Free Republic

Talk about leading the witness . . . Rajiv Chandrasekaran was the Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post during the tenure of Paul Bremer as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in the period succeeding the removal of Saddam Hussein. Chandrasekaran is the author of Imperial Life in the Emerald City, a book generally critical of Bremer's administration -- but apparently not critical enough for Chris Matthews. Chandrasekaran was Matthews' guest on today's Hardball. At one point, Matthews launched this vulgar leading question: "Did this guy blow it? Was he a joke? Was he an arse on a golden...

Media: The U.S. administrator said goodbye to the Iraqis, and at least some were moved by his words. It was the type of story that the prestige press tries to ignore.Actually, two influential dailies, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, did more than ignore Paul Bremer's speech. They simply denied that it occurred. Bremer's remarks aired on Arab-language TV on June 28, the day the U.S. restored Iraqi sovereignty. One Iraqi, a 33-year-old Baghdad physician named Ali who runs the Iraq the Model Web log with his two brothers, reported how a busy hall went quiet when Bremer...

From Wapo's man in Baghdad We have received a message from the Washington Post's man in Baghdad, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, regarding Ambassador Bremer's farewell address. It's a long message, but of sufficient interest and importance that I'm simply posting the message in its entirety below: For those of you who have been interested in the subject of why The Washington Post reported that U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer did not deliver a "farewell address" before departing Iraq on June 28, let me provide some detail and context. I am The Post's bureau chief in Baghdad and the author of the article...

July 2, 2004 -- IRAQ veterans often say they're confused by U.S. news cover age, because their experience differs so greatly from what journalists report. Soldiers and Marines point to the slow, steady progress in almost all areas of Iraqi life and wonder why they don't get much notice — or in many cases, any notice at all. Part of the explanation is Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post. Chandrasekaran's crew generates a relentlessly negative stream of articles from Iraq. Last week, he had a Pulitzer-bait series called "Promises Unkept: The U.S. Occupation of Iraq." The...

July 2, 2004 -- IRAQ veterans often say they're confused by U.S. news cover age, because their experience differs so greatly from what journalists report. Soldiers and Marines point to the slow, steady progress in almost all areas of Iraqi life and wonder why they don't get much notice — or in many cases, any notice at all. Part of the explanation is Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post. Chandrasekaran's crew generates a relentlessly negative stream of articles from Iraq. Last week, he had a Pulitzer-bait series called "Promises Unkept: The U.S. Occupation of Iraq." The...