

As a graduate of Soviet Studies and International Affairs, I watched in disbelief and dismay as I saw the American administration use the tried and true tactics of dictators to deceive the public.

My distress was caused not so much by the behaviour of the administration, but by the fact that Americans swallowed the propaganda they were fed without question and vilified anyone who dared suggest that perhaps what they were hearing might not be the truth.

If, in the 21st century, with all the technology available to people and with, supposedly, the benefit of history to teach us, people are still willing to turn over their brains to 'authority' and refuse to question people in power, I fear humans will never get any smarter.

What do you think is needed to educate people about the dangers of putting their faith in politicians?

Is the lack of international affairs reporting and education the reason nobody noticed that Bush & Co. were using some of the favourite strategies of the worst dictators to deceive the public into turning over their faith and their children to support a reprehensible action?

When people resort to arguments like 'un-American' to cow and shame and scare protestors, who will stand up to them?

In short, what can be done to ensure that no lying, miserable, deceitful individuals are permitted to insinuate themselves into the leadership of the most powerful nation on the planet and rule unchecked?

We are lucky, I think, that this bunch didn't begin WW3 or a nuclear conflict. Next time we may not be so lucky. Can a 'next time' be prevented?

I am thrilled to have Bill Moyers back with some honest reporting. THANKS!!

My questions:

1)It was great to see the lies
presented so clearly. What I really want to know is why??
Why do they want so badly to
go into Iraq, to let so many
of our brave soldiers die ..for what reasons?? Does anyone know these people well enough to get the true story of why they set up this lie of manipulation?
I would like to see a complete
program on this issue. I do not
want to wait for the books on this 10 years from now.

2) Are not their lies like Watergate or worse - since this cost so many lives? And, if so,
then is this not cause for impeachment - same fate as
Nixon?

3) Why do so many people seem to lie for the Bush administration, then they are caught in the lies but the
administration does not take
responsibility? The Bush administration seems to ruined
the reputation of so many
people - yet these people continue to lie for him/them.

4) The way the Bush administration makes decisions - using dishonesty & manipulation - is like a dictatorship. Yet ironically he is
supposedly concerned with setting up democracy in other
countries.

5) This is an out there question: What has happened to our reporting? I am fifty, the tail end of the hippies - we were not afraid to speak the truth. Are the journalist younger and buying into
the fears and the conformity?
Although a number of the
journalist and reporters
interviewed were older,
where does this fear of
the president come from??????
Sucking up to someone?
Why the fear of truth?
Why the fear of honesty?
Why the fear of doing their
real job - fear of losing their job?
There seems to be a grave
lack of integrity in so much
of what is going on.

Like one journalist said. we
are doing our soldiers a favor
by finding the truth not
following blindly.

Thanks for a great documentary on the complicity of the press in the Iraq war. But they are still doing it! In today's Washington Post David Broder chastises Rep. Harry Reid for saying that the Iraq war is lost, something most Americans recognize. In addition, the U.N. report that says the "surge" has failed, issued yesterday, is reported far into the first section and, in fact, ignores that part of the report and concentrates on the human rights violations in Irag that were a less important part of the report. More than ever, it is imperative that the American people be informed and vigilant. We can no longer count on the corporate press to keep us informed.

Students of history will realize that the majority ALWAYS wins. When the USA becomes unwilling or unable to help Israel, the Palestinians will finally get their home back. The USA is often the only supporter of Israel as can be seen whenever there is a UN resolution against Israel. The USA is just delaying the inevitable.

For those Christian zionists who believe that killing Arabs and suppressing/occupying people is acceptable so that Jesus can return, they are more delusional than the Jew zionist in Israel (who are keeping dual citizenships) thinking that when Israel is returned to the Palestinians, Americans will actually allow them to move to the USA.

Jesus preached peace, Bush and the zionists spread war and oppression - they'd be the most surprised and dismayed if Jesus was to return.

Before You Comment - Read About The Upcoming Assignment Of DC's New Duo.

It is the most damaging story to the Bush adminstration that only The Lone Star Iconoclast, a newspaper just outside W's ranch in Crawford, TX, had the courage to put it in print.

The story needs the talent, contacts, sources, and resources of this new team that Mr. Moyers so brilliantly put forth.

The title of the story is
"Is it high treason or just a simple case of dereliction of duty?"

You can reach the story by clicking my name below or this link

http://www.lonestaricon.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=1043&z=103

I am sure you are all with me in wishing this new team the best of luck.

Well Well. PBS has resurected the old Anarchist, Moyer to whine about Irag & Republicans. He is irrelevant & so is the hit piece. As a taxpayer paying for this, over at the home of "Limosine liberals",I demand equal time for a Republican Response to this foolishness, brought to us by Mr moyers & his Texas buddy Dan, I'd rather not! BEPR

After watching the program, I have some questions:

1. How can Bill Moyers use Dan Rather as a source after he retired in disgrace after using forged documents in attempt to swing the 2004 election?

2. How can Phil Donahue complain about being taken off the air when his ratings were so bad? Was it George Bush's fault he lost his daytime show years ago? How about the love fest show he had with the Soviet 'journalist' in the 1980s? Phil's 15 minutes ended in about 1978.

3. Why wasn't Scott Ritter's used more? Could it be that this personal life is, how do you say, controversial? I won't go into detail.

4. Do any of you actually believe that the O'Reilly Factor is more influential than the New York Times? I don't remember their cheerleading about going to war.

5. Why did Moyers' leave out the 23 reasons to invade Iraq that the Bush Administration brought to Congress? I was not just WMD. He ignored the twelve years of the real run-up to the war, including the Clinton era's law for regime change.

What remains is that this was taxpayer left wing propaganda

Many answers, to so many of the questions and even more questions not posted here, can be found in Richard Heinberg's book "Powerdown". As for those who have their doubts to the validity of this program "Selling the War", answers to your questions are also in that book. The worst thing about the book is that not everyone is reading it. It is not a good bedtime story, but does have a realistic plan to save what is left of this society. When will this truth be told and accepted?

Since my post was not printed when sent last night after the broadcast, I repeat: God bless you Bill Moyer, for your courage in exposing the cabal that initiated the preemptive invasion of a sovereign nation, kill its leader and sons. There will be some raised blood pressures Thursday morning!

I cannot help but comment on the apparent justification that Clay Cralle posted. Sadam Hussain could have been taken care of in other ways. What makes Clay think that America is the supreme ruler of the world?

Hussain was busy feathering his nest. Yes he was brutal to the Kurds and he squelched rebelion. That is no justification to destroy the country, we simply do not have that right or authority. We have done much more harm than good.

If Canadians were assulting the government in the US do you not think US would retaliate in kind. Wake up.

Democracy and liberation are a farse that this county will pay for in generations to come. You don't have the right to obligate my childrens children just to impose your will. I'm offended when lies are OK and this war is compared to WWII. Lets have continued debate Clay here and now.

Toby S.

This documentary sure shows how the press was incahoots with the administration and accepted its lies!

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/allcomments?pid=189752&rpg=3#pid190231

I find it ironic that people who defend their country against an occupying army are labeled "terrorists". American history is full of "terrorists" who fought the British for their independence. Also why is it that when an American says, "Give me liberty or give me death", he's a patriot and a hero, but when other people feel that way they're suicidal terrorists? Before many Iraqis die, I'm sure they also say "I regret I have but one life to give for my country". Nelson Mandela was also a "terrorist" for fighting an oppressive, racist regime.

I initially blamed Bush and Blair for the atrocities and murders in Iraq, but when their people re-elected them after seeing what was being done, I realized that the majority of the American and British are either racists, stupid or indifferent - they have blood on their hands too.

bill crystal cha llenged bill moyer to a debate on cspans washington journal this morning

Thanks for your great, skeptical journalism (not just "reporting"). We used to read your stories in The Philadelphia Inquirer, when it was part of Knight-Ridder, but since being sold to a local real-estate developer they mainly rely on the wire services for national news.

The two of you remind me of I.F. Stone; I'm currently reading Myra MacPherson's recent biography of him, "All Governments Lie!". Like you, he also questioned the stories that were spoonfed to the press corps, and did his own independent research and digging. His columns at the time on the Korean War were either ignored or ridiculed, but eventually proved prescient, like yours on the Iraq War buildup.

On the one hand, it's depressing that we are just as ill-served by the media as we were 50 years ago. On the other hand, it's encouraging that we still produce journalists like you, and Bill Moyers, and Amy Goodman, who, in the spirit of Stone, try to do more. What suggestions do you have for enabling more true reporting to help lift the fog from the government's spin machine?

Why could Bill Moyers make a documentary about the Iraq War without mentioning AIPAC, the Jewish neocons and the Christian Zionists? It was AIPAC, the Israeli Intelligence, and the Jewish Zionists in the administraion who were primarily responsible for feeding false intelligence to our government leaders. The Zionist cabal used the ignorant Christian-Zionist masses as accomplices.

Why would Bill neglect any mention of these facts? Fear of the Jews is still a powerful motive dominating the American media and Washington.

Thank you very much for yesterday’s documentary.

One issue that was not discussed on the program was the role and influence of the foreign media. Did/do American journals read the front pages of Canadian and British papers? This might be effective in counteracting group think the next time.

Best regards,
Sean

Why hasn't anyone publicly come out and said who owns the Washington Post and New York Times and where their loyalties lie.....ie. pro-Israeli. That's what this was truly all about...America sacrificing their boys and girls so Israel can stay top dog....Its a shame how everyone was manipulated into this....Watch the same thing happen with Iran

Although web sites like cursor.org have been following this story daily, for years, it's good to see it reported on PBS.

Great story! Perhaps one of your next episodes can focus on how every US administration finds some excuse to bomb some other country - usually in the Middle East. Little wonder many countries now feel that they'll have no security from US WMD until they get their own nuclear weapons - it worked for the USSR, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea. If Iraq had nuclear weapons, the USA wouldn't have been able to kill so many of her people, destroy the country and put their own corporations in charge of Iraqi oil.

Bush is a monster for being responsible for the deaths of over 150 000 Iragis since the occupation began, but when Madelaine Albright (another zionist Jew) was asked if it was acceptable that more than 500 000 Iraqi children have died from lack of food and medicine under Clinton's sanctions, she said "Yes!"

The USA Government is the largest and most dangerous terrorist organization in the world and US policy is doing more to spread "terrorism" than any other organization's policies.

I hope Marvin Kalb sees your doc. He was in Canada the other day on TV Ontario bragging that American journalists are beacons of professionalism to the rest of the world. Now I don't mind when Muhammad Ali says he is the greatest because I think he might have a point there but Kalbs arrogance was excruciating to watch!

Iraq War longer than it took to defeat Germany? That war was fought in an era when there were fewer restrictions on how this country would fight a war. Germany was DEMOLISHED.... there was much less regard for collateral damage (civilians and infrastructure).

Further, at that time we were at war with an entire country, it's government and it's citizens. With Iraq, our enemy was only the leaders of the government. Our goal was to free the citizens of a tyrannical leader and his cronies.

Now our battle is against terrorists, thugs, criminals, organized crime and opportunists. Just before the war Saddam emptied his prisons. Imagine what the U.S. would be like if we suddenly opened the gates to every prison. Then add the chaos of one of the most corrupt governments on Earth being ousted.

It's ironic how biased and one sided this report was considering it was supposedly reporting about biased reporting.

I heard a historian say once, and I completely agree, that the problem with history is that it's not possible to know where the paths that were not taken would have led.

I'd like to see reporting and / or posts commenting on where people think the world would be now, if we and our allies had NOT acted. In other words, not acting is a choice in and of itself. What ramifications would THAT have had?

Also, an earlier post mentioned that "That no one, not one, reported on the message of Scott Ritter that there were “no WMD's” found in that country” in the time between 9-11 and the war.

That is not correct. Bill O'Reilly did interview Scott Ritter on his show before the war.

If President Bush lied, so did former President Clinton, his wife, Putin and many other foreign leaders. They all said that WMD were in Iraq. Keep in mind there have been jet fighter planes found buried in the Iraqi desert. Further, in the first Gulf War Saddam had his pilots fly nearly his entire air force to Iran, his bitter enemy.

Everyone knows Iraq had WMD at least in it's past due to their USE, Saddam would not allow the U.N. to inspect for them properly without restrictions and interference, he violated the U.N. resolutions numerous times and on top of that he violated the cease fire he agreed to after the first Gulf War.

Bill,
What?! - You make a show about our sold-out politicians, sold-out media and the intimidation of journalists, reporters and our elected officials... AND NO MENTION OF *AIPAC???! (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee) -- A you serious??? -- Sorry buddy, you to are a sell out. Do you think things will change or get better by keeping that dangerous and disgraceful organization around??? WHY DO YOU PROTECT THEM? (Lying by OMISSION)... sigh...

The program raises the question, if the press got the important story of going to war wrong, what else have they gotten wrong?

As long as the press is coming clean will Bill Moyer's ask Walter Pincus what he witnessed on the evening of July 20, 1993? Will the Knight Ridder reporters interview Patrick Knowlton and assistant U.S. attorney Miquel Rodriguez?

