White House DEMANDS Media Apologize For Telling The Truth

[kpete]

McClellan: Media Should “Publicly Apologize” For Reporting On Mobile Weapons Lab Story

On May 29, 2003, President Bush said “We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories.” This morning the Washington Post revealed that a Pentagon field report transmitted to Washington on May 27, 2003 “had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons.”

Today during the White House press briefing, Scott McClellan demanded a public apology from the news media for covering the story:

You know, I saw some reporting talking about how this latest revelation — which is not something that is new; this is all old information that’s being rehashed — was an embarrassment for the White House. No, it’s an embarrassment for the media that is out there reporting this.

I brought up with some of you earlier today some of the reporting that was based of this Washington Post report. And I talked to one of network about it…they expressed their apologies to the White House.

I hope they will go and publicly apologize on the air about the statements that were made, because I think it is important given that they had made those statements in front of all their viewers. So we look forward to that happening as well.”

McClellan’s complaint is that the Washington Post and others suggest that President Bush may have known about the report before he made definitive statements that the trailers were for the purpose of building biological weapons.

When McClellan was asked when the White House became aware of the Pentagon field report, however, McClellan couldn’t say. He told the press corps “I’m looking into that matter” but the answer was “not the point."

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/04/12/mcclellan-demands-apologize/

[walldude]

1. Yeah... the crime is not the point, the point is that someone

actually had the nerve to report it. :eyes:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. It is not that scottie could not say when Bush learned the truth, it was

that scottie refused to even consider the question. He always takes an uncomfortable issue or question, skirts it, claims he answered earlier, then goes on for 5 minutes to prevent any follow up, even though he totally ignores the actual question. I am quite sick of his show.

[tabasco]

16. McClellan is refusing to answer any questions about

what the pResident knew and when he knew it.

He refused to answer Helen Thomas' question on this because of the "ongoing investigation." LMAO. Then he continued to prattle on with his talking points on the matter.

[babylonsister]

3. Looks like snotty is tripping over his tongue again; I hope the

media don't back down on this, though I'm sure they're getting pretty sick of being chastized by this moran.

[quiet.american]

4. This is like the guy apologizing to Cheney for Cheney shooting him.n/t

[underpants]

7. That is it exactly

ZERO accountability

[Catrina]

11. Yes, they are used to having their victims apologize to them for

getting in the way of their bullets.

Scottie is a liar. I used to think maybe they didn't tell him everything but there's no way he could defend this and call himself honest. He's one of them, which is why they keep him on ~

I hope the press goes this in a big way.

Scottie on crime: If it happened three years ago, forget about it.

This is very encouraging news to criminals everywhere and their defense attorneys.

The Scottie Defense! :rofl:

[Jack Rabbit]

5. Scotty, go to your room and don't come out until you can talk sense

!!

[Dunvegan]

17. LOL, Jack...

:rofl:

Actually, Scotty is a very autonomous element in the WH, gossip has it.

His talent lies in cowing the press off-camera and and he uses the carrot-and-brick-bat approach with personal threats and access control.

He's not Press Sec. because of his charisma (obviously)...it's because of his (so far) effective back-room torture techniques.

[paparush]

6. Why Do You Hate Bush's Freedom to Hate Your Freedom?

[spanone]

8. The Media should tell the White House to kiss it's collective ass.

[bushmeister0]

9. Cherry picking intel, say it ain't so, Hussein Kamal!

The Post writes that:

"The trailers -- along with aluminum tubes acquired by Iraq for what was claimed to be a nuclear weapons program -- were primary pieces of evidence offered by the Bush administration before the war to support its contention that Iraq was making weapons of mass destruction."

Remember the aluminum tubes and how they weren't being used for cetrifuges? I guess, that's all "old information that’s being rehashed," too.

It seems to me I remember reading that Saddam's son-in-law, Hussein Kamal, who was in charge of Iraq's WMD, told UNSCOM inspectors in 1995 that the Iraqi used centrifuges made out of carbon, not aluminum. Oh yeah, and he also said:

"I ordered destruction of all chemical weapons. All weapons - biological, chemical, missile, nuclear were destroyed."

Ironically, Bush, B-liar and Colin Powell all used Kamal's defection as evidence that Saddam had WMD.

At the UN Powell said: "It took years for Iraq to finally admit that it had produced four tons of the deadly nerve agent, VX. A single drop of VX on the skin will kill in minutes. Four tons. The admission only came out after inspectors collected documentation as a result of the defection of Hussein Kamal, Saddam Hussein's late son-in-law."

Bush said, "In 1995, after several years of deceit by the Iraqi regime, the head of Iraq's military industries defected. It was then that the regime was forced to admit that it had produced more than 30,000 liters of anthrax and other deadly biological agents. The inspectors, however, concluded that Iraq had likely produced two to four times that amount. This is a massive stockpile of biological weapons that has never been accounted for, and capable of killing millions."

Yeah, he admited it, but he also said he destroyed it. Talk about "cherry picking" intelligence!

[0007]

15. What a guy

[AndyA]

10. George Bush needs to apologize to the American people for lying to us,

trampling our civil liberties and rights, spying on us, and generally being such an embarrassment to our country around the world. Then he should resign and leave office in shame, taking the rest of his corrupt and unqualified staff with him.

We still won't be even, but that would be a start in the right direction.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. You must hand it to MSNBC though. They still have the article up

and then they have an article about the WH's reaction.

[pacalo]

13. I think this is good for us. They're keeping this is the spotlight.

Howard Dean announced that he is going to be making the talk-show rounds to demand that the prezinut declassify documents that will "disprove" the WP article.

I love it.

[MasonJar]

14. Boy, Rove is really earning his keep on a daily basis; there is a

new and hideous revelation every day. When is Snotty ever going to let the WH take one little, tiny blame?

[madmark]

18. i do not even understand the logic of the WH blow back anymore.

[dogday]

19. Just like they want to blame The Times

because they broke the wire-tappping story.. Forget the story, the problem is the press... :sarcasm: