Administration Trusts Press More than Military

The administration has been very clear in assigning blame for the uprisings in Afghanistan that led to multiple deaths and injuries. It's all Newsweek's fault. No matter that the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs said different. The media says it's Newsweek and that's good enough for the administration.

Here's an excerpt from the press briefing that made it clear:

Q: Richard Myers, last Thursday -- I'm going to read you a quote from him.  He said, "It's a judgment of our commander in Afghanistan, General Eichenberry, that in fact the violence that we saw in Jalalabad was not necessarily the result of the allegations about disrespect for the Koran."  He said it was "more tied up in the political process and reconciliation that President Karzai and his cabinet were conducting."  And he said that that was from an after-action report he got that day.

MR. McCLELLAN:  Well, clearly, the report was used to incite violence by people who oppose the United States and want to mischaracterize the values and the views of the United States of America.  The protests may have been pre-staged by those who oppose the United States and who may be opposed to moving forward on freedom and democracy in the region, but the images that we have seen across our television screens over the last few days clearly show that this report was used to incite violence.  People lost their lives --

Q    But may I just follow up, please?  He didn't say "protest," he said -- he used the word very specifically, "violence."  He said the violence, as far as they know from their people on the ground -- which is something that you always say you respect wholeheartedly -- it was not because of Newsweek.

MR. McCLELLAN:  Dana, I guess I'm not looking at it the same way as you do, and I think the Department of Defense has spoken to this issue over the last few days.  But the facts are very clear that this report was used in the region by people opposed to the United States to incite violence and to portray a very negative image of the United States, one that runs contrary to everything that we value and believe, and it has done some serious damage to our image.

MR. McCLELLAN:  I think you can go look at just about every news report that has covered this and they have pointed out that this report, itself, helped spark some violence in the region.

So let's be clear. The administration takes the media position over that of the military. Strange position to take if the media is a part of the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy, isn't it?

This easy dismissal of the military analysis of the situation, provided by those on the ground, is telling.

Comments

[alfdom]

I am thankful you posted this. The lies are piling up faster than I can sort them out. Please consider posting your work on wikipeda,Sourcewatch or the KO political encyclopedia. There are many people in the blog sphere who share the same ideals. If we can coordinate, we can begin to straighten out this mess. It is astounding what two hundred bloggers working together can achieve. Include into this people who do not blog but read the internet and can contribute to projects. Think about this, 6 years ago who ever heard of a blog?

[Kryten42]

My thanks also Kathy. I just wandered over after following a link from Ron's "Why Are We Back In Iraq?" blog. :-)

I have posted my thoughts on this at a few blogs (ConyersBlog, The Brad Blog, Loaded Mouth, Mixter's Mix)

The thing I don't understand is NOT That this Administration is blaming anyone but themselves for anything they screw up (I take that for granted now, it's just SOP!) But this:

Why isn't Newsweek suing McClellan and/or the Gov't for (at the very least) slander?? The Gov't is telling Americans (and the World) that Newsweek incited the violence that caused the deaths of many people! The families of those people could sue Newsweek in the USA.

Is it stupidity? Cowardice? What? I don't get it!