Washington Post reporters Dana Milbank and Walter Pincus are liars

Patterico noted yesterday the disturbing repetition of wholly false descriptions of Joe Wilson's findings from his trip to Niger in the media, Patterico's latest example coming from the wholly unreliable L.A. Times. Today, the Washington Post does it as well. Here is the falsehood, as WaPo reporters Dana Milbank and Walter Pincus repeat in their article today:

"Wilson's central assertion -- disputing President Bush's 2003 State of the Union claim that Iraq was seeking nuclear material in Niger -- has been validated by postwar weapons inspections."

This is totally false. Iraq was seeking yellowcake uranium from Niger; Saddam just never actually got any. Moreover, Bush never said Saddam actually had any nuclear weapons or weapons grade uranium, nor did Bush say Saddam had obtained uranium from Niger. What Bush said, in those famous 16 words, was British intelligence confirms Saddam was seeking yellowcake uranium from Niger. British intelligence has never wavered in this assessment. Moreover, Joe Wilson confirmed that Saddam had in fact sought yellowcake uranium from Niger.

All of this was confirmed in the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on Mr. Wilson's intentionally false NYT Op Ed piece. The WaPo is simply too big and influential a newspaper not to have this fact in its collective records or memory. (Dana Milbank and Walter Pincus should talk to Susan Schmidt.) The only explanation for Dana Milbank and Walter Pincus's article today is that they are intentionally lying, or at a minimum recklessly incompetent.