Study: Powell and Bush were biggest liars about Iraq -- with plenty of help from the media

New study confirms what we already know. Bush and company lied to lead the country to war. They were abetted, of course, by the stenographers in traditional media who dictated their every word. Bush wasn't even the biggest liar -- Colin Powell was:

Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.

Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell's 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida.

More after the break on the media's role.

The media was complicit. Sure, there are media types who have since acknowledged their role in promoting the Bush-led war. But, have they learned anything? Doubtful. Bush has repeatedly lied right to their faces and most of the media still take his word at face value with no analysis or critique:

"The cumulative effect of these false statements - amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts - was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.

"Some journalists - indeed, even some entire news organizations - have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq," it said.

They still do provide validation for Bush's false statements about anything.