Rumsfeld Says Media Exaggerating Iraqi Civilian Deaths; but no examples

[dajoki]

WP
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/07/AR2006030700792.html?nav=hcmodule

Rumsfeld Says Media Exaggerating Iraqi Civilian Deaths
Defense Secretary Suggests Misreporting Swaying Public Opinion

By Bill Brubaker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today presented an upbeat report of the conflict in Iraq and said he agrees with the commander of the U.S.-led coalition, Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., that the news media has exaggerated the number of civilian casualties in the conflict.

<<snip>>

But the news media in the United States and abroad has misreported the number of Iraqi civilians that have been killed and the number of mosques that have come under attack, Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news conference.

<<snip>>

Casey told reporters on Friday that in the initial days after the Feb. 22 bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine in Samarra, there was "a confusing jumble of exaggerated reporting that actually took us a few days to, kind of, sort through." He said 350 Iraqi civilians had died in a surge of sectarian killings, militia violence and revenge attacks on about 30 mosques around the country after the bombing.

<<snip>>

The Washington Post reported earlier last week that the death count was higher, quoting Baghdad morgue officials as saying it was more than 1,300 and, subsequently, an Interior Ministry official who put the number at 1,077. An international official knowledgeable about the case also confirmed that the death toll has reached at least 1,000 and said Iraqi officials, including morgue workers, had been intimidated into giving lower numbers.

<<snip>>

Rumsfeld did not cite examples of the misreporting he and Casey say has taken place.

[fishnfla]

1. There's Elad's "surge of violence" line again

Rummy is a liar, and a delusional one at that

[redphish]

2. Oh what, so 350 dead is OK?

I think I need to go

:puke:

[dajoki]

5. numbers means nothing to them...

it's all just perception and spin. trying to fool the American public, but it looks like it isn't working anymore.

[MadMaddie]

3. You know I want to know what the population of Iraq...

before the illegal invasion and what it is now...

Simple mathmatics....

The * Cabal is lying again.....

[dajoki]

4. good point...

but we won't get a straight answer.