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July 22, 2013

Helen Thomas, "Dean of White House Press Corps," Dies at 92 
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Tthe trailblazing journalist Helen Thomas has died at the age of 92.
Widely known as "the dean of the White House press corps," Thomas became
the first woman assigned to the White House full time by a news service
when she began to cover the Kennedy administration. She went on to cover
every president since until controversial comments on the
Israel-Palestine conflict forced her to retire in 2010. Throughout the
two-term Bush administration, she asked some of the most critical
questions in the White House press newsroom. She challenged the
administration on issues including the Iraq war and its massive civilian
toll, the threat of an attack on Iran, the refusal to sign a cluster
bomb treaty, the ongoing killings of Afghanistan civilians, and its
critical support for Israel’s attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. In July
2007, President George W. Bush reverted to a presidential press
conference tradition he had long ignored: giving Thomas the first
question.

President George W. Bush: "Now, I will be glad to answer a few
questions, starting with Ms. Thomas."

Helen Thomas: "Mr. President, you started this war, a war of your
choosing, and you can end it alone, today, at this point, bring in
peacekeepers, U.N. peacekeepers. Two million Iraqis have fled their
country as refugees. Two million more are displaced. Thousands and
thousands are dead. Don’t you understand? You have brought the
al-Qaeda into Iraq."

President George W. Bush: Actually, I was hoping to solve the Iraqi
issue diplomatically. That’s why I went to the United Nations and
worked with the United Nations Security Council, which unanimously
passed a resolution that said disclose, disarm or face serious
consequences. That was the message, a clear message to Saddam Hussein.
He chose the course.

Helen Thomas: "Didn’t we go into Iraq..."

President George W. Bush: "It was his decision."

Earlier that year, Democracy Now! interviewed Thomas at the Media Reform
Conference in Memphis. I asked her for her take on the consolidation of
media control by a small number of corporations.

Helen Thomas: "I’d tell them, forget about all those profits, and help
the country, that the media should be a public service. You cannot have
a democracy without an informed people. And that should be their role.
They can make their money everywhere else."

 

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