8.14.2006

Who "abounds in fictions"?

"The piece abounds in fictions," says Tony Snow about Sy Hersh's new New Yorker piece that claims the White House helped Israel plan attacks on Lebanon. Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, has an impressive track record, including breaking the stories of the My Lai Massacre and Abu Ghraib atrocities. The White House, on the other hand, is known for abounding in fictions, from those 16 words about Nigerian yellowcake sold to Iraq to Bush's pledge to fire the leaker of Valerie Plame's identity.

Hersh writes:
The Bush Administration, hohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifwever, was closely involved in the planning of Israel’s retaliatory attacks. President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were convinced, current and former intelligence and diplomatic officials told me, that a successful Israeli Air Force bombing campaign against Hezbollah’s heavily fortified underground-missile and command-and-control complexes in Lebanon could ease Israel’s security concerns and also serve as a prelude to a potential American preĆ«mptive attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear installations, some of which are also buried deep underground.
Also: Did the Bush administration politicize the timing of the London terror bust announcement to discount the Democrats and Ned Lamont? Whatever the rationale, the White House did push to make the London arrests earlier than UK officials wanted.

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