PRESS COVERAGE BY OUTLET

Below you'll find citations and links to many of the reports featured in "Buying the War." For chronological coverage please see the Interactive Timeline. You'll also find some post-March 2003 coverage of Iraq intelligence, government documents, opinion polls and sites for further research on the media and politics.

Of special note are the multiple mea culpas issued by major media outlets as the extent of erroneous reporting became clear. On May 26, 2004, THE NEW YORK TIMES editors published a critical analysis of its own reporting on Iraq intelligence. Read "From the Editors: The Times and Iraq." The TIMES also collected many of the questionable stories in an online archive.

Like THE NEW YORK TIMES, the WASHINGTON POST published a post-mortem on its Iraq intelligence coverage in 2004. In this case, the analysis focused on the tendency of skeptical articles to appear on the interior pages of the paper rather than as front page headline stories. Howard Kurtz's "The Post on WMDS: An Inside Story" made page 1 of the August 12, 2004 edition.

Among prominent magazines, both VANITY FAIR and THE NEW REPUBLIC published articles and editorials addressing the accuracy of their pre-war coverage. VANITY FAIR's David Rose went back to talk to prominent neoconservatives in January 2007's "Neo Culpa." THE NEW REPUBLIC asked itself the question, "Were We Wrong?" Its answer didn't satisfy some readers who called their response inadequate in a letter to the editor published by THE NEW REPUBLIC in a subsequent issue.

CBS's 60 MINUTES, which had featured the claims of Ahmed Chalabi and other Iraqi defectors, featured Chalabi again in March of 2004 at which point he told correspondent Leslie Stahl that he wanted to testify in front of Congress to set the record straight. In 2004, the Poynter Institute reported on a speech in which Stahl said, "I look on those two stories as mistakes, journalistic mistakes. I made them, and I regret it." In 2007, PBS's FRONTLINE reflected on the journalistic road to Iraq in "Newswar" and on its own reporting, some of which relied on now discredited sources.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Hanley, Charles, "Powell's Case for Iraq War Falls Apart 6 Months Later," August, 11, 2003, Associated Press

THE BOSTON GLOBE

Lehigh, Scott, "The Endgame Has Begun," THE BOSTON GLOBE, February 7, 2003

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Kass, John, "In Powell vs. Rat, Question Boils Down to Belief," The Chicago Tribune, February 6, 2003

CNN

"Iraq & al-Qaeda: Is there a Link?," (CNN.com and TIME), August 22, 2002

"Selling an Iraq-al Qaeda connection," Bruce Morton, March 11, 2003

THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Editorial, THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE, February 7, 2003

KNIGHT-RIDDER (Now McClatchy)*

You can read recent reports by the team on Iraq Intelligence online. The team kept up its scrutiny in the days after the invasion, publishing reports on intelligence failures in the immediate aftermath of the invasion.

Landay, Jonathan, "Lack of Hard Evidence of Iraqi Weapons Worries Top U.S. Officials," Knight Ridder, September 6, 2002

Landay, Jonathan, "CIA Report Reveals Analysts Split Over Extent of Iraqi Nuclear Threat," Knight Ridder, October 5, 2002

Strobel, Warren, "Experts say Iraq, Hussein not Likely Tied to Terrorist Attacks," Knight Ridder, September 22, 2001

Strobel, Warren, "Some in Bush administration have misgivings about Iraq policy," Knight Ridder, October 8, 2002

Strobel, Warren, "Iraqi opposition leader suspected of misusing U.S. funds, but may get more," Knight Ridder, February 20, 2002

Strobel, Warren, "Data didn't back Bush claims on Iraqi weapons, officials say," Knight Ridder, June 6, 2003

Strobel, Warren and John Walcott, "Bush decides to oust Iraq's Hussein," THE MIAMI HERALD, February 13, 2002

Strobel, Warren and John Walcott, "Failure to find weapons in Iraq leads to intelligence scrutiny," Knight Ridder, June 2, 2003

Strobel, Warren P., Jonathan S. Landay and John Walcott, "Some in Bush Administration Have Misgivings About Iraq Policy," Knight Ridder, October 8, 2002

Strobel, Warren and Jonathan Landay, "Infighting among U.S. intelligence agencies fuels dispute over Iraq," Knight Ridder, October 27, 2002

Strobel, Warren and Jonathan Landay, "Questions, criticism surround information that led to start of war," Knight Ridder, July 18, 2003

*Because Knight Ridder (now McClatchy) stories were syndicated to many papers, the title of the article on the McClatchy Web site may not exactly match the printing paper's headline.