Thank you,
Thomas

This was a great report about what went wrong with our news reporting! Thanks for presenting it and thanks for those two great reporters for doing their job the old fashioned way.

I hope the story becomes more widely understood by the American public. However, without any big corporation "pushing" the story (because it is in very few peoples' financial interest to "push" it), the story will not get the circulation that it deserves.
It is clear that the Bush administration has once again demonstrated the effectiveness of the "big lie" theory.

Thanks again for your great work.

Craig Stickler

This was a great report about what went wrong with our news reporting! Thanks for presenting it and thanks for those two great reporters for doing their job the old fashioned way.

I hope the story becomes more widely understood by the American public. However, without any big corporation "pushing" the story (because it is in very few peoples' financial interest to "push" it), the story will not get the circulation that it deserves.
It is clear that the Bush administration has once again demonstrated the effectiveness of the "big lie" theory.

Thanks again for your great work.

Craig Stickler

The silver lining here is that now even more of the US public sees the mainstream media for the propaganda tools that they are. This is not a new role for them, simply one that has increased over time. The difference today is that the US has reached such an advanced stage of imperialism that their role can no longer be hidden from all but the most inobservant. I look forward to more loyal dissent from Moyers, McClatchy, et al, but I have no illusions that they will express truly oppositional views. For that we must look to the independent voices on the internet.

Why didn't we all scream at the top of our lungs? We we too busy worrying about being a consumer... getting the hottest new purse and shoes to match, buying the newest video game from Wal*Mart, playing our weekly games of golf! Were we so busy being consumers that we missed all the warning signs!

I feel so guilty for not realizing the warning signs and believing the crap Bush and his cronies fed us every day. As a college student at the time, it was hard to discern fact from fiction when the NYT was pushing the propaganda and encouraging everyone to jump on the bandwagon. Even my professors swore by that paper. Is it cliche to say we'll "never forget" or that we'll learn from our mistakes?

Thank you for your efforts. You left a paper trail to prove that not every American was brain dead for the past six years.

Thanks also to Bill Moyers for daring to be different and document one of the darkest times in U.S. history.

By the way, Donuhue wasn't the only journalist to get a pink slip for being "different." Bill Maher also got the ax when he said something that Ari Fleischer didn't like... He was deemed unpatriotric and banished to HBO (which isn't the worst place on earth to be. haha)

Keep up the good work. The world needs more journalists like you -- reporters who fight the system and don't back down to business strategies put in place by upper management. You see this happening at the local stations all the way to the big networks. It's not journalism anymore, it's business.

BRAVO!

Galena
Miami, FL

Thank you for your dedication. There were people around the country who were scratching their heads and saying "Wait a minute." You were not alone in your assessment of the governments approach to Iraq. Thousands of people demonstated in D.C. during the re-election. See the documentary After Shock.
Thank you again and again for being out there fighting the tide and taking a stand. You speak for many many more than you know.
nora

Bill,

Thank you for delivering a thought provoking message. I also believe this should be rerun on primetime. It is one of the most important messages for all Americans.

I believe when those who buy our media outlets (newspapers, TV and radio) there needs to be oversight. These our means by which most get their news. If people in power use the media to sell a product or a position, it should be known to the viewer, listener or reader. For example, like they do with infomercials. Leaking information to the press and then coming on "Meet the Press" and quoting the newspaper story is a planned attempt to mislead the people. It's dirty and underhanded. Scheming like criminals to steal something.

Using fear is also a tool in the GOP and the Bush Administration. Guiliani tried using that in a speech the other day. He said basically Americans would be in for more terrorism under Democrats. Well, let's see...who was in leadership when 9/11 happened...it wasn't the Democrats. Keith Obermann called him on it last night on Countdown. I recommend folks read his statement for themselves. It's time to stand up to bullies and those who want to use fear and distort the truth. We need good journalist to dig and research. Lazy reporting gets you only part of the story. It's also dangerous.

Thanks Bill and all those reporters who seek the truth. That's what open government is about. We need to shed some light on those who operate behind closed doors and pass bills in the dark of night. I also recommend folks use various news sources. Get more than one prospective. And don't be afraid to ask questions!!

Thank you for a very important program. Ever since reading A.J. Liebling's "The Press" in high school, I've been impressed with the urgent need for an independent press in our democracy. As others have said, it was clear from 2002 on, when many of us had read what Scott Ritter and the UN inspectors had to say about WMD, that prominent news outlets in this country were colluding with the Bush administration and that we'd go to war on the basis of propaganda. It's heartening to know that you at Knight-Ridder were doing the real work of looking for evidence. I agree with others, though, that the laziness and lack of attention to Bush's claims about other matters were evident before Iraq. I too would point to the high-fallutin claims of Bush's education record in Texas. I'm one of many who know that high test scores and low dropout rates were fabricated for political ends, yet questioning of these claims came late in the game, and now we have a national education law - "No Child Left Behind" - that is largely modeled on Bush's education law in Texas. We have yet to see the full fall out from this, but it is disaster in the making.

So my question: If the corporate structure of the media and the careerism of its reporters are at the root of the problem, how come PBS itself (I'm sorry to say) seems to fall into the same trap of bringing on "experts" like William Kristol and rarely giving real dissenters (and I don't mean Democrats) adequate air time. My disappointment with PBS came one night when I couldn't sleep a couple years ago and turned on the TV only to see Gwen Ifill interviewing Condi Rice as if it were an infomercial for the Bush Iraq policy -- virtually unlimited time, no challenging, and all on the deck of a destroyer. There's a lot about corporate structure that pushes the mainstream media to the right, but why did PBS have to follow the crowd too?

Bill, Jonathan and Warren, Thank you so much for last nights show. It is very encouraging to know that there were people out there who were asking the right questions, it is also a relief to me to know I wasn't losing my mind, the Emperor really wasn't wearing any clothes. When will you start a piece that exams the Mental Status of the current administration including those who have already jumped ship. No one doubts that Seung-Hui Cho was mentally ill for his harrassment and then murder of 33 innocents. How could anyone not question the mental status of people who lie repeatedly, show no regard for human life and place there agenda above all others?

Oustanding! Great program! Thanks for shining the light on an otherwise dark period in the history of this country. Great reporting! Congratulations to the Knight Ridder folks for not "drinking the Kook Aid"! Renews my faith in Public Broadcasting.

Dear Mr. Landay and Mr. Strobel,
I’ve never seen a busier blog, ever. No doubt you’re overwhelmed with all the comments, as am I. The server was so busy that I finally gave up trying to post my comment last night after 3 hours of constant activity. Exemplary credit goes to each and every person who helped in this project! It’s amazing what the truth does to people.

At this point in the thread I guess I’m only echoing the same sentiment of many others. Here is my comment and question: I was MORTIFIED to hear Walter Pinkus of the Washington Post recall that 1981 was when the press allowed the Dems to take over THEIR truth seeking responsibilities. Shouldn't you guys and every other journalist be SHOUTING from every rooftop EVERY DAY AND NIGHT, FROM THIS POINT ON, in order to sort out what has become a puzzle, wrapped in a riddle, rolled up in an enigma? Shouldn't we declare this a public emergency right away?! Won’t things only get worse if this nightmare continues to be even slightly downplayed? I stress the importance of this because we’re talking about trying to peel off the layers of a two decade old propaganda onion! I’d appreciate your candor and THANK YOU for your work.

What was easy to see, between 9/11 and the beginning of the Iraq War, was White House spin. Most media was eagerly adding to the spin. Spin doesn't look like or smell like truth. I don't like to hear the excuse, "I didn't know then". I think most of us knew then ... that pro-war fever had overtaken television.
Of course, it is terribly important to have facts, too. Thanks you, Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel, for finding those facts!

I'm glad to see that Journalism is not dead and that reporting is still happening. I look forward to more great inspiring and educational programing. In regards to "Buying the war" I wish our Congress could take a lesson on how Propaganda works and how easily it can convince you to Buy a soda or buy a car or buy the lies of an administrations hell bent on making money for their corporations. I look forward to more of Bill Moyers and wish you all the luck.

The integrity and tenacity of your instincts, intellect and reporting are an inspiration and the truest form of patriotism. The fact that it has taken all these years for this story to be told nationally is simply criminal. While there were journalistic pieces that reinforced the cautious suspicions many of us had about making war on Iraq, they were few and far between.

Media giantism and the corporate imperative which mandated news programs be profitable were the death knell for the free press. How sad to see Dan Rather's forced transformation from a journalist to a capitalist with only the best of intentions.

I am reminded of the words of Joseph Pulitzer which can be found on www.pulitzer.org:

"In May 1904, writing in The North American Review in support of his proposal for the founding of a school of journalism, Pulitzer summarized his credo: "Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together. An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery. A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself. The power to mould the future of the Republic will be in the hands of the journalists of future generations."

Many of us were wondering what became of the free press. It's good to know it's alive and well, although clearly in need of nurturing. Congratulations to Knight Ridder for staying true to the calling. Thank god for Bill Moyers and PBS. My sincere gratitude to you all.

Mr. Moyers, I wanted to extend my deeply felt appreciation for everything you do for our country.
Mr. Landry and Mr. Strobel are exceptional journalists. I admire that they kept digging for the facts while others were being intimidated and called 'unpatriotic'.
Those who buckled under the intense pressure of the GOP propaganda should not feel shame...they should feel the outrage that the rest of us feel for this betrayal of our great nation.
Please continue your great works.

Thank you Bill Moyers and all who produced this enlightening ninety minutes of superb television. I look forward to watching your new series every week.

Since our government and its enablers, the lapdog press, used fear and lies and threats to achieve a political goal, spilling much American blood in the pursuit of power, does that not make them terrorists?

As millions of well-meaning, patriotic Americans wake up to the ugly realities we face today they may ask themselves: How could I have been so deceived?. This program is their answer.

I have noticed for some time (and increasing post Imus) there has been an visable fear running through the worst of right wing pundits. One example is the attacks on the watchdog website Media Matters.

So welcome back to the fray. Looks like alot of people want to hear what you want to say. Thanks for everything you do.

The way the media handled the whole thing reminds me of the power of hysteria in "The Crucible" or even the feckless nature of opponents of Joe McCarthy.

This was brilliant reporting; I relished every minute of the restrained and accurate journalism, especially since, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the superpatriots still seem to intimidate most of us.

Keep up the good work! You guys are my heroes.

Thank you so much for sticking with it and doing real reporting. My husband and I have been following this since the summer before we invaded. We noticed that international newspapers (asian) were beginning to speculate that the US was planning to invade Iraq at least 3-6 months before Bush's announcement. Friends in India were also proposing this and we were so taken by surprise. How does this work? it makes me feel so naive. and now, were they trying to build a similar case for Iran?

A thank you to reporters who asked the tough questions and dug for answers. It was shocking to see Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and other TV news bigwigs put on army jackets and rush to the desert for great video backdrops and puff pieces with generals and the troops. Brokaw in particular displayed unseemly, wide-eyed eagerness to please as he interviewed top military & government officials.
Since any administration has the power to refuse to answer a reporter's questions, possibly causing the loss of posting to Washington or even a job, doesn't the White House press corps generally just parrot the administration line? (I could name names.)
Also a THANK YOU to Bill Moyers for his lifetime of service to our country. From service in government in the Johnson days through years of thought-provoking writing and broadcasting on a wide variety of issues, you have aided our understanding of ourselves, our country and our world. It has been a priceless service and you deserve our deepest gratitude. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your efforts. They did not go unnoticed. I remember reading many of your stories and wondering the very same thing.

Two important points I wish this documentary addressed.

1. In the documentary, Mr. Moyers talks about the UN Inspectors leaving Iraq in 1998. His wording seemed to reflect the "conventional wisdom" pressed hard by neo-conservatives that Saddam kicked the inspectors out, which was not the case at all. In fact, it was President Clinton who ordered them out after the Americans were discovered to be spying on Iraq. I wonder why this bit of information was not disclosed in this documentary. It shows that this failure on the part of the media was certainly around from even before 9/11.

2. Colin Powell stated in February 2001 in a press conference with the Egyptian foreign minister that sanctions in Iraq worked and that Saddam was not really a threat. His own words:

We had a good discussion, the Foreign Minister and I and the President and I, had a good discussion about the nature of the sanctions — the fact that the sanctions exist — not for the purpose of hurting the Iraqi people, but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein’s ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction. We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they are directed toward that purpose. That purpose is every bit as important now as it was ten years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq…

I was disappointed that this bit of information was also not present in the documentary. Ms. Rice also said something to the same effect in the summer of 2001 (all of course before the paradigm-shifting 9/11, as Donald Rumsfeld liked to point out often).

Otherwise, I appreciate greatly the efforts of Mr. Moyers and all those who participated with him in shedding more light on one of our darkest hours.

20/20 hindsight ??

"Another " ??? attack by that madman ??

Do you still think Saddam attacked the US ... ?? Ever ???

Either you are one of the early risers out of the Karl Rove hit machine -- or you have bought the big lie that even Dick Cheney is still telling today, that there was some link between Iraq and 9/11 ...

