Once again, Jay Mazumdar is right on target.
With all the repulsive back-slapping and congratulations throughout the blogsphere about the resignations at the New York Times, perhaps it's time for some of these bloggers to come clean themselves. The New York Times has; will bloggers? Or is the blogsphere above self-correction? We know the New York Times can accept responsibility. Is the blogsphere above accountability?
Jay writes: "Prior to the onset of the war, right-wing bloggers were throwing around all sorts of accusations about how the French and the Germans opposed the war because they provided Saddam with his WMD arsenal in violation of UN sanctions. They promised us -- most prominently Steven den Beste -- that the war once prosecuted would reveal French and German duplicity and complicity with a murderous regime."
But den Beste wasn't alone. Andrew Sullivan made these accusations. Instapundit repeatedly made them (or repeated them).
So, it's time for accountability. Did the French and Germans provide Saddam with WMDs? Or, are we going to see a correction soon?
I'm not holding my breath.
Comments (1)
I don't remember any examples of this, but maybe it's my own selective memory. I do remember they accusing France and Russia of supplying the Iraqi regime with most of its conventional arms, which it did. I also remember they accused France and Russia of having a huge financial stake in the continuation of Saddam's regime, which they did, in the form of money owed to them for weapons purchases and contracts promised to them once sanctions were lifted.
Meanwhile, evidence has come out that France and Russia provided intelligence to Saddam's regime leading up to the war, on such things as private conversations with Tony Blair.
I don't think Germany's motives in opposing the war were as illegitimate as those of France and Russia, and I don't remember such accusations flying at the time, but the fact that the two latter nations displayed "complicity with a murderous regime" is really not a charge that can be denied.
Anyway, getting back to bloggers, I think eventually we'll learn which ones are believable, credible, and self-correcting, just like we've learned (and are still learning) with newspapers.
It's silly to ask for or expect some sort of uniform standard of behavior throughout the blogosphere, just like it would be silly to expect the same standards out of a little weekly partisan rag as you would out of the Washington Post.
Posted by Dave S | June 7, 2003 8:51 PM
Posted on June 7, 2003 20:51