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Clark's Comments on the War are Consistent.
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| Parent(s) |
Candidate
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| Contributor | Blue Wizzrobe |
| Last Edited | Blue Wizzrobe Jan 17, 2004 12:49pm |
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| Category | Commentary |
| News Date | Friday, January 16, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Drudge: The Ellipse as a Tool of Deception
Thursday afternoon, the Drudge Report chimed in with a grossly incorrect
headline, "Wes Clark Made Case For Iraq War Before Congress; Transcript
Revealed" atop an article designed to distort the General's position.
In excerpting Clark's testimony before the House Armed Services
Committee on September 26, 2002, Drudge entirely misrepresents the
candidate's remarks.
Drudge quotes Clark's testimony: "'There's no question that Saddam
Hussein is a threat... Yes, he has chemical and biological weapons. He's
had those for a long time. But the United States right now is on a very
much different defensive posture than we were before September 11th of
2001... He is, as far as we know, actively pursuing nuclear
capabilities, though he doesn't have nuclear warheads yet. If he were to
acquire nuclear weapons, I think our friends in the region would face
greatly increased risks as would we.'" [ellipses Drudge's]
Drudge is using the ellipse as a weapon, with malice aforethought.
Clark's statement that "Saddam Hussein is a threat" came from his
opening remarks to the committee. An ellipse then carries the reader
more than 11,500 words later into the transcript to a second quotation.
Finally, Drudge uses the next ellipse to jump way back to the beginning
of Clark's testimony. The effect is to make Clark's testimony sound more
frantic than it really is and to incorrectly suggest that Clark had
endorsed the war.
The deceptive reporting continues with two final excerpts. The first is
drawn from a section in which Clark states that the use of force must
remain on the table as a threat, but that all diplomatic measures must
be taken before military action proceeds. Drudge's selective excerpt
ends with Clark suggesting that the situation with Iraq has "been a
decade in the making. It needs to be dealt with and the clock is ticking
on this."
Drudge would like you to think that Clar |
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