My Letter to Reuters

July 10, 2004 Off By leigh

I am writing to complain of the apparent blatant lying by Michael Perry in his Reuters report “Australia stands by Iraq war” Sat 10 July, 2004 09:31

Perry makes the statements:

“A U.S. Senate committee report said on Friday that American intelligence agencies had overstated the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, relied on dubious sources and ignored contrary evidence in the run-up to the 2003 invasion.


I am writing to complain of the apparent blatant lying by Michael Perry in his Reuters report “Australia stands by Iraq war” Sat 10 July, 2004 09:31

Perry makes the statements:

“A U.S. Senate committee report said on Friday that American intelligence agencies had overstated the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, relied on dubious sources and ignored contrary evidence in the run-up to the 2003 invasion.

But the report found no sign that the White House had pressured analysts to reach pre-set conclusions.

The second part of the committee’s investigation — examining how the Bush administration used the intelligence — was unlikely to be finished before the November 2 presidential election.”

This is patently false, the report as stated by Chairman Sen. Roberts and Vice-Chairman Sen. Rockefeller in their press conference specifically chose to postpone assessment of whether pressure was placed on the intelligence community by the White House for the Phase 2 report and Sen. Rockefeller pointedly stated that he believed pressure was brought to bear: “[the report] failed to explain the environment of intense pressure in which intelligence community officials were asked to render judgements on matters relating to Iraq, when policy officials had already forcefully stated their own conclusions in public” (The Age). For Perry to claim “the report found no sign that the White House had pressured analysts” appears to be a purposeful lie by Perry designed to exonerate the White House.

“Australia’s opposition Labor (sic) party, which initially supported the Iraq war but now opposes the Australian troop presence in Iraq, urged Howard to apologise to Australians for going to war.”

There is no evidence the Australian Labour party supported the war, to the contrary, the Australian Labour party’s opposition leader Simon Crean addressed the Australian people through scheduled political broadcasts on the Australian Broadcasting Commission to state Labour’s opposition to supporting the U.S. invasion of Iraq prior to commencement of hostilities. Perry provides no evidence of any prior support for the then impending conflict by the Australian Labour party. Perry’s statements appear to be deliberate distortion of facts, again calling into question his objectivity, professionalism and political bias.

I await documented facts supporting Perry and refuting my assertions of his bias. That Reuters could allow such blatant misrepresentations of fact to pass through it’s editorial process casts grave doubts on Reuters objectivity and worth as an objective news source.