Thomas takes swipe at White House reporters over war coverage
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/06/10/art.thomas1.gi.jpg caption =" Helen Thomas criticizes White House reporters in a newly released interview."]
(CNN)- While many of Helen Thomas' colleagues condemned the longtime White House reporter over her controversial comments on Israel, Thomas herself took aim at her fellow journalists in a just-published interview.
In the interview with Vice Magazine conducted in March but published Thursday, Thomas says White House reporters failed in their duty to question the Bush administration's assertions in the lead up to the Iraq War.
"I think that journalists became afraid to be called unpatriotic if they didn't support a war, even one that was obviously not true," Thomas said in the interview. "No one asked for proof of weapons of mass destruction. It was very, very clear that President Bush wanted to go to war at any cost….We went to war on lies."
The magazine said it decided to publish the comments in the wake of Thomas' resignation after she said Israel should "get the hell out of Palestine," and that the Jewish people should go home to "Poland, Germany … and America and everywhere else." The White House Correspondent's Association condemned the statements, though did not directly call for her resignation.
Thomas, a longtime critic of both the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, also told Vice her colleagues bear some of the blame for the ongoing conflicts.
"Everyone rolled over and played dead at a time when they should have been really penetrating. They were there for Watergate. But in this case they bought all the propaganda. Or, whether they bought it or not, they took it and spouted it," she said.
Totally agree that the news media, both right and left, did not dare question Bush/Cheney's decisions concerning Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq because of 9/11 and the fear of being considered "unpatriotic" for daring to question anything the Presidents did during that period of time. They trampled on our Constitution and no one in the media reported it, no one in the media complained. The mainstream media just caved, let's face it!! For 8 years we put up with a total blackout by the news media. Now they report every breath that Obama takes. The guy can't go to the bathroom without it getting reported. They slam the President every chance they get. Nice turnaround there, MSM – from one extreme to the other.
Yeah, Democrats can do no wrong and Republicans can do no right. Amazing how some things and people never change.
I want to know where the media outrage is over this real MAN MADE DISASTER! Can you imagine the daily outcry regarding the ongoing contamination of the Gulf if GWB was still in office. The current President claims he is responsible and then proceeds to blame Bush – no wonder historical media sources are loosing viewership...
She's absolutely right in critisms of Israel and the Bush Administration , but we have a bunch of coward Americans that want somethiung for nothing and blame everyone else for their greed, racism ! We just stand there not doing anything about Israel , while they continue to thumb their noses at us and take our money , Jews are nothing more than clansman without the hoods . Oppression of the Palistinians is the same if Nazi were still throwing them in the oven , yet they were oppressed by Nazi and you would think that it would have made them a better a better race of people , but yet they in turn TERRORIZE Palistinians and call them terrorist ,all the while the US doess nothing to them but send them our tax dollars and get a good snub from them someone really need to speak up , but that should tell you who's running the media show here in America.....