Gerard Jackson
BrookesNews.Com
Wednesday 1 October 2003

Bush-hating journalists just can't seem to help themselves, and Roy Eccleston, Washington correspondent for Rupert Murdoch's Australian is no exception. Eccleston stated that President Bush had asserted "in his State of the Union speech that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger in Africa" (Claims damage US case for war 30/9). President Bush did no such thing.

No where in his speech was Niger or any other country mentioned. Bush expressly stated Africa. Moreover, his information was supplied by the British Government who received it from MI6, both of whom still stand by the claim. Funny enough, the very same Mr Wilson claimed last October that Saddam had "an aggressive program to try and get" nuclear weapons.

None of the above facts were mentioned by the leftwing Eccleston. This amounts to calculated lying.

Being the leftwing ideologue that he is, Eccleston moved on to the so-called CIA scandal in which White House officials are being accused of leaking "the name of a CIA spy — the wife of a former US ambassador who had questioned the evidence of Iraq's weapons."

The former ambassador in question is the Bush-hating Joseph Wilson. Eccleston claimed that Wilson "had forced Mr Bush to concede that a claim in his State of the Union speech — that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger in Africa — might not be true." But as we have already seen, Bush made no such claim and therefore had to concede nothing to Wilson, perhaps except in Eccleston's leftwing imagination. Furthermore, if Wilson did not believe that Saddam possessed WMDs, as Eccleston's report suggests, why did he tell the ABC that if American troops invaded Iraq Saddam might "use a biological weapon"?

By raising the phony CIA scandal, Eccleston was clearly insinuating that Bush was paying Wilson back by exposing his wife as a CIA operative. This, as Eccleston kindly pointed out, would be "illegal." But Wilson's wife is an analyst, not a spy, and had nothing to do with undercover operatives or covert activities. So even if the White House had revealed her CIA employment it would not have broken the law.

Now I say "had revealed" because Robert Novak, the columnist who broke the story on 14 July (that's right, 10 weeks ago), emphatically stated: "Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this." So why did Eccleston make it seem otherwise, as if we didn't know.

Wilson is an extreme leftwinger who even addressed the EPI (Education for Peace in Iraq Center), a leftwing group that fronted for Saddam and who believes Israel should be wiped off the map. He is also affiliated with the anti-Semitic pro-Saudi Middle East Institute. Another bunch of fanatics that believe it is a jolly good idea to exterminate Israel. I can just imagine Eccleston's response if any well-known Republican addressed Jew-hating organisations.

Murdoch's Australian owes its readers an apology, not that they'll get one. In addition. It should do the decent thing and fire Eccleston for gross misconduct.

It's just not Murdoch's Australian that's at fault. Bush-hating and leftwing journalistic dishonesty has become a plague. The Melbourne Age, aka the Spencer Street Soviet published an AP report by Terence Hunt (White House denies Bush adviser leaked source, 30/9) that made the same dishonest claims as Eccleston.

It's no accident that leftwing journalists sing the same anti-Bush song whenever they get the opportunity, or take the time to create one. After all, what else can one expect from political bigots.

Fortunately, all is not lost. I have been reliably informed that Tim Blair is so outraged by the lying likes of Eccleston that he is going to do a demolition job on The Australian's US correspondents — just kidding.

Gerard Jackson is also Brookes' Economics Editor