TW: Obama will be Helen Thomas' 10th POTUS to cover. As her days dwindle, she has taken to expressing openly her thoughts on various topics. She is no fan of W. Bush (but then who is) or how she and her colleagues covered the lead-up to the Iraq War. As we enter a new era, hopefully some lessons have been learned and will be applied to the next similar crisis.
From a Hotline interview with Thomas:
"NJ: What were key challenges you had reporting about the run-up to the [Iraq] war?
Thomas: I think it behooves every reporter to find out what's going on; what is the motivation; why do we go to war. Every day we were propagandized about the threat. Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of State, said the smoking gun will turn into the mushroom cloud if we don't go in. On every Sunday talk show she was warning about that, and it was not true. And I have not heard any apologies from her yet. Too many people are dead -- too many people have paid the price for things they didn't do.
NJ: When Watchdogs of Democracy? came out, what was the reaction from your colleagues?
Thomas: Silence. I asked, why did we go to war. I asked, why do we torture people. Even a serial killer gets a fair trail. We have hundreds of prisoners in Guantanamo who've never been charged, never been tried, never been convicted, are unable to contact their families. They live in total limbo. Many have suicided. That's not America. That's not how Americans see themselves. Torture? Sending dogs in? Waterboarding, which is near-drowning? It's just incredible that we would have that kind of an albatross around us. And we will, forever, because of Bush's policies.
NJ: How do you think George W. Bush will be remembered?
Thomas: I don't think he'll have the halo that he thinks he's going to have of vindication. I don't think America ever wants to be saddled with starting a war against a country that did nothing to us; bombing innocent people for totally no reason that he can explain. And to this day he has not explained why we attacked Iraq, because every reason he gave us has proved to be not true: no weapons of mass destruction; no ties to al Qaeda; no threat from a Third World country against America, the superpower. Where are the American people? Why don't they call his hand on that?"
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/11/on_helens_mind.html
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