10 Questions Russert Didn't Ask
The missed opportunities for follow-ups.
NEW YORK (February 08, 2004) -- Partisans may debate whether Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday morning was too tough or too easy on President George W. Bush in his questioning. Certainly, Russert challenged Bush sharply on several occasions, but he also missed opportunities to raise at least 10 highly relevant questions:
1. When Bush said flatly that he was "not surprised" by the level of resistance the U.S. has met in Iraq after the war, Russert did not ask: If that's true, why then did the U.S. not prepare much better for what would follow?
2. When Bush said the CIA was "ably led" by George Tenet and that Tenet's job was not in jeopardy, Russert did not ask: "Why do you not hold Tenet at all accountable for deeply flawed CIA intelligence in the run-up to a major war?"
3. As a follow-up: Mr. President, What do you think of Tenet's comment that he never thought Iraq was an "imminent" threat? Or Colin Powell's remark earlier this week that he could not have justified the war if he knew the threat of weapons of mass destruction was not real?
4. When Bush flatly asserted, "We're doing a very good job of dismantling al-Qaeda," Russert did not challenge this notion at all.
5. Bush said one reason we had to go to war was because Saddam could have developed nuclear weapons "over time." Russert did not ask him to cite any fresh evidence that the Iraqi nuclear program was in any state to do this any time in the foreseeable future.
6. When Bush denied that he had launched a "pre-emptive" war because, after all, he went to the United Nations first, Russert did not ask: How did that make the invasion any less "pre-emptive?"
7. Bush claimed that we went to war because efforts at "containing" Saddam Hussein had failed. Russert did not ask for evidence that Hussein had not, in fact, been contained by sanctions, especially in light of no WMDs being found in Iraq.
8. Bush also repeatedly asserted that the United Nations had failed at "disarming Saddam Hussein peacefully" or that its efforts were "not working." Russert did not ask: How can you say this when, on the verge of war, U.N. inspectors were on the ground in Iraq and reporting that there appeared to be no WMDs there -- which, in fact, has been proven correct?
9. When Bush, responding to the "AWOL" controversy, claimed that he did, indeed, show up for National Guard service in Alabama, despite no apparent evidence proving this, Russert could have asked: Can you name one person who saw you serve in Alabama?
10. Finally, Russert did not ask Bush what he thought of the many serious charges in the recent book about former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill.
