Misleading the Public Quotes
President George W. Bush, to justify the invasion of Iraq had told the public that the Iraqi regime was developing nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, and had participated in the September 11 attack on the United States by assisting Al Qaeda. It turned out that these statements were false. The administration claimed that their error was well intentioned and the result of faulty intelligence. Opponents claimed that the administration officials knew that they were exaggerating and had pressured the intelligence agencies to create intelligence conclusions that supported their story.
The facts given by the administration to justify the preemptive invasion of Iraq turned out to be wrong. Moore who is usually not very circumspect in his accusations delicately used the term “misled” as the major debate became one or whether 1) the wrong intelligence was given to the President and his administration and they unknowingly used and reported the false information to the public. 2) the uncertainty of the intelligence accuracy and the contrary evidence was given to the administration which had a predisposition to believe one scenario and the deluded themselves and our allies and the public. 3) The decision to invade Iraq was made with full knowledge that the intelligence was wrong in some areas and weak in others and some administration members pressured the intelligence agencies to make the kind of assessment they administration wanted. “Misled” covers all 3 possibilities.