Mr. Landry and Mr. Strobel-

Kudos to you both (and to Mr. Moyers)! Please accept my grateful thanks for your distinguished efforts to seek out and tell the truth to your readers during our nation's run up to this long, deadly and shameful war. You both deserve the Presidential Medal for Freedom, NOT William Safire.

I cannot fully articulate my personal anger nor my crushed spirit of citizenship as a result of the lies and deceptions of both this administration and the abetting hand of most of the American corporate media in creating this unprovoked and futile war.

I am a high school English teacher. One of my classes focuses on the media--Media Literacy. What advice might you offer me and my 17 year-old students--or any news consumers--as we try to sort through the thicket of misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda that seems to be at the heart of much of today's news?

Thank you again for the honor you have shone on your profession. Please keep telling us the truth.

Richard Kuhnen, an American Citizen

I am profoundly grateful for your courage. Separating from the "pack" is one or the hardest things for any human being to do. This program, and your commitment to truth, renew my hope in the possibility of democracy for our country. Frances Moore Lappe

After watching tonight's show, I remembered my own feelings, and opinions and observations of the run-up to the war. It reminded me of all the anger I experienced, the feelings of helplessness, and disbelief while I watched the administration spin their lies. That was when I felt we could still change the world. If we all stayed informed of each day's events surely the truth would win, hands down. But, the truth didn't win. The lies won so I turned away, the damage was done. It was too late to sing out what was true about Iraq. Tonight I realized, it's not too late. I can see that the world is a different place from where we were in 2002. Surely Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condi Rice, and their minnions and believers have no real place in our future and their legacies look bleaker than ever. Thank you for chronicling this riveting piece of our country's history in such a powerful and indeliable way and being the voice of truth - it was not in vain.

Mr. Landry and Mr. Strobel-

Kudos to you both (and to Mr. Moyers)! Please accept my grateful thanks for your distinguished efforts to seek out and tell the truth to your readers during our nation's run up to this long, deadly and shameful war. You both deserve the Presidential Medal for Freedom, NOT William Safire.

I cannot fully articulate my personal anger nor my crushed spirit of citizenship as a result of the lies and deceptions of both this administration and the abetting hand of most of the American corporate media in creating this unprovoked and futile war.

I am a high school English teacher. One of my classes focuses on the media--Media Literacy. What advice might you offer me and my 17 year-old students--or any news consumers--as we try to sort through the thicket of misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda that seems to be at the heart of much of today's news?

Thank you again for the honor you have shone on your profession. Please keep telling us the truth.

Richard Kuhnen, an American Citizen

This was an excellent documentary. But the reason the press was docile happened a long time
ago.

Mr. Moyers?

http://karws.gso.uri.edu/JFK/the_critics/griffith/Press_and_assassinatio n.html

THE PRESS AND THE JFK ASSASSINATION

If any large element of our news industry, such as NEWSWEEK, or NBC, or CNN, for example, decided to conduct a thorough, objective review of the JFK assassination, significant and historic progress could be made in the case. The single-bullet theory could be disposed of in relatively short order. At least some of the photographic evidence could be properly examined. The acoustical evidence could be thoroughly evaluated. Many of the numerous surviving witnesses could be interviewed. Previous interviews with important witnesses could be analyzed with voice stress analysis. Credible leads developed by private researchers could be pursued. The unlikelihood of the theory that Oswald fired all the shots could be further established. The specious stories of several surviving members of the Dallas Police Department could be subjected to the scrutiny and analysis with which they should have been examined long ago. In fact, ALL of these things could have been done years ago, and the network or newspaper that did it would have had an historic, major news scoop, a scoop worth millions and millions of dollars for years to come.

JFK assassination documentaries continue to be of high interest. Indeed, in the last four years alone major news outlets have broadcast or published several "investigative reports" on the case. Tragically, however, without exception these "reports" were error-filled, superficial defenses of the lone-gunman theory. In some instances, it appeared that the journalists who wrote the reports made no effort whatsoever to study scholarly works critical of the lone-assassin scenario.

Why is this still happening? Why does our news industry seem almost incapable of giving the American people the truth about the assassination? Most journalists are liberal, according to media surveys. If so, why aren't they interested in seeing to it that the public gets the real story about President Kennedy's death? Why do they seem so intent on defending the essential elements of the Warren Commission's version of the shooting? Why do they continue to defend the single-bullet theory, in spite of the massive and growing evidence that the theory is not only invalid but impossible? Why won't they give this evidence a fair hearing?

I think we might find the answers to some of these questions by reviewing previous analyses of the press's treatment of the assassination.

Jim Garrison:

During my flight back to New Orleans I found myself reflecting on the mind-set of Carson and the NBC attorney who had debriefed me. They were unnerved by my viewpoint, I realized, not so much because it differed from their own but because I was explicitly advocating the existence of a CONSPIRACY in President Kennedy's assassination. I recalled the thinly veiled contempt of the attorneys whenever they touched upon the concept of a conspiracy. I felt as if I were a German citizen back in the mid-1930s who had publicly questioned Adolf Hitler's sanity and was being given the obligatory questioning before being shipped away to a mental institution. I remembered that Carson himself had nearly come unglued during the heat of our argument as I zeroed in on the idea that a conspiracy had occurred.

Why was it, I asked myself, that these people at the very heart of the New York media industry were so allergic to the very concept of conspiracy? What was it that was so inconceivable, that was so utterly unthinkable about the idea of a conspiracy?

Then, perhaps for the first time, I realized what it was that petrified these people, that froze their brains into gridlock. To acknowledge that an organized conspiracy had occurred was to recognize that it had been done for a purpose--to change government policy. Having told the world for so many years how wonderful we all were, here in the greatest country in the world, the media people were not willing to admit that our national leader could be removed in such a brutal fashion in order to change government policy. . . . That just could not be. Therefore, in their minds, the assassination had to be a random event, the work of a deranged loner. (Garrison, ON THE TRAIL OF THE ASSASSINS, New York: Warner Books, 1988, pp. 248-249)

Carl Oglesby:

A reporter for one of the big outlets chanced one day to be the only one of the major media people at the Assassinations Committee's hearings to get the real point of what had happened that day. Chairman Stokes had presented a major blast at the FBI and raised the question of FBI co-responsibility in [Dr. Martin Luther] King's death. It was a dramatic moment. Stokes is a fine speaker, he cared a lot about what he was saying, and his statement was well conceived and written. The reporter who picked up on it had caught a strong story, clearly the lead of the day. And all the other majors missed it.

The reporter came in the hearing room smoldering the next day, slouched in his place muttering darkly about getting chewed out by his boss. Chewed out? For what? For that story about Stokes' speech on the FBI, he said. But that was a great story, nobody else got it. That's the point, he said. Why? Because my bosses say that if the rest of the press didn't get it, too, it must not have happened, and it looks bad when one of says something so different from the rest.

What an educational exchange! One had heard things about "scoops" and journalistic courage, and now it turned out that the real key to success in the big time was something else. You had to know how to run with the pack, because what the "news" actually was, boiled down, was the collective opinion of this same pack. If the pack thinks JFK was killed by a lone nut, then anybody who thinks something else must be another one.

How often on the lecture circuit in the old days the Warren critic would hear someone say that if any of these doubts were actually valid, and if there was anything at all to the monstrous idea that the President was killed by a conspiracy, then surely by now our bright , ambitious people of the media would already have found out all about it and won Pulitzers, like Woodward and Bernstein. Since there are no Woodward and Bernstein of the JFK assassination issue--and no Pulitzers--there must actually be no issue.

All ye who have ever thought that particular thought, take heed and ponder this tale of the bright, ambitious reporter who got rebuked for his scoop, while the ones with the blandest and emptiest impressions of what happened that day in the hearing room cruised on through their career without a ripple. Pack journalism is, to our mind, a very special problem in the conspiracy cases because pack journalists are so timid and vicious. As other interviews make clear, there are many faults to find with the HSCA's hearings. But their performance was a hundred times in front of the mainstream media in terms of curiosity, investigative vigor, and courage to face tough possibilities.

If the press had reported each day on the actual contributions the committee was making instead of constantly blunting everything that said conspiracy and overplaying everything that said relax, then the 80 percent of us who today sense conspiracy in the JFK death would be not only more numerous, but also more aroused and more insistent that the whole truth be found. (Oglesby, THE JFK ASSASSINATION: THE FACTS AND THE THEORIES, New York: Signet, 1992, pp. 173- 175)

In 1993 major newspapers and magazines across America refused to publish two Associated Press and Reuters wire stories on Dr. David Mantik's historic discoveries concerning evidence of tampering in the autopsy x-rays at the National Archives. In fact, to my knowledge, not a single major newspaper or magazine carried the wire stories. Why? (The wire stories can be seen in the appendices to Harrison Livingstone's recent book KILLING KENNEDY AND THE HOAX OF THE CENTURY.) The wire stories contained other important information as well. Why weren't they published? They were certainly newsworthy and credible, and were definitely important and of high interest. So why weren't they published? It's worth noting that this occurred at the same time the press was giving glowing reviews to Gerald Posner's badly flawed defense of the Warren Commission, CASE CLOSED.

There have been several historic, crucial revelations to emerge from previously sealed files recently released by the Assassination Records Review Board. Why haven't these important new disclosures been reported by the press?

Could this have anything to do with the many reports of CIA and FBI influence on the press? In 1977, for example, information surfaced indicating that a number of journalists and news managers at major media outlets had either received payment from the CIA and/or were "cooperating" with the CIA. Dr. Gary Aguilar summarizes some of what was learned from the disclosed information about the press and the CIA:

Not only did journalists, representing THE NY TIMES, ABC, NBC, CBS, Scripps Howard, UPI, AP, Hearst, Reuters, Bill Moyers, Paley, etc., "associate" with the CIA, they recruited for the CIA, gave CIA agents false credentials as journalists, and planted false information with foreign officials--and with the American public as well of course. Over 200 journalists had signed secrecy agreements with the CIA (THE NY TIMES "Sulzberger" for only one notable example), or had "employment contracts." (Aguilar, "The CIA and the Media," Journalism Forum, CompuServe, February 24, 1996)

The COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW cogently argued,

If even one American overseas carrying a press card is a paid informer for the CIA, then all Americans with those credentials are suspect. . . . If the crisis of confidence faced by the news business--along with the government--is to be overcome, journalists must be willing to focus on themselves the same spotlight they so relentlessly train on others. . . . When it was reported . . . that newsmen themselves were on the payroll of the CIA, the story caused a brief stir, and then was dropped. (As quoted in Aguilar, "The CIA and the Media")

In recent months there have been additional reports that press personnel--journalists and news managers--continue to "cooperate" in various ways and to varying degrees with the CIA. How extensive is this "cooperation"? What exactly does it involve? Are there journalists who are accepting cash payment from the CIA? Are there news managers who are doing so? Has the CIA planted agents, or does it have paid operatives, in the press? These are matters that need to be thoroughly investigated by Congress.

It's also known that in the 1960s the FBI had what it considered to be "friendly assets" in the press. Does the FBI still have "friendly assets" in the press? If so, are any of these persons receiving payment or other favors from the FBI? These, too, are matters that need to be considered by a Congressional investigation.

What can be done about the press's poor handling of the case? For starters, we must realize and take advantage of the fact that the emergence of the e-mail and online newsgroups and web pages affords the opportunity to literally bypass the press to a certain extent. Additionally, we can seek to educate journalists about the assassination. It couldn't hurt to periodically e-mail credible research articles and letters to the editor on the case to major news outlets, such as CBS, NBC, ABC, NEWSWEEK, US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, and so forth. Some of those articles just might get read by someone, and that someone just might start to take a more critical look at the lone-gunman scenario or at least be more open to considering evidence that points to a conspiracy. We should also attempt to work with local media outlets, such as our local newspapers and TV stations. Many times local journalists are much more open to persuasion and substantive dialogue than are their counterparts at the major media outlets. Finally, we should attempt to educate our friends, family, and neighbors about the evidence of conspiracy in the assassination. Education is the key.

There is some cause to hope that the situation is improving. The A&E Network, for example, has aired two informative documentaries on the case which contain a great deal of evidence of conspiracy and which strongly challenge the Warren Commission's version of the shooting. The 1992 documentary THE JFK CONSPIRACY, hosted by James Earl Jones and produced by All-American Television, has been shown on dozens of local cable outlets across the country. In 1992 ABC's "20/20" program aired an informative, well-done segment on Dr. Charles Crenshaw's revelations about President Kennedy's wounds. Thanks to the emergence of cable TV, credible documentaries and other programs presenting evidence of conspiracy have been aired in virtually every part of the country in recent years. This is a healthy, long-overdue development. But the major news outlets, such as CBS, NBC, NEWSWEEK, TIME, THE WASHINGTON POST, etc., continue to advance the lone-gunman theory and to dismiss or ignore the growing evidence that President Kennedy was killed by a conspiracy.

Mike Griffith

Back to Michael T. Griffith

I believe responsibility can be shared even down to the local level. We let lies be portraid as truth at all levels of government.

Putting pressure on local media to report fabrications or injustice needs to be every honest citizens' responsibility.