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

"The Task Ahead," LOS ANGELES TIMES, January 30, 2002

THE NEW REPUBLIC

Woolsey, James R, "The Iraq Connection: Blood Baath," THE NEW REPUBLIC, September 13, 2001

Beinart, Peter, " Small Talk," THE NEW REPUBLIC, August 19, 2002

Beinart, Peter, "Backfire," THE NEW REPUBLIC, November 4, 2002

THE NEW YORK TIMES

On May 26, 2004, THE NEW YORK TIMES editors published a critical analysis of its own reporting on Iraq intelligence. Read "From the Editors: The Times and Iraq"

The TIMES also collected many of the questionable stories in an online archive.

Carter, Bill. "MSNBC Cancels the Phil Donahue Talk Show," THE NEW YORK TIMES, February 26, 2003

Hedges, Chris, "Defectors Cite Iraqi Training for Terrorism," THE NEW YORK TIMES, November 8, 2001

Miller, Judith, "Iraqi Tells of Renovation at Sites for Chemical and Nuclear Arms." THE NEW YORK TIMES, December 20, 2001

Miller, Judith, "U.S. Says Hussein Intensified Quest for A-Bomb Parts," THE NEW YORK TIMES, September 8, 2002

Miller, Judith, "Verification Is Difficult at Best, Say the Experts, and Maybe Impossible," THE NEW YORK TIMES, September 18, 2002

Miller, Judith, "The Opposition; U.S. Faulted Over Its Efforts to Unite Iraqi Dissidents," THE NEW YORK TIMES, October 2, 2002

Miller, Judith, "CIA Hunts Iraq Tie to Soviet Smallpox," THE NEW YORK TIMES, December 3, 2002

Miller, Judith, "Defectors Bolster U.S. Case Against Iraq," THE NEW YORK TIMES, January 24, 2003

Perle, Richard, "The U.S. Must Strike at Saddam Hussein," THE NEW YORK TIMES, December 28, 2001

Risen, James, "Threats and Responses: The View from Prague; Prague Discounts An Iraqi Meeting, THE NEW YORK TIMES, October 21, 2002

James Risen and David Johnston, "Split at C.I.A. and F.B.I. on Iraqi Ties to Al Qaeda," THE NEW YORK TIMES, February 2, 2003 (Note: this article has been abbreviated on this reprinting site.)

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIALS

"George W. Bush's Moment," THE NEW YORK TIMES, January 30, 2002

Safire, William, "Prague Connection," THE NEW YORK TIMES, November 12, 2001

Safire, William, "The Turkey Card," THE NEW YORK TIMES, November 5, 2001

Safire, William, "The Ultimate Enemy," THE NEW YORK TIMES, September 24, 2001

Safire, William, "To Fight Freedom's Fight," THE NEW YORK TIMES, January 31, 2002

Safire, William, "The Inspection Ploy," THE NEW YORK TIMES, March 4, 2002

Safire, William, "Protecting Saddam," THE NEW YORK TIMES, March 18, 2002

Safire, William, "Saddam's Offensive," THE NEW YORK TIMES, April 8, 2002

Safire, William, "Tenet's Palestine," THE NEW YORK TIMES, April 15, 2002

Safire, William, "What Else is Missing?" THE NEW YORK TIMES, June 6, 2002

Safire, William, "Of Turks and Kurds," THE NEW YORK TIMES, August 26, 2002

Safire, William, "Relying on Saddam," THE NEW YORK TIMES, September 16, 2002

Safire, William, "Saddam's Last Ploy," THE NEW YORK TIMES, October 7, 2002

Safire, William, "In Material Breach," THE NEW YORK TIMES, October 28, 2002

Safire, William, "On Playing Hunches," THE NEW YORK TIMES, October 31, 2002

Safire, William, "Clear Ties of Terror," THE NEW YORK TIMES, January 27, 2003

Safire, William, "Irrefutable and Undeniable," THE NEW YORK TIMES, February 6, 2003

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Kennedy, Helen, "Defector: I Bought Iraq Nukes," NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, April 3, 2002

THE NEW YORKER

Goldberg, Jeffrey, "The Great Terror; In Northern Iraq, there is New Evidence of Saddam Hussein's Genocidal War on the Kurd-and of his Possible Ties to al Qaeda," THE NEW YORKER, March 25, 2002

