The cabal

Juan Cole examines the tangled web between the New York Times, Rupert Murdoch, a post 9/11 America and patriotism in the run-up to Iraq war:

“The NYT had no sources to speak of inside the Bush administration, a real drawback in covering Washington, because it was a left of centre newspaper in a political environment dominated by the Right. Miller had sources among the Neoconservatives, with whom she shared some key concerns (biological weapons, the threat of Muslim radicalism, etc.) So she could get the Washington “scoops.” And her perspective skewed Right in ways that could protect the NYT from charges that it was consistently biased against Bush. Of course, in retrospect, Bush’s world was a dangerous fantasy, and giving it space on the front page of the NYT just sullied the Grey Lady with malicious prevarications.”

And the price for such cosiness? Over 2000 American dead and tens of thousands of Iraqis murdered (Iraqi Body Count claims over 30,000 but the figure is likely to be much higher.)

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