We reap what we sow. Are we really any better than them if we allow serial lies in our own community?

Bill, this show needs to be rerun in prime time.
Don't let them intimidate you...I'm sure they will try.

It appears to me that 20/20 hindsight is always better. In 2003 it was safer to go after Saddam than to do nothing an risk another attack by that type of mad dictators.

When I think of the Iraq war, I always harken back to the UN inspectors. When the inspectors, after a vigorous and well done search, failed to find what the Bush administration were claiming as solid evidence, the Bush administration went after their reputation. Now, they could have turned more evidence to the inspectors, but that didn't happen. I knew then something was wrong, despite all the speeches from Bush. Knowing a little history about the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, also added to my skepticism. And although I am not a big Ted Kennedy fan, his speech certainly rang true. I hope that in the future, we as a nation will learn to be more skeptical, especially when dealing ideologues who run the country.

Some where above the question of motive was raised. I have made a fairly detailed study of the oil business over the last year or so and much of this has the smell of petroleum. Note where Bush and Cheney come from.

The best part, I thought, was the interview of these two young reporters. I felt proud of them, as if they were my own sons. 9/11 was not the scariest time. The buildup to the Gulf War was the scariest time I ever experienced in America. Until we came to the buildup to invading Iraq. I knew you guys were doing your best. Thank you.

Greg Jackson
No trying to knock off 41 isn't an "ACT OF WAR"
Did you mention that Saddam attacked U.S. & British forces while we, for over 10 years flew strafing runs and military strikes from the AIR IN IRAQ?????
If the situation was reversed.; (I KNOW THIS REQUIRES USING YOUR BRAIN) - If IRAQ & IRAN were running 24-7 sorties over the United States...for more than 10 years, do you think we, you, or I would stand still and not attack them....so don't act like they did something outrageous. We were playing military police from the air over the top 1/3 and bottom 1/3 of the country, in order to protect the Kurds & Shiites that we had promised (under G.H.W.Bush that if they rose up against Saddam, that we would support them) we all but left them to the slaughter.
WHY? Because we allowed Saddam to use helicopters ((thanks General Norman S.- in the "Peace Talks" decision Norm made to grant them this right)) Saddam proceeded to use his air firepower to put down the Shiite rebellions that we had promised to help. OOPS! Not as big as Secretary of State Jim Baker (not to be confused with Jim from Curious George's Jim)...told his Iraqi counterpart that the U.S. would not be involved if IRAQ intended to RE-ACQUIRE KUWAIT. As the IRAQI minister of Defense had in a PUBLIC MEETING WITH BAKER!!!!! BIG OOPS!
Months later, after Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister (U.K.) tells the world we can not stand for this and George H.W. Bush 41 Realizes that KUWAIT is on Saddam's shit list for underselling OPEC prices of oil to the US & BRITAIN.... OOPS! Now, something that could have been diverted AVOIDED BY WORDS, by Secretary Baker simply telling SADDAM (YES, WE DO CARE, and WILL CARE IF YOU INVADE KUWAIT)....
THEN WE’d GO BACK TO a time when 95 % of AMERICANS don’t know the name IRAQ and are NOT ABLE TO POINT TO IT ON A MAP, OH YEAH ITS MORE LIKE 80% and it is HAPPENING RIGH NOW IN THIS COUNTRY!!!
THERE IS NEVER ENOUGH MONEY TO SPEND ON EDUCATION THOUGH ....meanwhile we spend 50% of our FEDERAL TAX DOLLARS SO THAT THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL-CONGRESSIONAL-COMPLEX can build such STELLAR (get it) Projects as Star Wars II, III, & IV. AT COSTS OF MERE TRILLIONS 10, 20, 30...
What does the administration care that it doesn't work, even WHEN WE CHEAT AND TELL IT WHICH MISSLE IT SHOULD HIT! It isn't their money, it isn't our money, it belongs to CHINA, JAPAN, AND BRITAIN. AND IT BELONGS TO OUR CHILDREN’S CHILDREN. Remember those “TAX CUTS” ….YUP, LOANS FROM CHINA, JAPAN, & BRITAIN, WHAT’s the interest on a tax cut? FRAKIN STUPID!
WE NOW HAVE SOOO MUCH MONEY LOANED TO AMERICA THAT THE US DOLLAR HAS NEVER BEEN WEAKER... DON'T WORRY THOUGH...ALL SMILES BECAUSE WE KICK A$$ AND TAKE NAMES….
EXCEPT…when it comes to a gorilla – protracted-occupational-war in WHICH WE ARE ALLOWING THOSE WHO WISH TO, TO HAVE LIVE TARGET PRACTICE ON OUR BROTHERS SISTERS EVERY ONE AROUND THE WORLD KNOWS AND ARE IMPROVING THEIR TACTICS AND ARE LEARNING TO DO THINGS LIKE SHAPE IEDs so that EVEN OUR STRONGEST ARMOURED VEHICLES CANNOT WITH STAND A SHAPED IED ATTACK.
BUT THANKS, its good to know that there are still COOL AID DRINKERS!

I really wish people had looked into this issue the same way Lisa Finnegan did in her book "No Questions Asked : News Coverage Since 9/11".
She wrote the book for over 3 years ago when most reporters where either quiet about the subject or were supporting the administration's views.

She spend a year to document the failure of the US media and her book is an excellent example of the history of the media coverage since the attacks of 9/11.

You can find more information about the book at:

http://www.noquestionsasked.org/

Or ask your library to order it:
No Questions Asked : News Coverage Since 9/11
by Lisa Finnegan foreword by Norman Solomon

ISBN : 0-275-99335-3

/Malcom

Didn't the congressional resolution say something about waiting for the UN inspectors to finish their jobs? I remember seeing them make a mad dash to get out of Iraq the day before the bombings. So...they weren't finished, and I think that should exonerate all the democrats who "voted for" the war.

Congratulations on putting together this wonderful show. I have sent the link to the online video to several people, and I intend to watch it again myself. I have felt that in these last few years, the media just kind of looked the other way, at the very least, as we were pushed toward this war. As you showed, it was really worse than that as many in the media seemed to join in the effort to move toward war. They were too credulous, and the Administration took advantage of that weakness. I really appreciated your short reference to Sen. Kennedy's opposing view and how it was really given short shrift at the time. I did not know about the Knight-Ridder reporters and their work before seeing your program, so I really feel that I learned something by watching. I teach a US Government course at a community college, and I will definitely use this program in the future with my students. Thank you, Bill Moyers. May you and your blog inspire new thinkers and helpful people on this earth. We need to move beyond this horrible time in our history, but there were many people hurt by this war and there is no way to bring back the dead.

Why were/are so many in Journalism afraid of the Bush regime? Are we under a government of, by and for the corporations? We appreciate knowing that what we sensed was the case back in 2002 and 2003 -that we were being hoodwinked by this administration- was actually the fact of the matter; small consolation today. But now we know there are fact-diggers and fact-reporters still doing their jobs. Turns out, we need to be doing our own research and voicing our beliefs. Freedom is fought for here at home as well. Thank you for the reminder.

The more I read of history through the ages the more I'm convinced that American Democracy is an anomaly.

The history of civilization has predominantly been a story of the strong dominating and exploiting the weak -- a human twist on classic Darwinism. In the natural world the weakest of a species simply doesn't survive. Humanity on the other hand has learned to force its weak to serve the need of the strong to grow stronger.

What we're seeing take place in media, politics and corporations is the next chapter in this "evolution". The weak had their day in the sun in America, realizing unprecedented rights in employment, living standards, freedom of speech, and social welfare that drove the strong crazy.

Now the strong are fighting back. But instead of using obvious strong-arm tactics like physical slavery they're trying to do it subtly within the institutions we've grown to trust.

They're slowly replacing our sources of hard truth with sexier, sensationalistic "news" propagated by pretty personalities like Katy Coric. They hope to seduce us away from caring about uncomfortable truths.

In politics the Bushies played the American voters for the fools they surely are, spinning them into submission with fear-mongering, distortions, lies and appeals to the ultimate achilles heel -- religion.

Behind it all are the overlords of corporations, the real power. By its very definition a corporation exists to keep growing, keep increasing profits. And when corporations are headed by ego maniacs addicted to their own success and to the continuing confirmation of their superiority they'll do anything they can get away with to increase their power. So when corporations see government as an obstacle to growth they seek to overcome that obstacle by changing government to be more pliable. Thus corporate financial support for Bush and the corporate media manipulation that put him in power.

Which lead us to the Iraq question. Why takeover Iraq? It's the oil, stupid. Corporations know oil is a finite resource they need desperately. When their access to that resource was threatened by a bunch of primitive religious fanatics, corporations put Bush up to trying to seize control of a country with some of the largest oil reserves in the world.

Hate to say it but the democracy we've known and loved is an endangered species. The powerful will reshape it into something more in tune with their "glorification of the fittest" philosophy.

But don't feel too bad. Corporate ego-maniacs will continue charging down the global warming road. Then Mother Nature will show them convincingly who is really superior.

How is it that even I, with limited political experience, knew this was a terrible idea from the beginning and so many politicians and journalists did not? I wrote to public officials prior to the invasion begging them not to procede. I continue to write begging them to withdraw. What else can we do? 23 photos of dead soldiers on the News Hour last night. So tragic. How can we make this stop????

How is it that even I, with limited political experience, knew this was a terrible idea from the beginning and so many politicians and journalists did not? I wrote to public officials prior to the invasion begging them not to procede. I continue to write begging them to withdraw. What else can we do? 23 photos of dead soldiers on the News Hour last night. So tragic. How can we make this stop????

Thank you SO much, Bill Moyers, for returning - and reminding reporters of their jobs. I do hope that (the weak-kneed) executives of TV and newspaper organizations watch and re-watch the show and actually have discussions about it. It is mind-boggling that a nation such as ours can have the press controlled and media executives in fear of their positions. This is America, for goodness sake! Now, hopefully, reporters will take the Knight Ridder model and actually follow the truth, think about it analytically, AND write or report it so that the current and future adminstrations will not continue to undermine our democracy.

Thank you for your work.

1. Why was the fact that Powell read a plagiarized document at the UN not front page news and damning to the administration?! That is unbelievable.

2. Was there any reporting about the possible struggles between Sunni and Shia after Saddam's removal? How could this not have been a major discussion in the media?

A potential civil war (insurgency/power struggle) must have been discussed in the Pentagon. Would we still have gone ahead if the public knew of the chances?

3. It's not too late for good reporting at this point forward. What do the REAL SOURCES envision as possible outcomes if we stay, or leave Iraq?

4. Being that in hindsight, the current civil war (insurgency) is such an obvious possible result of ousting Saddam, is the chaos in Iraq serving anyone? Could this have been a desired outcome?

Or maybe, the government new of this possibility and decided even this worst case outcome was preferable to leaving Saddam in power? What do you think?

Personally, I didn't buy the government's sell of connections to Al Quaeda. I thought it was the neocon adgenda from pre 9-11. However, I still got swept up in the pulse of fear of mushroom clouds. For some reason, I just didn't believe the UN inspectors knew everything, even though they probably had more factual intelligence than our government.

In addition, I swooned to the call of being a liberator, to help these people live in a democratic country, out from under the murderer Saddam.

However, it's wrong that the media wasn't leading the debate about a possible civil war outcome. This, in addition to faulty WMD intelligence, means we were duped.

I know this insurgency is a tragedy, but I can't help but wonder, is the potential over the long run in the Middle East for change still there, even if we lose?

Is the democratic way of life, separation of Religion-State at all appealing to the people of the Middle East, Or is America and the democratic world worse off?

Please continue on the independent path and let us know. I'll be reading.

Hello, I am 28 and live in Wisconsin. I thoroughly enjoyed this report and am very happy to have been directed to it by a frend. Perhaps the PBS web site can offer us a way to download these? Keep up the good work at any rate, I've bookmarked the location and do plan to return for future broadcasts.

Aaron

Kudos for serious reporting. Yes, I am impressed by your dogged research and jounalistic integrity, yet since there are only two of you, it speaks volumes about the shocking state of mainstream American journalism. I stopped trusting it during the Vietnam war, and have never be given a reason to trust it again. Just look at Central America during the Reagan administration, Iran Contra, and American journalism's always woeful and biased coverage of the Palestinian/ Israeli conflict. I have found it better to read foreign languages and papers to stay informed. On Iraq Juan Cole's blog is invaluable as is listening to Democracy Now! When journalism becomes a megaphone for the rich and powerful, it abdicates its democratic responsibility.

I was thinking in the extended interview between Mr. Moyers and Mr. Rather, "One lying reporter talking to another lying reporter." Mr. Moyer made much of a 'neo-con' member of the Bush administration leaving the White House for a job in the media as a commentator. Funny, he failed to mention a better known member of the Johnson Administration who left the White House to do exactly the same thing. He failed to mention Mr. Rather's disgrace at destroying his career at CBS while reporting fraudulent lies as the truth. Why should I be surprised? Mr. Moyers began his program with the assertion the Saddam Hussien had never once attacked America. That is a bald face lie! Saddam began violating the cease fire from the first Gulf War almost immediately. Attacking American and coalition forces and allies and attempting to assassinate former President Bush. ALL were acts of war against the United States. Saddam was the subject of dozens of U.N. resolutions passed against him. The last one declaring it was "his final chance." Mr. Bush, unlike many, meant it. Mr. Moyers presentation was pure left propaganda. But then he has been a master of it, ever since that war in the 60's that he defended.

