by Peter Hart February 6, 2013 Ten years ago yesterday, Colin
Powell made the Bush administration's case for going to war
against Iraq. Much of what he said about Iraq's threats to the
United States was false. But the media coverage gave the
opposite impression, and most of the pundits and journalists who
promoted the justifications for the war paid no price for their
failures. As FAIR reported at the time, even before the Powell
address there were reasons to be skeptical of the
administration's claims. On February 4, 2003, FAIR published
"Iraq's Hidden Weapons: From Allegation to Fact," which made the
point that "it has not been demonstrated that Iraq continues to
hold unconventional weapons." FAIR criticized coverage like that
of the New York Times (2/2/03), which asserted that "nobody
seriously expected Mr. Hussein to lead inspectors to his stash
of illegal poisons or rockets, or to let his scientists tell
all." As the FAIR release concluded: The media convey to the
public the impression that the alleged b