Take the case of Ray McGovern, the retired CIA analyst who made today’s headlines by challenging Secretary Rumsfeld during the Q&A following his speech last night in Atlanta. In its coverage of the exchange, the Los Angeles Times, for example, described (reg. req’d) McGovern as “a 27-year CIA veteran who once gave then-President George H.W. Bush his morning intelligence briefings.” In previous news stories featuring McGovern anti-Iraq War quotes, he has been described as a CIA veteran who also briefed President Reagan and other top GOP officials. But what is interesting is that the reporters took the time to let readers know that he briefed Reagan and Bush I but didn’t find space to inform them that McGovern’s far-left political views extend well beyond the Iraq War. I don’t know the extent of his Reagan briefings, but I do know that McGovern was an opponent of Reagan’s foreign policy. For example, he co-authored a memo that said during the Reagan years “the planting of evidence to demonstrate that opponents of governments in Central America were sponsored by the USSR reached new heights (or depths).” Such manufactured evidence, McGovern wrote, was the “justification…needed for the Contra war against the Sandinistas!” McGovern also accused the first President Bush of manipulating Congress into voting for the first Gulf War. The administration’s “PR campaign had the desired impact, and Congress voted to authorize the use of force against Iraq on January 12, 1991.” He pointed to the congressional testimony of a girl who was later revealed to be the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S., and also this:
By ignoring the above and only noting his security briefings to Reagan and Bush I, a subtle message is sent to readers and viewers that McGovern isn’t some wild-eyed leftist when, in fact, he really is. Subtle spin, indeed.
