Biased or incompetent?

The bible says, “…seek and thou shall find.” I have little doubt that this saying is true, in that to find something you first must be looking for it. It does not necessarily hold however that one will find every thing sought-after. Perhaps this little gem of obviousness should be conveyed to the Washington Post: In a story from yesterday by Dana Milbank and Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, October 25, 2005; A03

Wilson's central assertion -- disputing President Bush's 2003 State of the Union claim that Iraq was seeking nuclear material in Niger -- has been validated by postwar weapons inspections.

It is hard to imagine how postwar inspections can show that Iraq had not sought uranium from Niger, only that Iraq apparently did not acquire any. A further minor gripe: President Bush said in his famous 12 words that Iraq sought uranium from Africa. For sure, Niger does reside in Africa, but there are lots of other countries in Africa and Mr. Wilson only visited Niger. It thus seems that even if he ruled out the possibility of Iraq looking at Niger as a source of yellowcake, he has hardly proven anything about the veracity of Mr. Bush. Update: Sigh, the media will never get this story right. Here is commentary from April 26 2007 Opinion Journal

The Associated Press casually slips a falsehood into a story about congressional efforts to investigate the administration: By 21-10, the House oversight committee voted to issue a subpoena to Rice to compel her story on the Bush administration's claim, now discredited, that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa. The New York Times, in a story posted on its Web site yesterday, similarly referred to the claim as "discredited," but this reference later was edited out. Reuters refers to the "administration's warnings, later proven false, that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger for nuclear arms." In fact, the claim has not been disproved or discredited at all, as the nonpartisan Factcheck.org explained in 2004: After nearly a six-month investigation, a special panel reported to the British Parliament July 14 that British intelligence had indeed concluded back in 2002 that Saddam Hussein was seeking to buy uranium. The review panel was headed by Lord Butler of Brockwell, who had been a cabinet secretary under five different Prime Ministers and who is currently master of University College, Oxford. The Butler report said British intelligence had "credible" information--from several sources--that a 1999 visit by Iraqi officials to Niger was for the purpose of buying uranium: Butler Report: It is accepted by all parties that Iraqi officials visited Niger in 1999. The British Government had intelligence from several different sources indicating that this visit was for the purpose of acquiring uranium. Since uranium constitutes almost three-quarters of Niger's exports, the intelligence was credible. The Butler Report affirmed what the British government had said about the Niger uranium story back in 2003, and specifically endorsed what [President] Bush said [in that year's State of the Union Address] as well. The erstwhile Iraqi regime's quest for uranium appears to have been in vain. But the claim that Iraq didn't seek uranium is simply false. News organizations that repeat it are serving, wittingly or unwittingly, as propaganda outlets for those who oppose the U.S. war effort.