What govt sources peddled fake Saddam-Anthrax links after 9/11 to ABC's Brian Ross? (Greenwald)

[StefanX]

The unresolved story of ABC News' false Saddam-anthrax reports, by Glenn Greenwald
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/04/09/abc_anthrax/index.html

...
Someone clearly invented false stories about the anthrax investigation and fed them to Brian Ross, knowing he would run all over ABC News programs heaping blame on Saddam for those attacks. In fact, Ross said that there were at least four highly-placed, separate sources who told him that.

How can ABC and Ross justify continuing to conceal the identity of these sources -- some of whom, presumably, were and still are in the Bush administration -- when those sources concocted lies with the intent to manipulate Ross and the American public into believing that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the anthrax attacks?

There is a widely accepted journalistic principle that reporters are not required to conceal the identity of anonymous sources who feed them false information with the intent to induce the journalist to disseminate the falsehoods. In fact, in such a situation, there is an obligation on the part of the reporter to reveal who the sources are who passed on those lies.

Multiple people, in key positions, made numerous false statements to Brian Ross suggesting that Saddam was responsible for the anthrax attacks and made false claims about the results of government tests on anthrax. They did so with the clear intent to mislead the whole country on the most critical issue we faced -- a fraud which resulted in damage that is impossible to quantify but unquestionably significant. How can ABC News and Brian Ross justify continuing to protect the people were who led them to perpetuate that fraud? Shouldn't we know who invented those false stories and fed them to ABC?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/04/09/abc_anthrax/index.html

[Supersedeas]

1. I remember CNN claiming that there might be a connection bt Iraq and the Anthrax attacks

[rosesaylavee]

2. Kick.

Would we be surprised if one of the "highly placed sources" turned out to be Rove? No.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. Just like the yellowcake

probably Rove's office (office of propaganda)

[glitch]

4. Glen Greenwald is always excellent. Salon was smart to grab him. Thanks k & r nt

[Nothing Without Hope]

5. I hope Waxman and Conyers are reading this - it needs to be pursued n/t

[tanyev]

6. Gosh, if four people all had the same false story ready to roll as soon as the attacks happened,

maybe at least one of them knows what the real story is.

[StefanX]

7. When is ABC going to print a correction?

The story has been proven false at best -- fraudulent at worst.

When is ABC going to get around to printing a retraction / correction?

And also, when is ABC going to name the source(s) who burned Ross?

(Sources are protected when they are honest. Sources who lie, or "burn" the reporter, are normally exposed, IF the media outlet they lied to has any sense of ethics.)

Why is ABC covering up, five years later, for the sources that burned them?

Should we continue to believe dubiously-sourced stories from ABC?

[mod mom]

8. or...were they trying to get rid of Brian Ross (a la Dan Rather) because they

wanted to rid the nation of another real journalist?

[blogslut]

9. Very interesting story

See, I always thought the anthrax used in the mail attacks was weapons grade. According to the article, apparently not.

I sure hope Patrick Leahy reads this article. For him, the anthrax attacks are very personal.

[file83]

10. K & Highly Recommended

[Morgana LaFey]

11. I'll tell you how Ross can justify that --

it's called: COWARDICE.

Fear of loss of access. Of course, one could aruge, "with access like that..." but that's apparently not how Ross and his overseers see it, is it?

:puke:

[formercia]

13. Beat me to it

When a Navy ship stopped at a foreign port for R&R, one of the crew unknowingly picked up a transvestite. When informed, he replied "At least I have a date."

true story.

[autorank]

12. Ross will reveal it in his time. K&R

He started FoleyGate on 9/28 and by 10/12, the Republicans were down for the count n House races everywhere. The retail election theft options (free lancing) was the only thing that saved them from a bigger loss. Ross has the goods, he'll figure out something.

I do agree, however, that it should have been released as soon as they determined it was bogus. It's a matter of safety too. Those people need to be caught!

[SpiralHawk]

14. ABC and Ross owe the people of the USA the truth on this

To do less is to serve only as functionary cronies of the republicon propaganda machine.

Which side are you on?

[JackRiddler]

15. Mohamed Atta got the anthrax from an Iraqi agent in Prague!

Richard Butler - head of the UN weapons inspection program for Iraq, the guy Scott Ritter rebelled against when he resigned in 1998 - was among those who speculated about the Prague meeting, whereas a number of neocon pundits just out and out said it as a certainty. I do believe Richard "Cipro on 9/11" Cheney was among them. Never mind that the Prague meeting was a whole-cloth invention. I remember a story about Atta showing up at a Florida drug store with a rash on his hands. What more do you need? Case closed!

[lonestarnot]

16. Yes.

[Senator]

17. They Duped Ross into Terrorizing the Nation

Just like they did with their "bomb scare" of "MUSHROOM CLOUDS!"

Maybe when the Euphemedia stops pretending that everything the neofascist election thieves do is merely "misleading," or "cherrypicking," or "election shenanigans" we can start back on the road to reality.

Impossible to quantify?!? Tens of millions were terrorized by Ross and his manipulators. How specific a "quantity" do you need?

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