Dear My American Citizens;

I was wrong, I lied, I intended to take us to war, because...

Signed,
George Walker Bush jr.
President of the United States.

(I just wanted to make sure that King George COULD, IF HE WANTED TO, begin to revive the Christian tradition of Truth-Telling. I mean he's getting older, and if there is an after life, they have to be stoking the coals in anticipation). SMELLS LIKE CHICKEN-HAWKS WHAT's for DINNER!
Hell I'll kick in $2.50 for some starter-lighter fluid!

BILL MOYERS; pray that B
ush never wants to pin a medal of freedom on him, or we are all in trouble!

MOYERS! IN 2008!
Fmr. Knight-Ridder guys as initial cabinet appointments. Zabigniew Brazinski...Ralph Nader.
Jon Stewart/Bill Maher\Stephen Colbert Secretaries of REALITY!

If Saddam had deliverable WMD's at the time of the invasion, this would have placed Israel at extraordiny risk. Therefore, the Bush administration would have almost certainly discussed its strategic plans with the Israelis prior to the invasion. Doesn't this suggest that both Israel and the Bush administration knew that Saddam did not have WMDs before going to war

At this point, we should go deeper in the intellectualizing of our awakening concerning the war. If the Bush administration would be willing to falslify data and lie about conditions in Iraq; in order to convince the misinformed american citizenry go to war: is it also feasible, that they planned and carried out the attacks of september 11, 2001?

I was introduced to Bill Moyers through an interview he did with Robert Bly. Since then, I've enjoyed other interviews and books he's written. I've found him intelligent and thoughtful in his interviews and his willingness to take on topics other shy away from. I'll never forget Bush's ranting about Iraq that sounded like nothing so much as Kruschev (sp?) banging his shoe on the podium at the United Nations. Since then, I've found his entire justification of the war in Iraq to be one lie after another, and it seems to me we've even forgotten what prompted the whole thing in our passion to be right, or proud, or stay the course, or whatever you want to call it. I think we are hearing some truth come out about Bush's war. Welcome back, Bill!

I am a high school journalism teacher in south central Pennsylvania (we’re three years in operation now and just picked up our first state awards this year). I have three words posted at the back and front of my classroom: Truthful, Accurate, Fair. I am tempted to subscript beneath them: Landay, Strobel, Walcott. Thank you for thinking beyond public sentiments and private doubts to keep the straight story. It lives only as vividly as those who write it. Long live Knight-Ridder and the best of luck to you!

What can high school journalists take from this? Any inspirations or comments I can take to my students?

I would like for Jonathan or Warren to contact me if they wish. I have well in excess of 500 hrs. research into the events of 9/11 and the path from that day leading to our occupation of the ME. I would like to make these resources available to anyone interested. These resources consist of ~40 GB of data, most of which is available to anyone. I can simply provide my bookmarks to that data or, if requested, copies of it.

Its called follow the leader, and leaders have been conning the peasants since the beginning of time. The techniques have become more complex but the motives are the same.

I applaud the efforts of everyone involved in this production and the excellent journalistic skills of the young guys at Knight Ridder. It is peoples like this who do the research, to back up their arguments against powerful leaders that have led to improvements in civilizations, like the Thomas Pane’s of our past.

I look forward to watching your future shows.

How can this:

"I was somewhat mystified by Tim Russert being on your program because he is nothing more than a Republican and a Republican mouthpiece who should be working for Fox News as shoyld Joe Scarborough, Tucker Carlson, Chris Matthews and Glenn Beck. All birds of a feather who can speak the truth and will never do so."

... and this:

"Bill, you, Amy Goodman at democracynow.org, Keith Olbermann, Lou Dobbs and Jack Rafferty and the knight-Ridder/McClatchy News reporters, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Phil Donohue do/did the best work and are the most credible journalists, as was David Halberstam, recently deceased and a loss to all. Although he said no, if we could just get Phil Donohue back America would be much better served."

... be in the same, single posting purporting to call for BALANCE in the media? How is it balance to want one group of reporters of a particular political persuasion banished into Foxland, but, call for more of another group, of another political persuasion?

If you want balance, CALL for balance.

who took down the towers?

been reading your stuff in the Fresno Bee (which we buy for local weather and fish wrap) for some time -- and were amazed at your coverage; in fact, could hardly believe that some fiesty little hole-in-the-wall gang could regularly outgun NYT, WaPo, WSJ and others (which we see each day online) and have begun going online to your Wash Bureau (what's with your odd 'realcities.com' address?) BEFORE WaPo.

you guys look younger than we figured -- thought you in Sy Hersh, Murray Waas and Pincus demographics, but here's looking at you - attaboys, sic 'em!

We never understood why 80% of folk in this cowtipping county actually went along with bush admin iraq gag - NEVER saw any 'cuban missiles in silos' hard evidence and for last decade everyone knew what neocon weasels said they would do to iraq if they got the chance; oh well.

btw - don't let go of that libby-rove-wilson forged yellowcake story too soon; would seem that pulling on this particular string CAN STLL unravel whole web of knowingly deceptive phoney iraq wolf cries.

Even if never able to find who actually commissioned forged documents (oh sure, the SISMI; but why and WHO encouraged them to do so?) there is a clear trail of what bush admin did with the forged information -- AFTER the CIA rejected it several times, AFTER Gen Carlton Fulford (who went to Niger before Wilson) rejected it, AFTER French rejected it several times (and sent team to Niger), AFTER the State Dept INR and UN raised questions.

And notice that CIA never formally vetted the info - only a new WINPAC unit guy who previously associated with Cheney's crowd before being sent to CIA said it was 'OK' to use -- AFTER a White House request he do so. And why did Bush cite a 'british source' for the yellowcake story when the brits got it from the same italian source the US did (and before the brits)?

The whole White House Iraq Group (rove-libby-cheney-hadley etc) gets tied into the Wilson smear -- hadley smells particularly dirty after he 'forgot' to tell rice that CIA said to pull yellowcake story from bush State of Union speech.

This fabricated yellowcake document and bush admin's subsequent uses of it ties in the whole gang -- and yet remains mystery never fully resolved in public: who forged; why; why was this suspect data used by bushies after disclaimers from everyone (and UN able to prove it was a forgery within 24 hours of their receipt); why libby and hadley try to make Powell use this story at UN; why the White House full court press to discredit small potatoes like the Wilsons; what did fitzgerald uncover in 2 year investigation -- but not use in his limited libby perjury case?

good hunting; and congrats again on your whipping the much larger NYT and WaPo dogs; guess it's not always the size of the dog in the fight, eh?

Dear Bill,
I'm glad you are back at PBS on a more permanent but independant basis.
Thanks so much for the report you did last night on why the media bought the war.
There were two reasons they bought the war, namely they were intimidated by the Bushie Republican Party and it is journalism on the cheap as Dan Rather said. ie. it s=costs money to do real reporting and dig for the facts or at least the inconsistencies and report such.
I was somewhat mystified by Tim Russert being on your program because he is nothing more than a Republican and a Republican mouthpiece who should be working for Fox News as shoyld Joe Scarborough, Tucker Carlson, Chris Matthews and Glenn Beck. All birds of a feather who can speak the truth and will never do so.
Your report was excellent. I knew before the war that there were no WMDs'because Hans Blix and his team of investigtive scientists said so as did the american team sent there by Bush himself. That was good enough for me. From that time on the rest was all nothing but phoney lies.
The intel lies were manufactured by Cheney and John Bolton.
The entire Bush admin. should be put in jail or better yet executed for the war crimes they committed.

Bill, you, Amy Goodman at democracynow.org, Keith Olbermann, Lou Dobbs and Jack Rafferty and the knight-Ridder/McClatchy News reporters, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Phil Donohue do/did the best work and are the most credible journalists, as was David Halberstam, recently deceased and a loss to all.
Although he said no, if we could just get Phil Donohue back America would be much better served.

The MSM has rendered itself as useless as Fox News. They have rendered themselves irrelevant. If they want to make a comeback they had better return to honest journalism. If not, they are useless and may be gone or largely disregarded as is Fox News.

Bill, keep up the good work.
Pray for peace

Jonathan & Warren thank you and Knight Ridder for looking out for us. All odds was stacked against your company but yet your story is being told. Thank you Bill; we can change the direction these neo-cons have taken us.

Thankyou for a wonderful program. I, along with many others who have blogged, opposed the Iraq war from the start. I also recall listening to a Democracy Now broadcast the morning after Colin Powell gave his speech to the UN - and they, in the hour they had, factually refuted every claim that he made! The information, as you said in the show, WAS AVAILABLE.

So, again, why did the American media, the 'opposition' in government, and most of the people, buy the case for war?

I believe that it was because, for the government in particular, but also for those people who most strongly identified with 'America, right or wrong', it wasn't about facts, it was about 'America Under Attack', as one of the media outlets identified.

When a group you identify with strongly is 'Under Attack', you react viscerally - not rationally. And that's where the opposition to the war got it wrong. We should have packaged our message viscerally, we should have recognized that the bias of the population was for 'defense of our primary identity group (America)' and found ways to demonstrate viscerally that war would hurt us.

To: JimT
I wore the uniform for 11 years and 2 tours in Viet Nam. I defended in part the freedom of speach. I won't shut up and I won't let you shut anyone up.

Thank you for the great piece!

Please let these Knight Ridder reporters be the men to bring down these smug ivy punks who have used homophobia, flag waving, religious double talk and every other ancient moral sack of manure in the book to throw $trillions to a small network of military industrialists--while killing scores of Iraqis and Americans along the way.

I marched in protest of the war many times--WE WERE NOT AFRAID!!! NBC's military GE ties are somewhat understandable in a stretch, but how in the world was EVERY MEDIA OUTLET terrified of ghosts from the McCarthy era?

I never thought I'd hear myself saying this, but I now see EXACTLY how Adolph Hitler was able to murder millions of Jews while a split Germany simply stood around in the corner.

If Clinton could be impeached for indiscretions with a consenting female of legal age, shouldn't the entire Bush administration should be executed with broomsticks on the White House lawn for tricking the county into war?

Had the media done its job, the blogosphere would be nothing more than a big, wonky chat room.

The Beltway press should have remembered that politics is their subject, not their profession.

The Washington press corps, feared by successive administrations, are now despised -- ugly pets to be kicked into the back room when company shows up.

It is no wonder the administration issues platitudes and lies with casual ease. No one in the press stopped them for six years, and it's not for certain that the new Congress can, either.

Worse, now too many in the media are long since too compromised to back down; keeping to the talking points is now no longer easy, but necessary for their reputations, their careers and, perhaps for some, even their need to retain legal counsel.

It would have been so much better for everyone, for the media to have just done its job. However, perhaps I am being naive. Perhaps we all were. Perhaps, in truth, the media did its job, as the media has done its job in numerous 20th century situations, where what the government said, what the ruling party said, and what the press said were harmonious.

But that's not patriotism. That's tyranny, no matter what you call it, it's bad, it's not America, and it's good to see that Americans, true and blue, are remembering their voices, and making their wishes heard, whether the sad, beaten, compromised and despised media covers the renaissance or not.

Thanks for doing this program Mr. Moyers. I hope it makes a difference.

Wonderful to have you back Bill. It's especially pleasing to see the results of what real investigative reporting can accomplish in lieu of choir boys and girls singing for the priest. The story behind the story is always the essence of good creditable reporting. Print media should nurture a few new Jack Andersons, Woodward and Bernsteins. Michael Moore tried gallantly, with "Fahrenheit 9/11," to give us reason to question our war involvement. The movie "Why We Fight" also caused many to raise some eyebrows. I thought both of these film efforts sought to get us back to some sound inductive and deductive reasoning. Obviously, neither had the effect on the overall public that I thought they would. Consequently, I am definitely looking forward to your upcoming features.

Thanks again for returning to PBS on a regular basis, and giving us the benefit of your experience and insight.

So, what now? We should apologize to Iraq immediately. Write them a check for the damage we caused and leave. But, of course, as an African-American I know we won't do this. This war will forever be a stain on our nation's honor

I did enjoy the special, and it made a lot of very strong, salient points about the news coverage leading up to the beginning of the Iraq war.

And yet, I was also a bit dismayed to see some reporting of mine essentially credited (weirdly enough) to the NY Times.

I wrote a series of pieces in 2003 about Phil Donahue's exit from MSNBC, and it was reporting that was way out ahead of the mainstream press. The pieces were referenced in everything from Vanity Fair on down, and the general facts of the articles (which were built around a series of internal memos I had obtained from MSNBC), were mentioned not just in the final version of the film, but in many of the reviews.

And yet, imagine my surprise to see the incident described as "memos being leaked to a blogger," while a shot of a NY Times article is shown. Followed by a clip of Donahue mentioning that he first found out about it by reading the NY Times.

