Common Media Errors, That WMD Were Not Found in Iraq, the Trump Campaign Did Not Collude with the Russians, and Refugees Enter America Illegally

There are three factual matters or sets of matters that the professional American media consistently reports erroneously, or at least misleadingly, which I shall address in this, my 1,500th post, in chronological order. Thousands of Chemical Weapons of Mass Destruction Found in Iraq: The first is that no weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) were found in Iraq after its liberation from the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003 by an international coalition led by the United States, or at least that the ones that were found were not a threat. This error is false and would have been irrelevant anyway because Baathist Iraq was under United Nations resolutions to account for its weapons, which the Security Council found unanimously it had violated, thus enabling its tyrant to threaten his neighbors and American troops. The chemical WMDs the United Nations inspectors knew about and described as a “small but significant” amount of WMDs were found, plus other chemical WMDS that were not known, for a total of thousands of chemical WMDs. Although no “stockpiles” of such weapons were found, they were scattered amidst conventional weapons thus making Iraq in a sense more dangerous than thought, not less. Although no new WMDs were found, these chemical WMDs continued to be dangerous enough to sicken American and coalition troops who handled them for disposal. In addition, tons of U.N.-banned chemicals to make more chemical WMDs were found. A related media error in regard to Baathist Iraq was that the Liberation of Iraq was unrelated to the War on Terrorism because of a lack of an alliance between Iraq an al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorist organization responsible for the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on America that sparked the War on Terrorism. Although Iraq was not complicit in the attacks, it sponsored other terrorists, harboring and financing them, including some who had targeted and killed Americans. Moreover, two of al-Qaeda’s motivations were opposition to the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia, who were present to defend the Kingdom against an invasion by serial aggressor Iraq, and the U.S.-led economic embargo against Iraq. Al-Qaeda and other terrorists recognized Iraq as a battlefield in the War on Terrorism, where they were defeated. The conventional and WMD threat from a brutal tyrant with a history of aggression and its nexus with terrorism made Iraq a serious regional threat. Today, Iraq is an ally of the U.S. in the War on Terrorism. The Special Counsel Found Collusion Between the 2016 Trump Campaign and a Russian Cutout: The second media error is that U.S. Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, a Republican former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, found that there was no “collusion” between Donald Trump’s 2016 Presidential Campaign and Russia, or at least that he did not find evidence of collusion. This media error is misleading because it absolves Russia of its complicity with its cutout, which it chose to mask its direct complicity, as well minimizes the much broader Russian election interference by focusing only on direct conspiracy. The Special Counsel explained that collusion was not a word used in federal criminal law and that he was charged only with investigating crimes. Because he did not use that word, Trump and his supporters claimed exoneration and the media’s repetition of the lack of finding of “collusion” is misleading. The Special Counsel found there was no criminal conspiracy between the Trump Campaign and Russian agents, but found there was coordination with the Russian’s cutout, Wikileaks, to whom the Russians had given the information they had stolen, knowing it would be published. Wikileaks, which is operated by an Australian, published the information the Russians had stolen. The Trump campaign they coordinated its campaign messaging with advanced knowledge from Wikileaks as to what it would publish. Thus, the Russians and Trump had thus colluded in the common parlance meaning of the word, if not the federal criminal statutory meaning. Moreover, the Special Counsel found that this interference was only one part of Russia’s “sweeping and systematic” attempt to influence American politics and the presidential elections, including by backing Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 in both the Republican Primaries and the General Election. Several Russians were charged by grand juries because of the Special Counsel’s prosecution. In one of many examples of Russian interference and the Trump campaign’s willingness to accept it, Trump had publicly invited the Russians to steal certain information from his opponent, which they began to do minutes afterward. Furthermore, the Special Counsel found that Trump, his henchman and the Russians had obstructed his criminal probe, for which he recommended Congress impeach Trump. Special Counsel Mueller’s report was validated by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee. Refugees Do Not Enter America Illegally: The media often refer to undocumented migrants, particularly refugees claiming asylum, as having entered America illegally. Refugees are not only permitted by United States law to set foot on American soil to claim asylum from persecution, but are required to claim it on American soil, which they are permitted to reach wherever they can when fleeing for their lives or liberty. Refugees do not have visas and passports because they are fleeing dictatorships (some of which fear a loss of their population if they granted such documents), war, terrorism, crime or disasters. If an immigration judge rules that undocumented migrants’ fear of persecution is credible, then they did not enter illegally, but legally and are legally permitted to remain on American soil. It should be noted that U.S. immigration law has been so restrictive, that asylum is the main legal pathway to entering America, as the restrictiveness incentivizes irregular migration, both legal and illegal.