Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh has a long history of reporting unseemly things the US government has done, and an equally long history of
them denying it.
Today continued the 40+ year trend, with Hersh’s weekend article detailing the president’s deliberate deceptions about Syria’s chemical weapons, a failed attempt to lie America into war. Not to be outdone, the White House was quick to say that it was “simply false.”
Officials made no attempt to actually refute any of the specifics in Hersh’s article, which offers not only strong evidence that the administration should have known better than to stick to the chemical attack narrative, but also cites a number of intelligence and military officials who argue that they did know better and just pretended to be convinced because there was a war to sell.
Addressing none of this, Director of National Intelligence spokesman Shawn Turner insisted that the administration continues to stand behind its allegations against the Assad government, and believes there is “no other” possibility. despite Hersh clearly laying out one early in the article.
The White House is begging the question. In an authentic democratic republic, the press and the people would make them choke on it. This will serve as a measurement of how far down the road to authoritarianism we already are. The Unitary Executive has spoken. Will that be the end of it?
'non-existent alternative explanation' WH rhetoric has been ridiculous … 'no doubt..' 'I'm not aware of any doubt.' WTF. In the real world, there's generally a 'hedge'… One way the 'hedge' can go away is if, in some way, you 'knew' the culprit beforehand…
"…Hersh’s article…cites a number of intelligence and military officials…"
I'm not sure you can "cite" someone without disclosing their names, positions, etc. — I'm sure he's right on the narrative, but it is a fact that Hersh cites no one.
This is what happens when the USG's alternative reality hits reality.
Hersh has still made his point. He's not the one who has a history of being caught in numerous lies.
So, Mr. Hersh has a long track record of accurate reporting. And the White House would lie to you about the sun coming up in the east in the morning. Given the history of each, who would you believe.
The world has not changed so much One president said a person that did not read the newspaper was generally better informed than the people that did get to read the newspapers . Will Rogers said we are not hurt so much by what we do not know . But the damage is more by what we know that isn't so …Think of Yugoslavia , Iraq , Egypt ,Libya and Afghanistan . I would say we supported the wrong side more often than not . Both Clinton and Bush could be tried as war criminals .Obama seems to be following the same plan we have no idea what is fact and what is fiction . We need to get out from under the federal government .