PBS

NEWSHOUR with Judith Miller, February 27, 2003

PBS FRONTLINE: "Gunning for Saddam", November 8, 2001

FRONTLINE: "Newswar" Who got it wrong, who got it right, and how FRONTLINE fared

ROLLING STONE

Bamford, James,"The Man Who Sold the War," ROLLING STONE, November 17, 2005

TIME

Kristol, William, "There Is a Way Forward in Iraq," TIME, January 15, 2007

Sullivan, Andrew, "What I Got Wrong About the War," TIME, March 05, 2006

USA TODAY

Eisler, Peter, "Targeting Saddam: Was there an Iraqi 9/11 Link?" USA TODAY, December 3, 2001

VANITY FAIR

Many of David Rose's VANITY FAIR articles are not accessible online - however you can read Rose's recent article on prominent Neoconservatives look back at the Iraq war - "Neo Culpa"

Rose, David, "Inside Saddam's Terror Regime," VANITY FAIR, February, 2002

Rose, David, "Iraq's Arsenal of Terror," VANITY FAIR, May 2002

Rose, David, "An Inconvenient Iraq," VANITY FAIR, January 2003

Rose, David, "Baghdad's Cruel Princes," VANITY FAIR, May 2003

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Woolsey, James R. "The Iraq Connection: Attack Saddam? It May be one of the Most Momentous Choices of the 21st Century," THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, October 18 2001

WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIALS

Editorial, "War Aims," THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, September 20, 2001

Editorial, "Rallying the Country," THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, September 21, 2001.

Editorial, "The Anthrax War," THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, October 18, 2001

Editorial, "Our Man In Iraq," THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, November 5, 2001

Editorial, "The Saddam We Know," THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, December 21, 2001

Editorial, "Powell's Smoking Gun," THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, February 6, 2003

THE WASHINGTON POST

Like THE NEW YORK TIMES, the POST published a post-mortem on its Iraq intelligence coverage in 2004. In this case, the analysis focused on the tendency of skeptical articles to appear on the interior pages of the paper rather than as front page headline stories. Howard Kurtz's "The Post on WMDS: An Inside Story" made page 1 of the August 12, 2004 edition. The POST also published an editorial reflecting on four years of war on March 18, 2007.

Kurtz, Howard, "The Post on WMDs: An Inside Story: Prewar Articles Questioning Threat Often Didn't Make Front Page," Thursday, August 12, 2004

Allen, Mike, "War Cabinet Argues for Iraq Attack; Bush Advisors Cite U.S. Danger," THE WASHINGTON POST, September 9, 2002

Allen, Mike, "Bush Tells Troops: Prepare for War; 'We Are Ready,' President Says," THE WASHINGTON POST, January 4, 2003

Cohen, Richard, "A Winning Hand for Powell," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 6, 2003

Cranberg, Gilbert, "Bring Back the Skeptical Press," THE WASHINGTON POST, June 29, 2003

DeYoung, Karen, "Bush Lays Down A Marker for 3 'Evil' States," THE WASHINGTON POST, January 30, 2002

DeYoung, Karen, "Bush Tells United Nations It Must Stand Up to Hussein, or U.S. Will," THE WASHINGTON POST, September 13, 2002

DeYoung, Karen, "Bush Cites Urgent Iraqi Threat; Seeking Support for Resolution, President Urges U.S. to Act with 'One Voice'," THE WASHINGTON POST, October 8, 2002

DeYoung, Karen, "'The Game is Over,' Bush Warns Iraq," WASHINGTON POST, Feb 7, 2003

Hanley, Charles J. "No Violations at Iraqi Sites of Concern," AP, January 18, 2003

Reel, Monte, and Manny Fernandez, "Antiwar Protest Largest Since '60s," WASHINGTON POST, October 27, 2002, Metro Section

Hoagland, James, "The Horror From the Unknown," THE WASHINGTON POST, September 11, 2001

Hoagland, James, "Questions About Colossus," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 7, 2002

Hoagland, Jim, "An Old Trooper's Smoking Gun," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 6, 2003

Kurtz, Howard, "CNN Chief Orders 'Balance' in War News; Reporters Are Told to Remind Viewers Why U.S. Is Bombing," THE WASHINGTON POST, October 31, 2001

McGrory, Mary, "I'm Persuaded," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 6, 2003

Milbank, Dana, "Cheney Says Iraqi Strike Is Justified; Hussein Poses Threat, He Declares," THE WASHINGTON POST, August 27, 2002

Milbank, Dana, "Upbeat Tone Ended With War: Officials' Forecasts Are Questioned," THE WASHINGTON POST, March 29, 2003

Gellman, Barton and Walter Pincus "Depiction of Threat Outgrew Supporting Evidence" THE WASHINGTON POST, August 10, 2003

