Draw circle on table. Bang head. Repeat.

September 22, 2004 3:58 PM

Newsweek reports that Irony is alive and well.Newsweek reveals that CBS and 60 Minutes, in order to make room for their now-infamous report on alleged documents from George Bush's National Guard Service, dropped their originally planned piece for that evening's show... about the Bush administration being misled on erroneous documents pertaining to the alleged Iraqi purchases of uranium from Niger.
posted by XQUZYPHYR (18 comments total)

Special correspondent Homer Simpson was quoted as saying, "D'oh!"
posted by ilsa at 4:18 PM on September 22, 2004

Josh Marshall, quoted in the article, has a bit more today on the Niger documents, but the more interesting question might be about CBS: considering that many on the right believe they hold a card that allows them to dismiss anything CBS now claims of any level of importance, is CBS capable of even reporting this story they allegedly had ready to air within hours of broadcast? Is anyone?
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 4:18 PM on September 22, 2004

"There's gotta be some accountability. [he] is the head, the commander in chief, if you will, of his organization. He's someone in the ultimate position of power who made a harmful decision based upon questionable evidence. Then, to make things worse, he stubbornly refused to admit his mistake, choosing instead to stay the course, and essentially occupy this story for too long. This man has got to go."

from last night's Daily Show...about CBS.
posted by destro at 4:54 PM on September 22, 2004

That would also explain why Josh Marshall has been so cranky about the Guard memo thingy lately. "THEY BUMPED MY STORY!"
posted by solistrato at 4:54 PM on September 22, 2004

Karl Rove conspiracy theory in 5... 4...
posted by Krrrlson at 5:45 PM on September 22, 2004

Well it would be interesting to see who's really behind the forged memos. However that just isn't going to happen. Rove's too smart to let himself get fingered.

On second that last bit sounds rather naughty.
posted by clevershark at 6:19 PM on September 22, 2004

No, French conspiracy theory. The French are believed to have created the false documents in the first place, delivered through this Italian double-agent, to embarrass the Bush administration and protect their ally Saddam.

So it kind of backfired, didn't it? While the documents *were* discredited, they still gave ammunition to those who wanted to attack Iraq, then were quickly dismissed after their credibility loss, without seriously impacting on the Bush administration or the war effort.

And why did the French do this? Money and oil. Or really, bribes and oil. Along with the abjectly corrupt "Oil for Food" program, benefiting the scum of the earth, Chirac and his cronies personally benefited from oil shares themselves, *and* they arranged sweetheart deals with Saddam to get extended cheap oil contracts for their country--and SCREW everybody else.

Such nice people.
posted by kablam at 6:21 PM on September 22, 2004

Along with the abjectly corrupt "Oil for Food" program, benefiting the scum of the earth

Take it back! I refuse to believe that Halliburton benefited from that program!
posted by clevershark at 6:24 PM on September 22, 2004

You're right, kablam. Thank God we live in a country where our president never screwed over innocent people to secure oil wealth.
posted by solistrato at 6:26 PM on September 22, 2004

Some CBS reporters, as well as one of the network’s key sources, fear that the Niger uranium story may never run, at least not any time soon, on the grounds that the network can now not credibly air a report questioning how the Bush administration could have gotten taken in by phony documents.

ha ha ha ha ha! so CBS is useless now? let's revoke their FCC license!
posted by mrgrimm at 6:45 PM on September 22, 2004

Fuck kablam. You might want to double up on your doses of antipsychotics. Or did the damned French steal them from you?
posted by substrate at 6:57 PM on September 22, 2004

destro -- That Daily Show quote was funny as hell! Where have all the journalists' balls gone these days?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:37 PM on September 22, 2004

Oh, substrate, it isn't as far-fetched as all that: Italy and France are blaming each other for having produced the documents, although the motivation isn't necessarily the warbloggers' favorite -- UN Oil For Food corruption -- but protecting the Niger uranium industry.
posted by dhartung at 9:50 PM on September 22, 2004

ok, well, now i'm terribly depressed that a news network would try to save face by NOT broadcasting an important story...no wonder we now count on the daily show and the internet for news.
posted by NGnerd at 10:13 PM on September 22, 2004

> considering that many on the right believe they hold a card that allows
> them to dismiss anything CBS now claims of any level of importance,

Wouldn't dismiss any story just because CBS reported it, any more that I'd dismiss the same story just because Ronald Macdonald reported it. It's just that no news story acquires any extra degree of seriousness or believability due to being reported by either Dan or Ron. If I hear from either that Earth is being invaded by aliens I will surely nod and go "Interesting! If true!" But I will not now bother to run outside and look up in the sky for saucers--at least not until I personally hear some explosions.
posted by jfuller at 4:21 AM on September 23, 2004

Saw that too destro, and could not stop laughing. Comedy gold.
posted by dig_duggler at 5:49 AM on September 23, 2004

According to Josh Marshall, the agent responsible for the documents was Rocco Martino who was on the payroll of Italian Intelligence (SISMI) and not on the payroll of the French. In another article he talks more about how the Plame investigation and the Niger Uranium intersect. Why France being the forger doesn't make sense, is pretty simple. If they knew the documents were fake (and planted them) why didn't Chiarc come out at the UN and on TV stating that the US has fallen for faulty documents in their quest for war. (insert Simpson's Ha Ha here). If they did forge them, why wouldn't they come out and embarrass the Americans? Why would they really wait this long to act? It makes more sense, however, that these documents came from Iran via Chalabi or any number of different anti-Saddam organizations we were funding at the time.
posted by plemeljr at 7:08 AM on September 23, 2004

wow, that was weird. i thought kablam was suggesting that the french/italians had forged the Bush service memos, not the Niger uranium ones.
posted by knapah at 1:29 PM on September 23, 2004