Media failed nation in coverage of war

I have recently been reminded of the "flip-flops" of Dick Cheney concerning Iraq:

In 1994, 1996 he was asked about Desert Storm and why, as defense secretary, he agreed that we should not invade Baghdad because that would lead to chaos, it would not be supported in the region. If Saddam Hussein were toppled Cheney worried about there being no government to take its place, and it would become a dangerous occupation for the U.S.

In 2000, Cheney was asked, again, by Tim Russert on Meet the Press, was he sorry, now, years later, that they left Saddam Hussein in charge of Iraq, and Cheney replied absolutely not, and reiterated his arguments of the 1990s.

Less than two years later, Cheney had completely changed his mind regarding Iraq, and he pushed hard to invade the nation under the false pretenses we all know today.

To refer to this as a flip-flop is to demean the importance and results of Cheney's change of mind. We are approaching five years of endless war, chaos, thousands of deaths, an unstable government, and myriad other woes -- much like what he had predicted years ago. What happened in the interim? Neocon rising? Halliburton?

This is further evidence that the media failed the public, and they failed the nation as a whole. They overlooked these contradictions and any evidence that would have cast any doubt or skepticism on the Bush/Cheney regime and their motivation, and instead the media became cheerleaders for them.

The Bush administration is the worst affliction to this nation in my memory, and doubtless they will be recorded as such in the annals of history, but the failure of the media throughout all of this is unforgivable and deserves to be condemned by historians as well. Having been embarrassed and used by Bush & Co., the press, incredibly, continues to neglect their mission.

Marie Harris

Bartlett