Letter: Watchdog asleep before Iraq war

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Wednesday, July 16, 2003 | 9:04 a.m.

Democracy is lost if the media doesn't accurately and responsibly disseminate all the news. Our major networks have been acting as if they are federally run, something one might expect in Iraq but not here at home. The media's responsibility is as a public watchdog.

Where was the media before the war? While the British press found the flaws in Prime Minister Tony Blair's dossier within days, major U.S. media outlets didn't report on the flawed intelligence until after the war in Iraq.

We Americans need to investigate the Bush administration's misuse of intelligence. We also need to hold the media accountable for its role in permitting faulty intelligence to pass as verified evidence.

RICH STAFETAS