JOHN R. MACARTHUR, [via]
Author of Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War, MacArthur repeatedly scrutinized Bush’s claims during the buildup to the Iraq invasion, writing the article “Sounds Fishy, Mr. President” in October 2002 [See: www.commondreams.org/views02/1028-09.htm]. In December 2002 he was quoted on an IPA news release: “Recently, Bush cited an IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] report that Iraq was ‘six months away from developing a [nuclear] weapon. I don’t know what more evidence we need.’ The IAEA responded that not only was there no new report, ‘there’s never been a report’ asserting that Iraq was six months away from constructing a nuclear weapon….” MacArthur said today: “From the beginning of the ‘marketing campaign’ for invasion in the fall of 2002, we knew that the administration was fabricating evidence for war; we don’t need a commission to show that. Further, the administration was then talking about a nuclear threat. The October 2002 Congressional vote was largely based on a nuclear threat.” [See: www.accuracy.org/press_releases/PR121002.htm, www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_macarthur.html]

JAMES E. JENNINGS
President of Conscience International, a humanitarian aid organization that has worked in Iraq for over a decade, Jennings was featured on an IPA news release of Oct. 9, 2002, entitled “Bush’s War Case: Fiction vs. Facts at www.accuracy.org/bush.” (This release scrutinized Bush’s Cincinnati speech and was just before the Congressional vote.) Jennings said then: “The claim that al-Qaeda is in Iraq is disingenuous, if not an outright lie….” Jennings, responding to Bush’s appearance Sunday on “Meet the Press,” said today: “Bush claimed that Hussein ‘had used weapons, which meant he had weapons.’ Not necessarily. By saying this, President Bush is forgetting … the work of the U.N. weapons inspectors, who in the words of UNSCOM inspector Scott Ritter, ‘qualitatively dismarmed’ Iraq…. Bush claims ‘It’s a war of necessity. We — in my judgment — we had no choice.’ … The U.S. had many choices short of going to war…. The U.S. could have chosen engagement, further containment, allowing UNMOVIC to continue its work, or have devised another peaceful strategy without resorting to war…. Bush claimed: ‘Hussein defied the world once again.’ Not true. The Blix mission was withdrawn in the face of an imminent attack by the U.S. and U.K.” [See: www.accuracy.org/press_releases/PR100902.htm]

ALEXANDRA ROBBINS
Tim Russert noted Sunday that both George W. Bush and John Kerry are members of the Yale secret society Skull and Bones. Bush responded: “It’s so secret we can’t talk about it.” Author of the book Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power, Robbins said today: “Skull and Bones is probably the most powerful secret society in America — and the most elite alumni network. What’s staggering is that two candidates could be facing off for the Presidency who are alumni of this tiny, bizarre society; there are only approximately 800 living members.”
More Information

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167