Pincus, Walter, "No Link Between Hijacker, Iraq Found, U.S. Says", THE WASHINGTON POST, May 1, 2002

Pincus, Walter and Glen Kessler "Defense Dept. to Take Over Funding of Iraqi Opposition Group," THE WASHINGTON POST, August 2, 2002

Pincus, Walter "For Iraq Inspectors, 'Yellow Cake' and Other Quarries," THE WASHINGTON POST, November 10, 2002

Pincus, Walter and Richard Leiby "Alleged Al Qaeda Ties Questioned", Walter Pincus, THE WASHINGTON POST, February 7, 2003

"Ex-Envoy: Nuclear Report Ignored: Iraqi Purchases Were Doubted by CIA," July 6, 2003

Pincus, Walter and Barton Gellman, "Depiction of Threat Outgrew Supporting Evidence" Washington Post by Barton Gellman and Walter Pincus, August 10, 2003

Pincus, Walter, "Report Cast Doubt on Iraq-Al Qaeda Connection," Walter Pincus, June 22, 2003

Pincus, Walter "Dual studies undermine Washington's basis for war," Walter Pincus, December 1, 2003

VandeHei, Jim, "Daschle's Ire Over GOP Tactics May Toughen Posture on Iraq," THE WASHINGTON POST, September 28, 2002

Warrick, Joby, "Evidence on Iraq Challenged; Experts Question if Tubes Were Meant for Weapons Program," THE WASHINGTON POST, September 19, 2002

Will, George, "Disregarding the Deniers," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 6, 2003

WASHINGTON POST EDITORIALS

Editorial. "The Case for Action," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 5, 2003

Editorial. "Irrefutable," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 6, 2003

Editorial. "Colin Powell's Compelling Case," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 6, 2003

Editorial: "After Powell's Speech," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 7, 2003

Editorial. "More to Do," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 9, 2003

Editorial. "Standing With Saddam," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 11, 2003

Editorial. "The Perils of Passivity," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 13, 2003

Editorial. "No Easy Way," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 14, 2003

Editorial. "Sound and Fury," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 15, 2003

Editorial. "Debating Points," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 16, 2003

Editorial. "Democracy's Choices," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 23, 2003

Editorial. "The Second Resolution," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 26, 2003

Editorial. "Drumbeat on Iraq? A Response to Readers," THE WASHINGTON POST, February 27, 2003

THE WEEKLY STANDARD

"An Open Letter to the President," THE WEEKLY STANDARD, October 1, 2001

Barnes, Fred, "Mohamed Atta Was Here . . . And met with Saddam Hussein's man in Prague," THE WEEKLY STANDARD, August 12, 2002

Kristol, William, "The Right War," THE WEEKLY STANDARD, October 1, 2001.

Kristol, William, "The Gathering Storm," THE WEEKLY STANDARD, October 29, 2001.

Kristol, William, "What to Do About Iraq: For the war on terrorism to succeeds, Saddam Hussein must be removed," THE WEEKLY STANDARD, January 21, 2002.

Kristol, William, "Going Wobbly?" THE WEEKLY STANDARD, June 3, 2002.

Kristol, William, "The Imminent War: Finally, Saddam Hussein will be Forced off the World's Stage," THE WEEKLY STANDARD, March 17, 2003.

GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

The White House: Renewal In Iraq

President Bush's March 6, 2003 statement

Ari Fleischer's March 7, 2003 press briefing

President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat, Cincinnati, Ohio October 7th, 2002

ADDITIONAL U.S. GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

The Iraq Study Group
United States Institute of Peace was the facilitating organization for the Iraq Study Group (ISG), co-chaired by James A. Baker, III, and Lee H. Hamilton. You can download the ISG’s official report, titled "The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward - A New Approach," published on December 6, 2006.

9-11 Commission Report
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, an independent, bipartisan commission created by congressional legislation and the signature of President George W. Bush in late 2002. You can read the full report on the Web site.

The Iraq Liberation Act of 1998
President Clinton's statement upon signing, and complete text of the Act.

Issues Affecting Funding of Iraqi National Congress Support Foundation
Report from the Government Accountability Office, 2004.

United States Department of State and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (OIG): Review of Awards to Iraqi National Congress Support Foundation (PDF)

Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, published 9 July 2004 (PDF) or ZIP file http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/creports/iraq.html

Timeline of UN-Iraq-Coalition Incidents, 1991-2002
The timeline is provided by the State Department and encompasses the years 1991 - 2002.

