Earth to Reporters
Why isn't every major news organization bombarding McCain with questions about this?
I realize that late 2001 was a time period that most journalists would rather forget, but come on; this is potentially a very big deal. Within days of the first anthrax attacks, McCain goes on television and claims that Iraq may be responsible for the attacks and states that Iraq will be the "second phase" of our response to 9/11.
This screams out for follow up questions. What information, if any, did McCain have at the time linking the anthrax attacks to Iraq? Who gave him this information? What did he mean when he said Iraq would be the "second phase" or our response? Did he believe Iraq was somehow responsible for 9/11? Had he already decided that an invasion of Iraq was necessary? Had the Bush administration?
The answers to these questions would not only shed light on McCain's judgment on important issues, but could potentially be relevant to the criminal investigation into the anthrax attacks. As Glenn Greenwald has tirelessly pointed out, there were government officials who were feeding false information to journalists at around this time linking the anthrax attacks to Iraq. And in light of the direction the investigation has taken since then, it's at least possible that one or more of these officials were involved in the attacks themselves. Were these same officials feeding lies to McCain and his staff? Or the White House? How exactly did McCain come to believe that Iraq was responsible?
These are important questions, and I find it utterly incomprehensible that McCain isn't being asked them by every reporter. Are tire gauges and Paris Hilton really more pressing issues?
I realize that late 2001 was a time period that most journalists would rather forget, but come on; this is potentially a very big deal. Within days of the first anthrax attacks, McCain goes on television and claims that Iraq may be responsible for the attacks and states that Iraq will be the "second phase" of our response to 9/11.
This screams out for follow up questions. What information, if any, did McCain have at the time linking the anthrax attacks to Iraq? Who gave him this information? What did he mean when he said Iraq would be the "second phase" or our response? Did he believe Iraq was somehow responsible for 9/11? Had he already decided that an invasion of Iraq was necessary? Had the Bush administration?
The answers to these questions would not only shed light on McCain's judgment on important issues, but could potentially be relevant to the criminal investigation into the anthrax attacks. As Glenn Greenwald has tirelessly pointed out, there were government officials who were feeding false information to journalists at around this time linking the anthrax attacks to Iraq. And in light of the direction the investigation has taken since then, it's at least possible that one or more of these officials were involved in the attacks themselves. Were these same officials feeding lies to McCain and his staff? Or the White House? How exactly did McCain come to believe that Iraq was responsible?
These are important questions, and I find it utterly incomprehensible that McCain isn't being asked them by every reporter. Are tire gauges and Paris Hilton really more pressing issues?
posted by A.L. at 8:11 AM
2 Comments:
I can find out probably, but you may know, was this before or after the ABC News items about bentonite (kitty litter) in the anthrax?
Before, I believe.
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