While that may be true, the entire coverage of the memos by the Times was a mention (in passing) of my reporting and my web site.

Now, it's not as if the Moyers folks didn't understand the distinction. I spoke to one of the producers several times at length about the memos and the background behind them.

Yeah, it might not seem important to most people, but I spent a couple of hundred hours working on those pieces, and it kills me to see the Times get credit for the work.

Rick Ellis

Bill Moyers, it's about time someone out in the open media created a real "reality" show, most of the time I see things like this I figure it was from the BBC or someone else outside our walls.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."
- Mark Twain

PR Firms=Propaganda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rPQCPwdwHQ

America: Freedom to Fascism
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4312730277175242198&q=america

Money Masters Part 1
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8753934454816686947&q=money+masters

911 Mysteries
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6708190071483512003&q=911+mysteries&hl=en

Terrorstorm
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=786048453686176230&q=terrorstorm&hl=en

----------------------------
Col. Robert Bowman, PhD, U.S. Air Force (ret) – Director of Advanced Space Programs Development under Presidents Ford and Carter. U.S. Air Force fighter pilot with over 100 combat missions. (PhD in Aeronautics and Nuclear Engineering, Cal Tech). Former Head of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering and Assistant Dean at the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology. Also taught Mathematics and English at the University of Southern California, the University of Maryland, and Phillips University.
See him talk ...."their conviction, their removal from office and their incarceration for a very long time"
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6900065571556128674

Senior Military, Intelligence, Law Enforcement,
and Government Officials......
http://patriotsquestion911.com/

I can understand some of the anger directed at the so-called "mainstream media," most of whose members did fail to ask such vitally important questions. But why is there not similar anger directed at the administration? Dan Rather is precisely on pointe: Bush, Powell, Rumsfeld, et al. stood up and lied to the people they were meant to represent. Not only did we, the people, believe their lies, we supported them, and gave Bush & Co. another term.

Bill welcome back!. Gentlemen, John and Warren, nice start. But, there is so much more left to do!

You must penetrate the story far enough to uncover the administration's motivation behind the war.

You must reveal the conncetion behind the executives in the mainstream media who propagandize news coverage in support of the administration.

And, we need your insight into how even in the light of facts about the lies and deception that led us to this point, the House vote over the war appropriations bill can still be so close (218 - 208) suggesting that there is still significant popular support for this travesty.

While you have our appreciation for a beginning, you have not yet won back our trust. That will not come until the job is truly done.

Regards,
Mark Dawes

IMPEACH! - Why are we not having this discussion?

Mr. Moyers and Mr. Landay and Mr. Stroebel:

Thank you for tonight's much-needed story revealing the role of journalists from the mainstream powerhouses who covered the Iraq War.

It demonstrated in great detail the extent of the complicit and direct involvement of reporters who were covering the events leading up to the Iraq War and who were apparently working as an intended or unintended arm of the Bush administration.

One question that I have is why did it take so long for this piece to come forward. Could it be that the political winds are slowly shifting so that the press now feels comfortable/safe enough to begin making critiques against the current administration as well as itself?

One aspect that came out is how much the press tailors its reporting to not only the administration but also to the leadership/owners of its own papers. Whatever happened to the concept of a free and unbiased press -- the fourth estate increasingly sounds like it reflects the needs and interests of power institutions --corporate leadership and their sponsors, the government hierarchy -- and do not seem to represent the interests of the everyday person, the people that go to war to defend this country for presumably the right to speak out and ask critical questions.

For whatever the rationale, each of the reporters or political/press pundits in your video -- Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, William Safire, Richard Pearle, Judith Miller, Peter Beinhart, etc. -- were wanting the US government to invade Iraq. I think that much can be learned through a critical analysis that sheds light on why these and other reporters seemed to favor and advocate for the invasion of Iraq. The show tonight described some of the key players and their actions; however, it did not go into a more thorough analysis as to what were the reporters' motivations.

Viewing the unique role played by the investigative reporters -- Landay and Stroebel -- reminded me of the Woodward and Bernstein team that uncovered the Watergate scandal -- however, these are different times and instead of being hailed as heroes the reporters from Knight Ridder were not given any significant national airing.

Perhaps the press itself needs to step back and look from within itself and re-establish standards on the way it covers stories that have huge impacts on people.

When you hear the reporters speak as if they are the authorities on WMD or military strategies or political movements the public is given a false impression and may believe that these reports/news' statements are factual when in fact they are just opinions -- highly subjective and biased statements -- that are too closely aligned with the administration's positions and publicity machine.

One can also conclude that the administration was able to get its messages out, uncritically challenged, because of the near collapse of the Democratic opposition and the so-called liberal press.

While the Fox news station increased its core audience, the other more liberal outlets, such as CNN and MSNBC, until recently, seemed to have lost their critical focus or lacked the courage to critically provide alternative reporting on the events of the day. The show implies that this occurred because these stations were being called unpatriotic. Also implied in the story is that the press was not so much concerned about being called unpatriotic as it was preoccupied in losing its viewership and the commercial sponsors. There needs to be more separation between the press and the commercial sponsors.

Until the other news outlets can get their act together, programs such as the Moyers Journal and other programs on PBS will need to provide the balance that has been lost in the reporting of the daily news events.

Hopefully Moyers' piercing questioning of the reporters and the courageous investigative reporting by Landay and Stroebel will set a lasting example to the rest of the press.

Another viewer commented, after viewing your program tonight, that ‘America seems intent on exporting democracy and denying it to its own people.’

Once again thank you for your reporting.

A concerned viewer.

I talk to a lot of people regularly, and test the water continually (regarding how they feel about social/political affairs, etc.).

My sense is: people are disgusted with the present state affairs, are feeling VERY disempowerd by their "leaders" on Capital Hill, and want something VERY different from them- NOW!

I really believe we should: abolish the electoral college (after the 2000 election that should have been a top priority, considering it's results), change the 2-party system to something resembling what other European countries are presently doing (multiple "parties"), hold national elections/referendums regularly- as needs be (as, obviously, we should be doing NOW), streamline the government, and take a good look at the Constitution (aka- our bible), and see where it needs improvement, based on life in the modern age, VS. 1776- and take big $$$ out of politics- by the time these guys get into office, they're beholding to so many special interests, they're virtually prostitutes after that- just to start.

Also, perhaps we should create a new law that states that if you want to run for president, you can't be allowed (and then we could have a national referendum to come up with some creative ideas of who would make a "good leader" for our country).

Personally, I think Nancy Pelosi is someone I can trust. She's the only person who's grounded in reality, has the best interest of the American nation at heart, truly feels what the "average person" is going through, and can stand up to George "W" and tell him face-to-face that he's full of sh*t.

I'd like to begin a groundswell of attention among people, to influence Ms. Pelosi to consider a run for the #1 position of leadership, where her consiousness could be most useful.

Either that, or Christopher Walken and Mr."T"- what a great combo that would make, eh?

But really, I think it's time we look at who we're electing into leadership positions. We need more "regular" people in Washington, and NOT lawyers! (Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer, and one of the best presidents I've seen in the past 44 years.)

Plus they should not be lifetime politicians, but should honor themselves and the rest of the country by limiting their term in office to ONE term.

My 2 cents.

-DM

PS- and let's impeach the bastards, and set some basic standards of behavior, that will begin to restore this country's repsect in the world community once again

Bill & Company - thank you for putting this information out there in a more public forum. More questions linger, however. We feel like "they" have stolen not only our vote and voice, they have stolen our country and are systematically dismantling our constitution and democracy. What blather to keep repeating that our troops are "fighting for our freedom and democracy" while some in our government work to take away basic freedoms such as Habeas Corpus, a woman's right to choose, freedom of speech and even our votes.

Could an argument be made that our country is being controlled by a powerful few? Should our concerns lie in the fact that our government/country is being taken over from within? We now have legalized or sanctioned torture, control and manipulation of the news media, private armies such as Blackwater that our government is using (shades of Hitler's SS men?), and the predominance of the blind faith-based, right-wing, religious fanatics and more heinous acts that we don't have the time/space to address here.

Where are the checks and balances to prevent the hijacking of our government by the elitist few or special interest groups and the global corporatization of our planet for the benefit of a few?

The big question: How to we get our country back? In the past, Americans could always be counted on to stand up and do the right thing. True Americans are not the liars, the torturers, the thiefs of democracy! The current administration has failed us miserably. True Americans are supposed to stand for the least among us as well as the best. Where is our moral compass? We've lost it and we desperately need it back. Those in power now (both parties, same coin - different sides) have failed us and continue to fail us.

Although it gets harder every day, we have not given up hope. We want to leave a better world for our children and grandchildren and endeavor to make it so. With the help of programs like this, and the brave actions of men and women unafraid to shine the light in those scary dark spaces, we envision a better world.

i have been reading these responses with what most of you seem to have also experienced here... optomism. that is untill i realized that sadly like everything else that i see or read that makes sense to me, it is entirely a matter of preaching to the choir.
all of the responses i have read have been amazingly eloquent and heartfelt, what seems to be missing is the mean spirited rightwing post.
did this show really change anyone's mind?

It wasn't Bush, Cheney or Powell that convinced me that war was necessary with Iraq. It was Ted Koppel, Tom Friedman and Wolf Blitzer. I took their reports at face value, looked at their graphics and was convinced by their analyses that Saddam had the capacity to use WMDs against the USA.

The Bush administration went to war with Iraq because public opinion allowed it. Pre-war public opinion was shaped by the media.

If Bill Moyers wants to make things right, he has the perfect opportunity. The media is now trying to sell us on a new war with Iran--over WMDs! But why do I get the feeling that the media, PBS included, is conditioning me for a "300"-style clash against Iran?

Knight Ridder is no more. It will not be around to do any basic fact-checking before the next war. The company was liquidated under the directive of one man, Bruce Sherman, a billionaire financier and ardent supporter of Israel. One man has the power and influence to dissolve a profitable company with a long history and thousands of employees. Funny how that works. Yet somehow the Sulzbergers, Grahams and Bancrofts know how to avoid Tony Ridder's fate.

Bill Moyers thinks the Bush administration sold the media on the war with Iraq. But it was the media that sold me on it. And it's the media that's trying to sell me on the next war with Iran.

I get the feeling that I'll have to wait until our troops are in harm's way in Iran before Bill Moyers will do another vague after-the-fact documentary full of mea culpas from media people, who after beating the war drums from their national platforms, are dumbfounded on why politicians followed public opinion.

IDF Brigadier General Oded Tira: "President Bush lacks the political power to attack Iran. As an American strike in Iran is essential for our existence, we must help him pave the way by lobbying the Democratic Party (which is conducting itself foolishly) and US newspaper editors."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3346275,00.html

I too can only shake my head in disbelief at how this generation's Woodward & Bernstein fared in trying to expose this scandal (of far greater magnitude). And also agree that unfortunately, just like the Kennedy assasination, we will never know the truth behind 9/11.

If an ordinary Joe like myself knew this war was built on one humongous pack o' lies (thanks in large part to the revelations of one gung ho Republican Marine Scott Ritter), how could all those university trained professionals not have the slightest goddang clue!?!

Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution says: "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it."

Is the invasion done?

Who will tell the prisoners in Guantanamo or those victims of extraordinary rendition?

NOTE: The prohibition doesn't say "U.S. Citizens" or only on U.S. soil. It says in the most general terms "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended..."

Folks, that means anywhere, anytime, for anybody.

Maybe someone should tell Scalia and his lapdog Thomas...

Thank you Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel.
Back in the mid 1960s, I came to the US to write about US industry with nearly 20 years background in manufacturing in Europe. I became suspicious that investment badly needed by US industry was being diverted to the Vietnam war while the American public was being mislead by highly inaccurate Washington statistics on the age of American industrial equipment. They stated that little investment was needed because US equipment was very new by international standards. I was able to research the figures with the assistance of economist Harold Barger at Columbia and found that Washington was issuing grossly misleading statistics about the age of US industrial equipment. The 1960s, however, despite the war, was a period of great euphoria and I had difficulty getting my findings published, even though Barger allowed me to quote his approval.

Few of the readers of this blog will know the McGraw-Hill journal, “American Machinist”. It has published some of America’s most important industrial writing soon after the Civil War. Its editor, the late Anderson Ashburn looked at my findings, commented, ”this must be published” and presented it as a handsome Special Report (‘Can the U.S. stay competitive?’, American Machinist Special Report, no. 644, July 27, 1970) I received a lot of approving mail, including from respected economists and leading academics. The campaign to get US industry not to invest stopped immediately but it was too late. The booming 1960s American economy crashed into the no growth 1970s. A legacy of grossly overage industrial equipment played a major part in opening up the American market to foreign competition. The US economy did not recover for decades.