Authorization For Use Of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution Of 2002
White House statement on the resolution and full text of the legislation: Joint Resolution (H.J. Res. 114)

UNITED NATIONS DOCUMENTS

UN Res. 1441
"Recognizing the threat Iraq’s non-compliance with Council resolutions and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles poses to international peace and security." Adopted as Resolution 1441 at Security Council meeting 4644, 8 November 2002.

UNSCOM REPORTS
The site holds a compilation of selected United Nations documents on issues related to the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM). The focus is on recent documents as well as some of the earlier basic texts that lay down UNSCOM's basic rights and Iraq's obligations.

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE
Information about National Intelligence Estimates from The Council on Foreign Relations. Links to declassified portions of NIEs.

UNMOVIC: Basic facts
The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) was created through the adoption of Security Council resolution 1284 of 17 December 1999. UNMOVIC replaced the former UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) and continues with the mandate to verify Iraq's compliance with its obligation to be rid of its weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological weapons and missiles with a range of more than 150 km), and to operate a system of ongoing monitoring and verification to ascertain that Iraq does not reacquire the same weapons prohibited to it by the Security Council.

Colin Powell's UN Speech
Text and streaming video of the Secretary of State's February 5, 2003 address to the United Nations.

ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS

PROJECT FOR THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY

Open letter to President Clinton, Jan. 26, 1998

"An Open Letter to the President," THE WEEKLY STANDARD, October 1, 2001.

ADDITIONAL POST-MARCH 2003 NEWS ANALYSIS

See also McClatchy (formerly Knight Ridder) ongoing reports on Iraq Intelligence.

BBC

BBC News coverage of Kelly inquiry

BBC War Coverage

THE WASHINGTON POST

"Report Cast Doubt on Iraq-Al Qaeda Connection," Walter Pincus, THE WASHINGTON POST, June 22, 2003

"Dual studies undermine Washington's basis for war," THE WASHINGTON POST, Walter Pincus, December 1, 2003 "A Flawed Argument In the Case for War," THE WASHINGTON POST, Glenn Kessler and Walter Pincus, February 1, 2004

"U.S. 'Almost All Wrong' on Weapons; Report on Iraq Contradicts Bush Admini-stration Claims", THE WASHINGTON POST, Dana Priest and Walter Pin-=cus, October 7, 2004

"Data on Iraqi Arms Flawed, Panel Says" Walter Pincus and Peter Baker; THE WASHINGTON POST; Apr 1, 2005 "CIA Learned in '02 That Bin Laden Had No Iraq Ties, Report Says", THE WASHINGTON POST, Walter Pincus, September 15, 2006

WASHINGTON POST Intelligence reporting

National security/intelligence editorials

MSNBC

"Dubious Link Between Atta and Saddam," Michael Isikoff And Mark Hosenball, Dec. 19, 2003

SLATE.com

"The Times Scoops That Melted…Cataloging The Wretched Reporting Of Judith Miller," Jack Shafer, Slate.com, July 25, 2003

COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW

"How Chalabi Played the Press," COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW, Douglas McCollam, July/August 2004.


OPINION POLLS

Misperceptions about a link between al Quaeda and Saddam Hussein and the extent of WMDs in Iraq continue to surface in public opinion polls. Track them yourself with the links below.

Iraq, 9/11, Al Qaeda and Weapons of Mass Destruction: What the Public Believes Now, According to Latest Harris Poll, The Harris Poll® #79, October 21, 2004
"More surprising perhaps are the large numbers (albeit not majorities) who believe claims which the president has not made, and which virtually no experts believe to be true:

• 41 percent believe that Saddam Hussein helped plan and support the hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001.
• 38 percent believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded.
• 37 percent actually believe that several of the hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11 were Iraqis."

"Many Americans Still Believe Hussein Had Links to al Qaeda,"THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE, December 29, 2005

Belief that Iraq Had Weapons of Mass Destruction Has Increased Substantially, The Harris Poll® #57, July 21, 2006
"Despite being widely reported in the media that the U.S. and other countries have not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, surprisingly; more U.S. adults (50%) think that Iraq had such weapons when the U.S. invaded Iraq."

"Half of Americans Link Hussein and al-Qaeda," Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research, January 7, 2007
"Many adults in the United States believe Saddam Hussein collaborated with a terrorist network, according to a poll by Knowledge Networks for the Program on International Policy Attitudes. 32 per cent of respondents think Iraq gave substantial support to al-Qaeda, and 18 per cent think the Iraqi government was directly involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks."

Published on April 25, 2007