Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Alex G]

Robert Parry finds something positive from the Bush years (in a roundabout way)


http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/040108.html

There have been plenty of negatives from George W. Bush’s presidency – a disastrous war, a damaged economy, exploding government debt and assaults on the U.S. Constitution – but, as my mom used to say, it’s always important to look for the positives.

And here is one: At no time in my three decades in Washington have I seen more common purpose between honest American journalists and patriotic U.S. intelligence analysts. By trampling on a principle that both groups hold dear – respect for the truth – Bush has pushed these historic adversaries together.

Traditionally, the two groups have viewed each other with suspicion, if not hostility. The best reporters see their job as getting the facts and sharing them with the greatest number of people, while intelligence officers view their task as getting the facts and funneling them to a few select individuals only.

But the Bush administration has changed this dynamic by following the neoconservative “perception management” strategy: you start with a certainty about what should happen – say, invade Iraq. You then cherry-pick the “evidence” and mold it into a scary case to stampede the public.

Some careerists at the CIA – and many careerists in Washington journalism – played along with this neocon game during the run-up to the Iraq War. But other intelligence professionals and journalists rebelled, recognizing that this neocon approach was anathema to both an informed government policy and an informed public.

We began to see intelligence veterans – like Ray McGovern, Mel Goodman and Larry Johnson – take the lead in objecting to the Bush administration’s disdain for reality. Meanwhile, honest journalists looked for new ways, outside the control of corporate and right-wing news outlets, to warn the people of the dangers ahead.