Limbaugh mischaracterized NY Times report on looting at Iraq weapons facilities

Written by Andrew Seifter

Published

In an attempt to vindicate President Bush's claim that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction prior to the U.S.-led invasion, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh mischaracterized a March 13 New York Times article documenting the systematic looting of Iraqi weapons facilities that occurred shortly after the invasion.

On the March 14 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show, Limbaugh declared that "The New York Times reports that there were horrible weapons in Iraq and they got secreted out of there after we invaded." In fact, the Times did not report that “horrible weapons” were removed from Iraqi facilities, but rather that “machinery ... including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms” was removed.

From The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: The New York Times' big story yesterday, it's all about how these serious weapons in Iraq were looted after we invaded Baghdad. And, of course, this is nothing more than a rehash of the story they tried to run, they did run.

They tried to gin people up against Bush one week before the election, remember that? Same thing, weapons looted, weapons missing, the whole thing. It's just amazing. I don't know how else to describe it. Still trying to drum up anti-war sentiment, Bush is incompetent, Bush is a boob. It's just amazing.

They can't get off of it. It illustrates they're stubborn and they're hell-bent on convincing people of this, to hell with everything else that might be going on in the world, factual or otherwise. But, in the process, they end up admitting that the weapons were there all along.

And that horrible weapons were there. So, Bush could not have lied about it. And yet, the whole basis, if there's a foundation for the Democratic Party's current anti-war position, it is that Bush lied. And, of course, that's the foundation of Michael Moore's stupid piece of propaganda. It's that Bush lied. Bush didn't lie. And, The New York Times, as much as said so yesterday.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The New York Times reports that there were horrible weapons in Iraq and they got secreted out of there after we invaded. And, it's Bush's fault because he's an idiot. But, their point all along has been there weren't any weapons, that Bush lied about it. Now all of a sudden Bush didn't lie, he's so inept and the weapons got looted before they could round them up.