The outting of Joseph Wilson’s wife a week after he publicly challenged President Bush’s claim that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Niger is just the latest in a pattern of retaliation by the White House against critics of the Iraq invasion. The Center for American Progress outlines 6 prior examples of critics who were fired, intimidated or defamed by the administration. [Includes transcript]

• David J. Sirota, is a spokesperson for the Center for American Progress.

TRANSCRIPT

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined on the line right now by David J. Cerotta, spokesperson for the Center for American Progress. Can you simply give us a list, David?

DAVID J. CEROTTA: Sure. It’s pretty simple. It started with top White House official Larry Lindsey who said the Iraq war would cost upwards of $200 billion. He was summarily fired. General Anthony Zini who was the Special Envoy to the Mid-east was critical in a speech about the Bush foreign policy saying Iraq shouldn’t be the focus, other terrorist organizations should be the focus. He was fired. When ABC News went over to Iraq to interview troops who expressed displeasure at being stationed there longer than they were told the troops were threatened with a court martial and the White House leaked that the correspondent was allegedly gay and from Canada, as if that mattered. General Eric Shinseki told congress that the war in Iraq would take roughly several hundred thousand troops which is proving to be accurate. At the time the White House was trying to down play how big an engagement this would be, he was criticized heavily by the Pentagon, Paul Wolfowitz and Don Rumsfeld.

Then of course in the whole Iraq nuclear claim, the Bush administration–Condoleezza Rice and the President–blamed George Tenet for giving them the information that he put in his State of the Union speech claiming that Iraq was seeking nuclear weapons. This was later proven to be false, Tenet had actually warned the White House of this prior to that speech. So this is a pattern of essentially trying to destroy anyone who tells the truth about Iraq.

Of course the only people who seem to remain in the administration making policy on Iraq are those who have distorted intelligence and sort of selectively hyped up the case to go to war.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, thanks for the list, “Intimigate”, spokesperson for the center for American progress you have this list online?

DAVID J. CEROTTA: Yes. It should be posted, I believe, at www.tompaine.com we’re still building our website — we’re only a month old.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s centerforamericanprogress.org?

DAVID J. CEROTTA: Yes, thanks.

AMY GOODMAN: You are listening to Democracy Now!