In my view, one of the saddest sequels was the history of this self deception by Washington was immediately swept under the rug. No one learned from the debacle: no one learned how vulnerable Washington is to self deception. There is surely a strong parallel to what happened in the run up to the Iraq war. In both cases a trusting public and a trusting press allowed a Washington that did not want to hear about reality, mislead itself.
Copies of ‘Can the U.S. stay competitive?’, American Machinist Special Report, no. 644, July 27, 1970 can be found at:http://www.puritangift.com/articles_hopper.html I have a smaller file available by email.
Further information on this forgotten economic debacle is in:
THE PURITAN GIFT: Triumph, Collapse and Revival of an American Dream
Kenneth Hopper & William Hopper, I.B. Tauris, 2007 p 203-207 “Capital Expenditure and the So-Called Experts”

I just want to comment on the irony of this insightful program being hosted by Bill Moyers. Moyers was the press secretary charged with selling the press that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. This was done before Jack Ruby's connection to Oswald had even been investigated. This was done before the FBI had even read the autopsy report to see if it was
possible for Oswald to have fired all the shots. Perhaps in future episodes Moyers will be more candid about his own experience in propagating fiction to the Washington Press Corps. The man knows of what he speaks.

Bennie Beaver been dropping too many bennies..

Great reporting except it is a little late...
A new topic I wish Mr. Moyers,Mr. Landay & Mr. Strobel would investigate and report on is the truth behind 9/11. The public at large still can't accept the fact that our own government caused, or at the very least facilitated the crimes of 9/11. Until we the people know how far our government has gone to control our collective mind we will remain imprisioned in the illusion of freedom. Please investigate 9/11 and set us free...

Way back in 2002, I knew the Bush administration was lying about it's reasons to go to war. I knew Iraq had no WMDs. I knew the real reasons why the US went to war in Iraq, namely, the control of world oil resources and the protection of Israel.

How did I know all this? Well I simply looked for the facts on the Internet. I was reading newspapers from the the UK, France, China, India, Russia, Israel, Middle East (probably a dozen other countries) and oh yes, one or two sources from the US.

The world has changed, the US is not the only game in town. Also, I would rank the american news media as among the worst of the lot!

Excellent report, Mr. Moyers! One oversight, however. I am always baffled that NBC is not more widely criticized given they are owned by a defense contractor (General Electric, of course). It seems obvious that the profit motive for America going to war could have played a role in the firing of war skeptic Phil Donahue and also in offering their flagship news show, Meet the Press, to VP Cheney in making the strongest (but false) case for war. After all, who is the primary advertiser on Meet the Press? Fellow defense contractor, Boeing! Boeing is literally the partner of General Electric in defense contracting - they buy the engines General Electric makes for military planes. While Fox receives widespread criticism for their ties to the Republican Party (and righly so), why is NBC given a free pass for their more profitable military ties?

"Buying the War?" Where are the voices of those who really "Bought it?"

I'm waiting for the day when "Duh!b'ya, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Perle, Wolfowitz, and company, are tried as war criminals -- Then sent to Iraq for the Iraqi executioners to miscalculate their weight...

Now, that is not a happy thought, but a JUST one..

Someone at PBS knew what they were doing when they recently reran "All the President's Men," the 1976 movie dramatizing Woodward and Bernstein's heroics in uncovering the Watergate scandal 25 years ago. Today, thanks to Bill Moyers, we know we had Knight Ridder's Landay and Strobel performing a similar role during the 2002/2003 prewar frenzy.

OK, Landay and Strobel's reports were largely ignored by leading papers and TV networks, and they couldn't stop the war from occurring. But, is that so different from what Woodward and Bernstein experienced? Remember, their reports were also ignored by the other news media, for month after grinding month. Richard Nixon won reelection during the course of their reporting. That must have been a low and lonely hour.

But, finally the Watergate revelations reached a critical mass and the rest of the 1970s media jumped on the bandwagon, eventually leading to Nixon's resignation in the face of impeachment.

Yes, newspapers and networks today are more venal than their 1970s counterparts—as Tom Tomorrow reminds us in his April 17 cartoon http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=22246
—but we may yet see the worm turn. Scooter Libby is convicted. Dennis Kucinich has filed articles of impeachment against Vice President Cheney. Nancy Pelosi and Democratic committee chairs are sending out the subpoenas, and offering immunity to the little fish for their testimony. Bill Moyers has presented a glorious documentary revealing our current crop of sycophantic reporters in all their ignominy, perhaps sparking some pangs of conscience and a new resolve.

So, keep it up, Landay and Strobel, and we may yet see Bush resign or be impeached. One day you too could be immortalized in books and movies, and be the inspiration for a new generation of muckraking journalists. We're going to need them.

What about Helen Thomas? I was disappointed that she got swept away so easily? What is the national media doing to prevent this from happening again? Are they just in awe ?

Why did we go to war?
Profits

It is so good to have Bill Moyers back on the air! I literally cried when he left, knowing that one of the best had gone. Welcome back, Bill! We missed you!

Thank you to Bill Moyers. Welcome back, sir. You have been sorely missed. When I tuned in tonight I was under the misconception that this was a one-time show. I was thrilled to hear that you will be on every week.

I also want to give a heartfelt thank you to the Knight Ridder reporters. You guys are my new heroes.

Finally, thank you to PBS for airing this (at least in my area). It is good to know that there is at least one television station I can still turn to for true investigative journalism.

As a registered independent, it was obvious that there were not WMD's. This was obvious in 2002. I am not a journalist. I read and I listen. What I read was not adding up to what I was listening to. What I was listened to was not adding up to what I read. 'Why do people want to believe that they can trust their government? By trusting, you get Vietnam, you get Iraq etc. All one has to do is read and read both sides of the coin. Common sense will then prevail if you have it. As citizens it is evident that we have no control as individuals or as a group what are government does in our name. Thank you Bill Moyers for producing this program. What I don't understand is why Bush and Company are not in jail yet? We are on our own folks....We are the government so make it happen.

This documentry got my blood boiling. Back in 1990 when George Sr. was pitching the first gulf war to the public my mother, a lifelong critic of the media, told me point blank that he obviously hired a PRfirm.

"Oh mom that's so cynical" I replied. That's just not possible with a free press. Then after the war was over 60 minutes did a story where they found out - guess what? George Bush hired a PR firm to "sell" the war. I remember thinking as I watched the report "Oh and you just figured that out now?" Of course the press knew it was a snow job, they just didn't have the nerve to say so and like this time, detractors were silenced.

So when George Jr. started selling the second war with it's slogan "Weapons of mass destruction" I knew it was another PR job. I knew then Saddam didn't have any, it seemed obvious. Did the press convienently forget that the US was on daily bombing runs over Iraq since the gulf war? I think the military would have noticed something then.

The media is either stupid or lying ( or both) if they expect us to believe they were duped and didn't know the truth about how the war was pushed on us when simple so called ignorant folks like me knew it was a lie. They should be ashamed of themselves. As a freelance writer I was thinking of getting back into journalism but I see it doesn't exist for real investigators.

Isn't it curious how Judith Miller keeps popping up in connection to the Bush Administration? Robert Novak revealed Palme's name and nothing happens to him but Judith Miller- who didn't write a word on the subject- went to jail on contmept charges in a challenge to the first amendment and it turns out she was working for the Bush administration. Hmmm.

I applaud the work of Bill Moyers, who neo cons tried to silence by trying to influence PBS to "get rid " of him.

My faith in the media was shaky before now I know not to trust it.

I seem to recall a multitude of lawmakers, journalists, and members of the public asking for PROOF of Bush's WMD claims when they were being posited. I also remember northward of 70% of Americans polled saying they thought we should wait for the UN inspectors to finish their work (estimated at about 3 additional months) before invading Iraq.

The issue on the eve of war was whether to allow inspections to continue or RUSH to war.

The fact is, the majority of Americans wanted inspections to continue, and Bush defied the American people and rushed to war anyway.

In helping manufacture the slim margin of consent required to allow such a crime to take place places the pro-war members of the press you profile not in a position of passive acquiescence before a bullying White House, but one of active conspiracy with fascist propagandists.

Though it is unfashionable, it must be said that the American press in this period went the way of the Soviet and Nazi press, and their transgression was not one of simple meekness, but of willful participation in tyranny.

My only hope is that there is an adequate reexamination of the facts to expose those involved in the campaign of disinformation waged against the American people, a project which your show has done a good job of advanced. As a true patriot, I thank you.

Perhaps if the American public can come to grips with the lies that were foisted upon us, we will finally send the criminals responsible into the exile they so richly deserve.

Perhaps then we can get back to the business of real democracy in this great land.

Do you see a large difference between print (ink/digital) and the TV culture in regards to reporting inside and outside of the beltway?

Going forward, do you have a sense that the DC/beltway reporters "learned their lesson"? If not now, then ever? What impact, if any, do you see in the reporting community?

Can there be a return of "just the facts journalism" or are we too far down the road of the punditry culture?

This was a great episode that I hope is widely seen.

Stay skeptical.

George W. Bush = The King George we never had.

Or wanted.

Pacifica news had many of the counter-arguements and critics of the war the whole time. Too bad more people don't hear it.

I am overwhelmed to see the amount of replys here! I was hoping for this kind of response! I just hope the rest of America has an opportunity to see this show. All I can say is we as americans have to let OUR representatives know that this President and all of his kronies must be IMPEACHED! We have the lies on tape!let's round them all up and throw them back in their faces! The Founders of our Constitution stated that if a President lies to congress He can be Impeached. That he has done.
Mr. Moyers, I congratulate you on this show! Please keep up the great work!

the post from "preameriKKKan" proves my point from my last post, which I would be a tad bit surprised if it's posted

I just wanted to say that this program has come at a very important time in my life. I was in high school when all of these things were happening, sadly this means I really wasn't paying that much attention to the big issues. My perception of 9/11 and all that surrounded it was painted by what little I saw on the news and then polished off with the ever growing opinions of my hometown (opinions generated from the media).
At that point in my life I didn't see why I would need to question. Maybe it was that I still didn't fully understand politics, maybe it was adolecent apathy, or maybe it was a mixture of both as well as a very strong feeling of comfort in my personal life. I had a boyfriend, I was doing well enough in school, I had fun in my free time, those were/are my freedoms as an American--why would I want to disturb that peace?
It sounds horrible, and it is. I can't say that other people feel this way. I believe that they do (conciously or not), especially people of my generation. We are reeping the benefits of the struggles our parents went through to provide a better life for us.
I could go on, but what I really want to say is that we NEED these reminders to keep us questioning, to stir up the calm and comfortable/sheltered lives we have establashed for ourselves. We can't become sheep.

Because I watch PBS Newshour, BBC News, Charlie Rose and use the internet in place of newspapers, I was aware of the flaws in the administration's case for the war in Iraq. The steamroller propaganda effort to label anyone who questioned the need for war was obvious. The disagreement of the majority of our allies with the need to invade Iraq was another red flag. Why is there no discussion of the reasons we did not continue on to Baghdad during the first Gulf War? The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a lengthy multiple day story addressing this issue. Many television news shows had detailed explanations of why we were not invading Iraq. Then Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney was a spokesman for why we should not remove Saddham Hussein from power. Several years ago, a cable show ran an interview with Mr. Cheney as part of a program on their best shows on their tenth anniversary. How did we allow the administration to frame the issue so there was no discussion of these concerns? Why didn't the Democrats (especially John Kerry) make use of the Cheney interview in 2004?

While this program describes the misinformation and propaganda engine that took us to war, THIS PROGRAM FAILS TO ADDRESS THE MYTH AND PROPAGANDA THAT PERPETUATES THE BELIEF THAT WE ARE STILL AT WAR. Why are we still calling the situation in Irag a war?

In fact, Bush himself declared the end of hostilities in 2003. Since then we have been an occupational force persiding over reconstruction (which obviously has gone bad).
Consequently, the administration continues to define the nature of the debate and the press and public (including Bill Moyers as far as I can tell) continue to follow the administration's lead.

Why is this important? The power of a war time president is far greater than otherwise. War always threatens the fabric of democracy. It's far easier to suspend our liberties during "war" than at any other time.

The quality of the special report is very good. I taped the program for a specific purpose of informing certain people that they have been deceived and misled because of partisan politics.

I would consider myself a true conservative, but because of the horrific consequences of the war and the repugnant attitude of the belligerent partisan politics, I am now unaffiliated with Republican Party and have been a registered Libertarian since.

I was one of the protesters who demonstrated against America's war on Iraq in Salt Lake City February 2003.

I was one of the protesters who demonstrated against America's continuous occupation of Iraq as unjust policy in Salt Lake City March 2004.

Both times I carried a self-made cartoon poster depicting the rich fat cat from Disney cartoon Rescue Rangers smoking a cigar amid gold bags and piles of greenbacks with the black bold words above "GREED IS GOOD".

I consider any person who unapologetically and jingoistically supports Iraq war and the continuous campaign of the War on Terror while the accused leader Osama is somehow not pursued with intensity -- unjust as it is now -- a neoconservative.

I knew the truth about the media lies and have preferred political/current affairs blogs over published mainstream and even alternative newspapers and television news. I've had enough of the mainstream press; they have already discredited themselves and it shows in declining newspaper circulations.

Propaganda may be powerful and persuasive but its effect never last long and the truth of the reality emerges that tell a different story.

I have included in my link a photographic slideshow on America's future new war that I fear will fare even worse than 'post-war' Iraq crisis in devastating consequences.

