Dick Cheney is back to his old tricks:
NYT, September 8, 2002, by Michael Gordon and Judy Miller:
“More than a decade after Saddam Hussein agreed to give up weapons of mass destruction, Iraq has stepped up its quest for nuclear weapons and has embarked on a worldwide hunt for materials to make an atomic bomb, Bush administration officials said today. . . . In the last 14 months, Iraq has sought to buy thousands of specially designed aluminum tubes, which American officials believe were intended as components of centrifuges to enrich uranium.”
Dick Cheney, the same morning, on Meet the Press:
“VICE PRES. CHENEY: Specifically aluminum tubes. There’s a story in The New York Times this morning — this is — I don’t — and I want to attribute The Times. I don’t want to talk about, obviously, specific intelligence sources, but it’s now public that, in fact, he has been seeking to acquire, and we have been able to intercept and prevent him from acquiring through this particular channel, the kinds of tubes that are necessary to build a centrifuge.”
NYT, two days ago, by Ken Pollack and Michael O’Hanlon:
“A War We Just Might Win. . . . VIEWED from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel . . . .”
Dick Cheney, yesterday, on CNN with Larry King:
“THE VICE PRESIDENT: I believe so. I think we’re seeing already — from others; don’t take it from me, look at the piece that appeared yesterday in The New York Times — not exactly a friendly publication — but a piece by Mr. O’Hanlon and Mr. Pollack on the situation in Iraq. They’re just back from visiting over there. They both have been strong critics of the war, both worked in the prior administration; but now saying that they think there’s a possibility, indeed, that we could be successful.”
From the administration’s mouth to the pens of obedient journalists and pundits and back into the administration’s mouth.