Outsourcing The Truth—About The 1990s

Here’s Al Gore yesterday on PBS’s NewsHour, being interviewed by Gwen Ifil:

Ifill: You write of a “determined disinterest” in learning the truth, on the part of the Bush administration on pre-war intelligence. You accuse the White House of an “unprecedented and sustained campaign of mass deception,” very strong words. And you say that President Bush “outsourced the truth.” Are you suggesting that President Bush deliberately misled the American people when it comes to the Iraq war?

Gore: Well, there was certainly a coordinated effort in the White House and in the Department of Defense simultaneously to convey the image of a mushroom cloud exploding over an American city and to link it to a specific scenario, the very strong and explicit implication that Saddam Hussein was going to develop nuclear weapons and give them to Osama bin Laden, and that would result in nuclear explosions in American cities.

Here’s a statement issued by the Justice Department in 1998 during the administration under which Gore served:

Al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq.

And here’s Gore himself, five years earlier:

“The suffering inside Iraq can come to an end when Saddam Hussein’s regime is replaced,” said a top Clinton administration official at the time. “And I hope — and most of the world community hopes — that this regime based on terrorism and atrocities against his own people will be replaced. Over time, we hope to achieve that result.”

The pivot–not to mention the Assault on Reason–continues apace.

Update: Another reality of the 1990s goes down the Memory Hole, this time courtesy of NPR.

Late Update: Here’s Al in 1992 on Iraq.