How Do You Govern With Your Pants On Fire?

Here's a nice little story from CNN today that only comes a few years and thousands of lives too late. Apparently Preznit Cheney's Hand Up My Ass and Vice Preznit I'm The Ass-Hander -- not to mention a number of their minions -- told lies about the presence of weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaeda in Iraq in the lead up to war in that now god-forsaken country. Oh. My. God. Are you shocked? I'm shocked.

Because I've only been saying THE SAME GODDAMN THING ever since it started, along with FUCKING MILLIONS OF OTHER PEOPLE.

According to the nice little CNN story today, a report issued Tuesday made the claim that there were 935 verified lies about the situation uttered by Bush, Cheney, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Condi Rice, Ari Fleischer and others. Gee, is that all? I could have sworn there were more...

"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al Qaeda," the report reads, citing multiple government reports, including those by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the 9/11 Commission and the multinational Iraq Survey Group, which reported that Hussein had suspended Iraq's nuclear program in 1991 and made little effort to revive it.

The overview of the study also calls the media to task, saying most media outlets didn't do enough to investigate the claims.

"Some journalists -- indeed, even some entire news organizations -- have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical," the report reads. "These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq."

The quotes in the study include an August 26, 2002, statement by Cheney to the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction," Cheney said. "There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us."

"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al Qaeda..." Jesus Fucking Christ, and no shit, Sherlock. Thanks for the bold pronouncement, too bad nobody could have bothered to say something in time to save a few hundred thousand fucking lives. Bastards. Fucking bloodthirsty, evil, treasonous bastards, all of them.