Did the 'mainstream' media 'distort' Maliki's press conference?

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John Ward Anderson writes in The Washington Post: (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501138_pf.html)

"Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lashed out at the United States on Wednesday, saying his popularly elected government would not bend to U.S.-imposed benchmarks and timelines and criticizing a U.S.-Iraqi military operation in a Shiite slum in Baghdad that left at least five people dead and 20 wounded. . . .

"With less than two weeks to go before critical midterm elections in the United States, Maliki accused U.S. officials of election-year grandstanding, saying that deadlines were not logical and were 'the result of elections taking place right now that do not involve us.'"

In his interview with conservative journalists yesterday, Bush strongly backed Maliki -- and even seemed to acknowledge that the prime minister had a legitimate grievance when it came to the military operation in question.

"He got concerned that we were making decisions in certain neighborhoods. Look, our agreement with him is, we'll keep you posted. We didn't keep him posted. But he understands that he's going to have to -- we're going to have to go after these guys. This is a sovereign government. This was elected by the people. As fragile as it is, it is a government of the Iraqi people, which we've got to honor."


Bush put out this post on their site, called, "Setting the Record Straight: Mainstream Media Reports Inaccurate; Distort Prime Minister Maliki's Press Conference"

Here's a summary:

Reports Draw Incorrect Conclusions By Taking Prime Minister Maliki's Remarks Out Of Context

Prime Minister Maliki Was Asked Whether He Agreed With Setting An 18-Month Timeline For The Withdrawal Of Coalition Forces

Prime Minister Maliki Was Clarifying That The U.S. Government Is NOT Pursuing A Timeline For Withdrawing Forces

News Reports Are Taking Prime Minister Maliki's Comments Out Of Context

Prime Minister Maliki And President Bush Agree On Sadr City Raid And Pursuing Illegal Militias

Prime Minister Maliki And President Bush Agree On Coordination


details here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061026-3.html


What impact could these 'setting the record straight' post have? I see them as ready-made scripts for their media shills. Stuff Limbaugh would use. Anyway . . .

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1. kick

[w8liftinglady]

2. Kicking -"setting the record straight" reminds me of

Fascists rewriting the news.

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3. it's an unbelievable collection of all of their lies in one place

good impeachment resource.