Times Watch for August 8, 2003
Times Hacks Bob Novak Facts
Fridays story by Douglas
Jehl, Iraq Arms Critics Reacts to Report on Wife, is a sympathetic account of
the trials of Joseph Wilson, the instigator of the Bush-uranium-Niger
controversy. Jehl describes Wilson as a retired ambassador who was a
secret envoy of the Bush administration to Africa and who publicly voiced doubts
about a reported Iraqi weapons program who says he has become a target of a
campaign to discourage others like him from going public.
Wilson went public with
his allegations against Bush last month in a New York Times column. Jehl writes:
Days after the column, another chapter opened. Mr. Wilson's wife was identified
by name as a covert C.I.A. operative in a column by the conservative columnist
Robert Novak, a disclosure that Mr. Novak has attributed to senior
administration officials. Officials are barred by law from disclosing the
identities of Americans who work undercover for the C.I.A. That provision is
intended to protect the security of operatives whose lives might be jeopardized
if their identities are known.
Jehl
apparently didnt actually read the Novak column in question, because Novak
didnt reveal Wilsons wife as a covert CIA operative (although Jehl
apparently just did). From Novaks
July 14 column: Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie
Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior
administration officials told me his wife suggested sending Wilson to Niger to
investigate the Italian report. Nothing about covert there.
In the same column, Novak also revealed Wilsons hostility toward Bush: In
the Washington Post on July 6, he talked about the Bush team 'misrepresenting
the facts,' asking: 'What else are they lying about?
For the rest of Jehls
interview with Wilson,
click here:
George W. Bush |
CIA |
Gaffes |
Iraq War |
Douglas Jehl |
Niger |
Valerie Plame
| Uranium |
Joseph Wilson
I
Am Bush, Destroyer of Worlds
Stuck in permanent smarm mode, columnist Paul
Krugman writes in Fridays Salt of the Earth: Since we're stuck in
Iraq indefinitely, we may as well try to learn something. But I suspect that our
current leaders won't be receptive to the most important lesson of the land
where cities and writing were invented: that manmade environmental damage can
destroy a civilization. When archaeologists excavated the cities of ancient
Mesopotamia, they were amazed not just by what they found but by where they
found it: in the middle of an unpopulated desert.Leonard Woolley asked: Why,
if Ur was an empire's capital, if Sumer was once a vast granary, has the
population dwindled to nothing, the very soil lost its virtue?
The
answer? Mans ruination of the environment, a crime Krugman lays at the feet of
President Bush and the Republicans: And on other environmental issues-above
all, global warming-America's ruling party is pursuing a strategy of denial and
deception. His article concludes: So here's the question: will we avoid the
fate of past civilizations that destroyed their environments, and hence
themselves? And the answer is: not if Mr. Bush can help it.
The
funny thing is that Bush, when hes not out destroying civilization, is making
Krugmans beloved Mesopotamia more environmentally friendly. That well-known
environmentalist Saddam Hussein destroyed Iraq's southern marshes, which a State
Department
report calls one of the finest and most extensive natural wetlands
ecosystems in Europe and western Asia.According to two separate studies by the
United Nations Environmental Program and the AMAR Charitable Foundation, between
84% and 90% of the marshes have been destroyed. The report also notes Hussein
has set fire to Iraqi and Kuwaiti oil fields and dumped millions of barrels of
oil into the Persian Gulf. Thanks to Bush (and no thanks to Krugman), hes no
longer polluting Iraqs air or water-or killing its people, for that matter.
For the rest of Paul Krugmans
column,
click here:
George W. Bush |
Environment |
Global Warming |
Saddam Hussein |
Iraq War |
Paul Krugman
Gerald
Who?
Condoleezza
Rice spoke to the National Association of Black Journalists convention in
Dallas, and Jacques Steinberg delivered a straightforward account of the speech
Friday. Whats interesting is that Steinberg, a Times media reporter who
authored the papers front-page story on
Howell Raines resignation, covered Rices 10 a.m. convention talk but makes
no mention of the afternoons main speaker: Gerald Boyd, the former Times
managing editor who resigned June 5 along with executive editor Howell Raines.
(Predictably, the Times rival Washington Post finds the
story simply fascinating.)
Since
the Times didnt carry Boyds comments (which show Boyd still thinks race was
involved), Times Watch will: "I would be lying if I didn't say that I can't help
wonder why after all these years of struggling to establish our work and
credibility in the newsroom-to be seen as top-notch journalists-as soon as
controversy arises, an African-American reporter and an African-American senior
editor are automatically viewed as suspect.
Hmm,
maybe because Blair was making up stories under your newsroom management? Just
throwing that out there.
For the rest of Steinbergs
story on Rice (but not Boyd),
click here:
Jayson Blair |
Gerald Boyd |
National Association of Black Journalists |
Condoleezza Rice |
Jacques Steinberg
Schwarzenegger,
The Villain
Fridays piece on the California recall election by Charlie LeDuff, Actor Calls
for Overhaul Of State Economic Engine, throws out helpful hints on defeating
Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, the biggest name in the race to replace
California Gov. Gray Davis. (An aside to Times copy editors: We realize
Schwarzenegger is a tough word for a headline, but isnt actor just a bit
dismissive for a candidate with a real shot at winning the election?)
LeDuff helpfully brings up Democratic talking points: Not only will his
inexperience be an issue, but unflattering accusations are sure to surface, like
the tabloid accounts of groping and boorish behavior on movie sets that surfaced
when Mr. Schwarzenegger considered a run for governor two years ago. He said
after his television announcement last night that he was expecting as much. The
Times has certainly changed its tune on scandal-mongering since Bill Clinton
was in office.
For the rest of Charlie LeDuffs story on
Schwarzenegger,
click here:
California |
Gray Davis |
Charlie LeDuff |
Headlines |
Recall |
Scandals |
Arnold Schwarzenegger