Fox News contributor Judith Miller, whose reporting on Iraq’s weapons of mass turned out to be stunningly wrong, said Friday that the media has been too hard on other individuals whose pre-war pronouncements also turned out to be stunningly wrong.
During an appearance on Fox, Miller complained that the media “loves to beat up on who was responsible for the Iraq War and who is to blame for the current controversy, the current crisis.”
That, she added, “is not helpful.”
“What the media should be doing is encouraging everyone who has a view of what to do now in Iraq to come forward and discuss it rationally,” Miller said. “But they’re doing the opposite. They’re trying to shut down people like Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney, all of the ‘neoconservatives’ who brought us this war. It’s not helpful.”
In its mea culpa after the fact, the New York Times said much of Miller’s reporting for the newspaper on Iraq’s weapons in 2001, 2002 and 2003 was based on erroneous information from Ahmad Chalabi, the discredited Iraqi politician deployed by the Bush administration to bolster its case for war. The Times ultimately acknowledged in 2004 that Miller’s reporting was “was not as rigorous as it should have been.”
“Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged — or failed to emerge,” the newspaper said.
Watch video of Miller’s appearance on Fox, via Media Matters:
“I’m still in bed with these people, and the criticism is not helpful.”
Man…these people are amazing. Not even an attempt at an apology or admitting that they were even a little bit off base (nevermind entirely wrong). And they want jump right back and get a seat at the table.
This woman should be so thoroughly scorned that she should be afraid to show her face in public. But here she is, perkily yelling “Mulligan!” and cheerleading for another war.
I don’t think they realize just how strongly the polls are going to show that Americans want no part of the situation in Iraq. And no amount of cheerleading on Fox is going to nudge it.
Ya but a person who’s been consistently wrong should rationally need a little higher burden of proof to be believed again, right?
Judith Fucking Miller: You’ll never be able to wash the blood of the innocents from your hands.
OTOH, listening to the nefarious idiots who were 100% wrong on pretty much everything and whose lies led to the present debacle and a couple of hundred thousand deaths is a great idea!