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Tuesday, November 4, 2003

Quote of the Day by sonsofliberty2000

You don't wanna miss this one, Ping!

"David Kay alleged that Post reporter Barton Gellman knowingly misrepresented information he had gathered in Iraq about the hunt for Saddam's WMDs and had misidentified a key source as well as the information Kay had provided Gellman in an interview."

Counting down the days till Gellman is fired for making stuff up. Sure I am . . .

This one also made Brit Hume's The Grapevine yesterday:

Off The Mark

David Kay (search), the chief weapons inspector in Iraq, has sent a letter to The Washington Post calling last week's story headlined "Search in Iraq Fails to Find Nuclear Threat" -- "wildly off the mark." Kay says much of The Post's analysis comes from an Australian army commander who, The Post says to the contrary, is not involved in Kay's hunt for weapons of mass destruction nor does he have any expertise in nuclear weapons.

The Post published Kay's letter, and alongside it is one from that Australian General who says he did not give The Post -- "views on Iraq's nuclear program or the status of investigations" conducted by Kay.

"Furthermore, Meekin was not involved in the Iraq Study Group's investigation of Saddam's WMDs. Instead, his outfit was responsible for making a repertory of Saddam's conventional weapons programs. Indeed, as Meekin wrote in a separate letter that the Post printed side-by-side to Kay's, he had "stressed on a number of occasions" in his interview with Gellman that he did not report to Kay and that his outfit looked only at conventional weapons. "I did not provide assessments or views on Iraq's nuclear program or the status of investigations being conducted by the Iraqi Study Group," Meekin wrote."

Sop, both the principles in this story, Meekin and Kay, have stated that Gellman's article in the Post was erroneous. Let's see if the Post corrects the mistake soon.

Repaired links to Gellman's "story":

[www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17707-2003Oct25.html]

And David Kay's letter:

[www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49199-2003Oct31.html]

Same article, original source (Insight):

http://www.insightmag.com/news/547471.html

Cross reference to the thread on Kay's letter:

The Hunt for Iraq's Weapons (David Kay corrects Post Writers for misrepresenting) ^
			Posted by Pikamax On 11/01/2003 11:20 PM CST with 17 comments WashingtonPost ^ \| 11/01/03 \| David kay washingtonpost.com The Hunt for Iraq's Weapons Saturday, November 1, 2003; Page A21 The Oct. 26 front-page article "Search in Iraq Fails to Find Nuclear Threat" is wildly off the mark. Your reporter, Barton Gellman, bases much of his analysis on what he says was told to him by an Australian brigadier, Stephen D. Meekin. Gellman describes Meekin as someone "who commands the Joint Captured Materiel Exploitation Center, the largest of a half-dozen units that report to [David] Kay." Meekin does not report, nor has he ever reported, to me in any individual capacity or as commander of the exploitation center

{Washington Post editorial page editor} Hiatt replied. "I do not regard any of these pages as more or less prominent."

P O P P Y C O C K

just like any Administration makes sure it unpopular actions are late on a Friday ... c'mon ... when I lived in DC, I was surveyed by a Post contractor about exactly this issue ... what days of the week, what sections, what pages, etc., got my attention. The Post pays megabucks to know exactly how to carry out its propaganda, who will read what sections and when, to produce the greatest impact. Its "Free for All" section is not exactly Page One
coverage, is it ?

Lying b*st*rds. As my bumper sticker says, "I don't trust the Washington Post"

Media Has Blood On Its' Hands, Iraq GI Tells Rep.King
Newsmax.com ^ | October 29, 2003 | Newsmax.com
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1010199/posts

Transcript from my videotape of Fox News Channel, Tuesday morning (between 10 and 11 AM) 10-28-03 (I neglected to get the name of the host, and didn't get the first part of the interview taped).

Guest for the interview: Bernard Kerik, Former NY City Police Commissioner and Former Iraq Security Advisor [recently returned from Iraq].

Videotape picks up here:

Kerik: "...they need to start the recruiting and training of more Iraqi police [garbled]....we have to add another 30,000 cops. We have to build up the civil defense force, and the Iraqi intelligence agencies."

Host: "And those cops, although they were sitting ducks, in some regard, in those attacks this weekend, I mean, a guy in a police car wearing a police uniform, ah, set off a homicide bomb there, they have been effective though, in protecting and preventing some of these bomb attacks."

Kerik: "They've been extremely effective in knocking down every day [garbled], but also fighting the Fedayeen and identifying the Baathists. They are the ones that can do that. You know, adding more US coalition troops or international coalition troops--we're not going to find the Fedayeen or the Baathists using outsiders.
A lot of these attacks now, I think, are coming from the outside. We have to make sure we can identify, locate and kill those people or capture them. We're not gonna do that--the Iraqis can do it."

Host: "... let's go back to your initial point about criticism of the war, because Howard Dean .. I'm not looking to name any one particular candidate, but ever since Howard Dean came on the scene and started criticising president Bush's policies, it seems like a number of Democrats have sort of jumped onto that bandwagon. Now again, without pointing fingers at any one person, you say that that line of criticism is actually causing assaults."

Kerik: "Keep this in mind. Six months ago there was one television station in Iraq. There were two newspapers. There are 120 newspapers today. There is satellite TV. They never had that before. They watch everything we watch. They see the frustration. They see the political criticism. The senior deputy Minister of the Interior called me when he knew I was going to see the president and he said, "Please tell the president to tell these people to stop criticising Iraq. He thinks it works like Iraq.

Host: "It doesn't work that way in our countr.."

Kerik, interrupting: "It doesn't work that way, we can't do that. However it's having a major impact, and a major toll on what's going on there. Because the Baathists, Fedayeen Saddam, Ansar al-Islam, al Qaeda--those people see what's going on and they think if they enhance the attacks, then they will win and we will pull out."

Host: "Well, they are stepping up in frequency and in severity the number of attacks that ..."

Kerik interrupting: " [garbled] we want to see freedom grow in Iraq, I think if we don't knock off the criticism--we don't get them the money they need--I think the attacks will grow."

Host: "Six months from now what do you think?"

Kerik: "If they get the money they need, I think in six months we'll have another 9, 10, 11,000 cops, I think they'll be more security--I think there will be less attacks, ah, but we'll have to wait and see."

Host: "Bernard Kerik, former New York City Police Commissioner, thanks for being with us."

Kerik: "Thank you."