Mission is NOT accomplished as Bush preemptively claims in the spectacular show of propaganda landing on an aircraft carrier not long after the beginning of the Iraq war.

It comes with irony that former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had said "The real distinction is between those who adapt their purposes to reality and those who seek to mold reality in the light of their purposes."

In other words, neoconservative pundits and deciders are incapable of accepting the brutal reality contrary to their fantasy of conquering the Middle East and Central Asia to accomplish the principles as explained in the documents developed by Project for the New American Century ("Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century") and The Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies ("A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm").

Only sensible decision in pursuing peace by stronger diplomatic relations while not being loyal to another particular state (you will know what state I refer to) that does America's bidding will resolve the pressing international issues and make world peace the ultimate accomplishment as President Kennedy articulated in his inaugural address.

And it was President Kennedy's rational decision to deal with USSR diplomatically that prevented the catastrophic consequence of an all-out nuclear warfare when the Cuban Missile Crisis surfaced. The world was close to the point of no return at that time and the human civilization cannot afford the new crisis that will severely affect the world as we know it.

This is why George W Bush and Richard B Cheney deserve impeachment and high-level officials (current and former involved in the Iraq war II campaign) prosecuted for treason to the Constitution and America's sovereignty & welfare for lying the nation into unnecessary wars that serve the agenda which do not benefit America and the world in any way, shape or form!

Things started to go wrong in journalism when television networks stopped treating their news divisions as a public service and started employing these divisions as profit centers. Once the pursuit of ratings and advertising dollars entered the picture, objectivity left the room.

I cannot tell you how grateful I am to you, Bill Moyers, the Knight-Ridder reporters and their bosses for being authentic reporters, eschewing the "news entertainment" venue for probing for the facts. Whatever happened to going beyond the Who? the What? and the Where? to the When? the Why? and the How???

I, as many previous bloggers have reported, have lost friends in passionately demanding answers before supporting a war that could take my son or his friends' lives. I could not get them to understand that I cried every single morning over each death as it was reported. I can barely stand to see their faces, their names, their ages as they scroll down my tv screen. It is simply unbelievable to me that any American can see this as necessary and just. I have never been so ashamed of being an American, seen as so cold-heartedly willing to sacrifice our young men and women without asking the appropriate caretaking questions that were our duty to ask. We, the American people, are to blame for this war.

I stopped watching the network news a long time ago, and have stopped watching the PBS Newshour since before the war. Only TV news-related programs which I regualrly watch are/were Ted Koppel's Nightline, PBS Frontline, and whatever Bill Moyers hosts.

What reported in the progarm makes me wonder whether Ted Koppel was similarly pushed out of ABC like the MSNBC's host. Any idea? I know that this question makes me sound like a conspiracy theorist whom I don't want to be.

New York Times, Washington Post, etc, have lost my trust for their pre-war propogada, particularly through those sickening columnists. I still respect Jim Leher however can not bear to look at and listen to his "regular commentators" and experts. New Yorker has done a good job in telling the truth. Now, thanks to this program, I know the Knight Ridder as another trustwhorthy news source so that I don't have to solely rely on British in the future. Hey Brits, if any of you are here, don't let your country slide into our situation so that media is controlled by a few companies in the name of deregulation. Free press is much more important than the bottom line. Is it surprising that our Yahoo and Microsoft are helping Chinese government control their internet?

Any plan for a program on the "experts"? So many ivy league professors were also on the air before the war. I can only remember Prof. Nye from Harvard who sounded familiar like an fellow American. I paid a tribute to the Jefferson, FDR memoriams during the Cherry Festival. Let us keep America American and push back the un-American Patriot Act.

This is pretty typical media flagellation, ablution if you are Catholic, I guess.

It's like the media are saying, "Now that we know we could/should have fulfilled the hyperbole we arrogate to ourselves as the (so-called)Fourth Estate, let's beat ourselves bloody and promise (honest, I'll write it 100 times on the chalkboard teacher) to be better boys and girls if we can just have another chance! Just one more chance, please... I promise!"

As an ordinary citizen, out here in blahs ville, there was enough information available to me to critically evaluate the pablum (paregoric anyone? -- "Paregoric by the bottle, forced down baby's throttle") force fed, then propagated and promulgated by, the media. How could the media get it so wrong? Easy -- Advertisers & Money.

Interesting, isn't it, that MSNBC would fire both Phil Donahue and Don Imus. It's money and power folks, that is it -- all of it. Forget the media -- they are the tools, henchmen, thugs of the policy makers -- Think, think, think. Vote, vote, vote. And, most importantly, ACT!

Don't seek demonstration permits, accept 1st amendment ghettos (chain link barriers blocks from where a politician is appearing), or file parade (er, I mean demonstration) routes. Go where you are not expected. Disrupt. Disrupt. Disrupt. Most importantly, don't invite the media -- Let them find you! Surprise them! They are not your friend.

Now that Messrs. Moyer and compatriots have engaged in their self-flagellating ablution-laden rhetoric methinks they (the media) are going to do it all over again. That is their depressing, spiraling cycle and I fear the inhuman consequences of the next round.

After all, as the self-arrogated "Fourth Estate" they are at the center of power and will not relinquish it. Willing handmaidens to power and to be distrusted in whatever guise they appear.

Okay -- enough of the rant. As a disenchanted formerly aspiring journalist, I would happily work with, next to, or for the Knight-Ridder editor who gave his reporters free rein. Kudos to those two and their boss -- If only that chain had an outlet in either the political center (D.C.) or the economic center (NYC) of this country...

Watching Bill Moyer's special tonight was both validating (because the information was readily available for the inquisitive) and depressing (because I was helpless to stop those blithering idiots).

Dick Cheney is one or two stents (the dictionary suggests "skunks" as an alternative...) shy of having a heart and I think it is too damn bad he has had so many stents.

Good Night!

It's a huge weight off my heart and mind to see all the insightful, energetic and intelligent comments here (excluding Mr. Winkler's). I no longer feel so alone in my futile search for truthful "news." The question is, "Now what?" Is there any way to move the media away from sensationalism and private interest and return to the fine craft of true journalism?

Here's what we can do now. We have to convince our reps in Congress that the funding must be cut off immediately. Not in 1 year or even 6 months...but now. All the Congress has to do is...nothing. Really. Don't pass a bill that provides money for continuing this disastrous policy. This is not only Congress' Constitutional right, but it's their obligation. Stop the money...stop the war.

Two quick but important facts:
1) Not only does the majority of Iraqis want us to leave now, but they even believe that attacks against our troops are justified.
2) According to our own CIA, our continuing occupation in Iraq is creating more terrorists.

Sources for these can be found at the spoof McCain website:
http://www.electjohnmccain2008.com

Wow. I don't know which news sources to turn to anymore. I read many of those very same newspaper articles cited in the program. And like many news consumers, I absorbed it all, and marched along to the drumbeat. (I really wish I had read the Knight Ridder articles then.)

I think of myself as a relatively well-informed citizen. I read the news regularly from a variety of sources. But now I know, even with that, I may still not be as informed as I would like to believe. I'm disappointed and even angry that I can't trust the news articles I'm reading anymore. I'm angry at the media for not doing their jobs. I'm angry that there isn't a higher standard in journalism. I'm angry that there seems to be ZERO accountability in journalism for getting it SO wrong. As a news consumer and as citizen of this country, I demand better. We should all demand much much better.

In some ways I feel that many of the comments are a little disingenuous. I believe that if one ask the American people whether they're against the Iraqi war, or against how it has been managed, you will find that most are against how it has been managed. Furthermore, if America had fought this Iraqi war the way we fought the Secound World War, we would win. America has hoped that its technologies would win this peace. But it hasn't. We did win the war in Iraq. We are losing the peace. Until we're willing to fight a kind of war dictated by the enemy, we will continue to lose; unless science and technology improves to win, otherwise.

If you check the opinions of the American people before the Secound World War, you will discover that most Americans did not support that war ahead of Pearl Harbor. President Roosevelt eluded the judgement of the American people by secretly meeting with Churchill on a ship off shore to ascertain England's military needs to defend against the German onslaught.

Another thing regarding President Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq is that the only time that the American people would likely support a war with Saddam Hussein was right after 9-11. Bush understood the psychlogy of politics very well and knew that this was a time to act. Emphasizing the evidence may have seemed important to gain the American peoples' assured support. History will decide whether he made the right decision.
One thing is for sure, and that is that most leaders in the world believed that Hussein should go. Most leaders in the world believed that Hussein would use his oil money and power to one day harm the West, either by handing weapons off to terrorist, or by using them himself.

War is hell, and should be avoided if possible. But the truth is that Thomas Jefferson believed that war is necessary in defeating dyrants, or terrorist. Lets hope that America doesn't equivocate and surrender to threats from terrorist. Having said all of this, America and the West are very scientific and technologically powerful, and can afford to vacillate. But at what eventual cost? WMDs will get smaller and bigger, and one man/woman, or a few, will be able to destroy cities. What then? they have all the time in the world to do this unless we can win them over, or change them first.

I want to see "W" easel boy and all those in his administration held accountable! I am so tired of all the deceit. And here we all are, after watching another Stellar program from the great Bill Moyers, while the War of lies continues marching on! Call your congressman or woman and demand that baby bush be held accountable and too put an END to this War!

Thank You Mr. Moyers for another great program!

This will help explain things......

-- Most people prefer to believe their leaders are just and fair, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, because once a citizen acknowledges that the government under which they live is lying and corrupt, the citizen has to choose what he or she will do about it. To take action in the face of a corrupt government entails risks of harm to life and loved ones. To choose to do nothing is to surrender one's self-image of standing for principles. Most people do not have the courage to face that choice. Hence, most propaganda is not designed to fool the critical thinker but only to give moral cowards an excuse not to think at all...

If you've just seen Bill Moyers "Buying the War" and are in shock that is a good thing "wake up", now tell all of your family and friends....... and last but not least, find more answers.

Demolition....

I think it was unfair to equate this war with fighting the Germans. The Iraqi Army has been defeated…these are terrorists sponsored by outside factions. I know because we caught 12 of them coming into Iraq with wads of Iranian money.
I spent 16 months on active duty because of this war. I never bought it from the start and I could not believe people were buying into this so whole heartedly. It is so funny to me how the US public (most of which have not served) were so eager to send in the troops.
yea...3000+ have died...but the real tragedies are the physically and mentally wounded and the long-lasting effects on the US. People can get over the fact you are gone...when you are still here with problems...that is going to last a lifetime. You forget about the families that have been ripped apart because of deployments and obligations; Employers doing without employees for 18 months.
Also, having been there I am tired of the armchair quarterbacks here in the media and law offices. What you don't understand is that YES we should not have gone there...but now it is too late. To stop now would just equate to us going back or to another place like it in the not so distant future. Since Bush Sr. stopped the taking of Saddam in the first Gulf War...we are there now. To leave this battle will mean our children will have to fight another day.

No matter how much I want it to end…leaving right now is NOT the right answer…If you don’t believe me…take up your arms and follow me. Swear in and put on the uniform…if you don’t want to put on the uniform…well, just shut up!

As they say, freedom is not free. Remember that.

Political correctness is more a comical myth among liberals than truth and where it does exists its about showing respect to those different than us.

True political correctness exist within the ‘you’re either with us or against us’ right wing of the conservative end of the Republican Party. Qualifications matter little to this group compared to strict party loyalty down to accepting every single party principle of the moment. It is not possible to say something is, for example, truly blue when party loyalty demands it to be red.

As a former newspaper reporter who deplores the decline of the journalistic enterprise, I honor and applaud Jonathon Landay and Warren Strobel for their courageous and excellent reporting. It was a beacon in those dark days of the rush to war for millions of us who believed from the beginning that an invasion of Iraq would be a disaster. My question for the two of you: what journalism awards have you received for your coverage of Iraq?

Mr. Moyers, a salute to you. We're hearing that this administration is absolutely out of it's little MIND and we're growing a little concerned.

43 is a thug, a mass murderer and a crook, and somebody actually voted for him, or did they?

chalabi has OUR tax money! make judith miller and other warmongers pay it back.

now understand why nyt faded from my bookmark list.

at least, now we're ALL skeptics. you cannot believe one single thing that the MSM has to "report".

if you're hearing a speech, "and so forth" are code words for "i'm just reciting here, don't ask for details!"

what's up with the 7 REFRIGERATOR trucks! chalabi thinks amurkins are troglodytes, ha!

darth as "source" = halliburton payback

televised words hurt a bit, ay? emails will byte you back, won't they?

safire wrote 27 articles? follow the $ on THAT guy!

moyers makes tenets book worthless!

bob simon wanted to make the war "light"?!!! and he only has 1000 mea culpas?

WHIG, stand up and be counted! too clever by twice, ayy, KKKarl?

Make dicky, rummy, kkkarl, harriet, condi "mushroom cloud" rice, 43, 43's mom and dad, feith, wolfy, judith, david, michael, both kyles, hell, make KKKARL'S mom and dad pay back what it has cost to invade iraq. dammit, make ALL those war profiteers PAY us back!

interesting quotes- (can't