POLITICS: On-line Database Catalogs Bush Administration "Iraq Lies"

The Special Investigations Division, led by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, has organize a 36 page report and 237 statement database of what they claim was misleading information from the Bush administration about the threat Iraq posed. The statements are those of the top 5 administration officials whom they felt were most responsible for the opinions of the Bush administration. The on-line database can be queried by speaker, subject, keywords, and date.

Committee On Government Reform
The Iraq on the Record report, prepared at the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, is a comprehensive examination of the statements made by the five Administration officials most responsible for providing public information and shaping public opinion on Iraq: President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

This Iraq on the Record database identifies 237 specific misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq made by these five officials in 125 public appearances in the time leading up to and after the commencement of hostilities in Iraq.The database does not include statements that appear in hindsight to be erroneous but were accurate reflections of the views of intelligence officials at the time they were made.

The release of this database coincides with the anniversary of the War in Iraq. The Bush administration convinced the public and Congress that the war was necessary based on Iraqi weapon capability. Now it is beginning to look like those weapons will never be found. This has caused outcry from the American public, and some world leaders who have said that the war was "a mistake".

The statements in the database each list the speaker, source, and then give a explanation as to why the statement was incorrect. The report and database both exclude any correct information given by the Bush administration, so don't expect to find that in your search. It is interesting that it was a Republican member of Congress that organized this inquiry, and not a Democrat. In fairness, it excludes the incorrect statements that they believed to be the fault of intelligence gathering. Expect to see this information brought out and used extensively in the coming months by the Kerry campaign.

View The Report
OR
Search The Database

This is a great site! Very informative and easy to search. Everyone who thinks that Americans were not mislead needs to visit this site. It is hosted by Rep. Waxman, who is the Ranking Minority Member of the Committee on Government Reform and a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, so it cannot be accused of being just another conspiracy theory, out to spread lies.

Originally posted by jezebel
This is a great site! Very informative and easy to search.

It's not just informative, its pretty funny too. I've laughed and laughed about the things they (Bush administration ) said.

What's particularly nice is that it's such solid research.

The report format is a classic type of data analysis (ethnographic research) commonly done in anthropology -- something I've become very familiar with over the past 8 months. Classically, government documents tend to be full of obscure terms and (occasionally) unverifiable data. But this is pure and lovely ethnographic research.

(uh... I'll just go sit in my science corner now and quit gushing over the methodology. But it's nice. Really it is.)