“Whether you believe the invasion was justified in spite of the absence of WMDs or not, the reality is that news reports chronicling their existence played a major role in galvanizing public support for the war. In hindsight, it was discovered that there were no WMDs in Iraq. The information provided by [Ahmed] Chalabi and others was incorrect. Not enough effort was made to investigate their claims and balance their self-serving point of view. The failure of the news media - the [New York] Times is not alone, though [Judith] Miller became the reporter most linked to this issue - to dig deeper and question the information flowing from agenda-driven sources let the sources dictate the coverage of the day, a situation no journalist feels comfortable in.”
— Regret the Error: How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech by Craig Silverman
