Posted on 11/13/2006 6:36:43 PM PST by idkfa
CBS News has an interview on their website with Marine Corps Commandant General Mike Hagee, which it promotes with the headline, "Top Marine: No Plan For Post-Saddam Iraq". The article that fronts this interview makes the claim that Hagee admits that the Pentagon had no plan at all for security in the post-invasion period:
Well, that sounds pretty damning -- but that's not what Hagee says in the portion of the interview that CBS has, a 7:27 segment in which Hagee explains what happened. The connection is poor and no transcript is provided by CBS (what a shock!), but be sure to watch the video for yourselves. CBS and David Martin misrepresent Hagee in this superficial web report.
Hagee commanded Marine forces that spearheaded the invasion thrusts all the way to Baghdad. Hagee tells Martin that the Phase IV plans were to have the Marines release the towns as they "uncovered" them, ie, freed them from Saddam's control, and that other security forces would replace them. During the preinvasion planning, Hagee asked the then-Commandant who exactly that would be, and he got no clear answer. At the time, no one was sure -- as Hagee points out during the interview -- whether the Iraqi Army would simply surrender and switch sides, or whether they would disappear.
In the event, however, Coalition forces came behind Hagee and secured the towns as they moved forward. Hagee makes this very clear in the actual interview. Hagee also says that other aspects of Phase IV planning were rather unclear, but that Paul Bremer took command of those issues when Coalition forces took over the towns.
Hagee also gives the time frame of his assessments; he talks about his forces being removed by July 2003. What Hagee discusses is the immediate aftermath of the collapse of Saddam's government, not the three years afterwards. CBS makes it sound like Hagee is talking about the entire post-invasion effort and sticks words in his mouth. In their blurb below Hagee's picture, they caption it with a "fast fact": Gen. Michael Hagee says he asked his boss again and again who would take charge of major Iraqi cities, such as Najaf.
In fact, Hagee never mentions Najaf during his interview. He mentions Fallujah, though, and points out that a year ago it took 3,000 Marines to secure the town. Now only 300 Marines are stationed there, because the Iraqi security forces have taken over most of their function. He tells Martin that he considers the transition to Iraqi forces a qualified success, although CBS doesn't bother to make any mention of it.
CBS wants to play fast and loose with their "fast facts". Readers should slow down and listen to Hagee rather than Martin's misleading characterization of the interview. (h/t: CQ reader PN)
Nobody reads CBS stuff.
We have all got to stop talking to liberal media outlets, along with restricting all viewing of them, too.
We all get screwed. If not on the front end, it's on the back end.
Dang liberals.
Here is one that needs a big old "CBS Lies" tag. I actually saw and earlier post of this without the Captain's clarifications and believed it to be completely implausible on its face.
LOL...I was just going to ping them myself.
You are quick!
Hagee needs to step up the mic and let everyone know that what he said is being taken out of context and being used to smear not only the administration but the entire Iraq war.
No he did not - the CMC is a force provider not a cambatant commander. LtGen Conway commanded I MEF.
Techincally, there was a Phase IV plan, albiet piss-poor...
David Martin has violated journalistic ethics. He lies, and has been caught misinterperting an interview of Gen Hagee.
David Martin, another practitioner in the media's culture of corruption.
Marked and response sent.
I know BS when I CBS...
It's SEE BS after all. Nothing changes.
Anyone that follows the news should not be surprised at the deception. The MSM should never be trusted to tell the truth.
Obviously Martin's truth has to be slanted to fit the picture he wants to portray. A lie is not a lie if it furthers the 'agenda'. He may have picked the wrong person to use as a sock puppet.
Reading this I get the sense that this CBS News is some sort of "journalism" outfit...Has anyone ever heard of them before?
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