During the week leading up to the Pope John Paul II's funeral, you couldn't tune into CBS, ABC, CNN, or any other media outlet and hear that the Pope opposed to the war in Iraq. Of course, that didn't stop The Los Angeles Times' Robert Scheer from making the following claim in a column: "OK, I get it, the pope was a really important guy. So why, during weeks of fawning coverage of his humanity and the elaborate Vatican funeral rituals, did American journalists and politicians ignore the pontiff's passionate opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq?"
If you're not familiar with Scheer, he is largely responsible for the lie that the Bush administration gave the Taliban $43 million prior to 9/11. Dan Kennedy of the Boston Phoenix dealt with Scheer's lie shortly after 9/11, after talking heads on the left and right started repeating the lie. The $43 million did not go to the Taliban, as Scheer claims. In fact, Secretary of State Colin Powell explicitly noted that the humanitarian aid would bypass the Taliban. Scheer also failed to note that the humanitarian aid to Afghanistan was a continuation of a Clinton administration policy. That administration sent $114 million to Afghanistan during 2000.
Scheer's column appeared in the Lawrence Journal-World on April 15. Newspapers should publish views from those on the far left. However, there are enough honest liberals in the world that the Journal-World shouldn't allow a dishonest one like Scheer a platform for his lies.
