On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 16:35:44 -0500, Brice Yokem <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>This is from an interview with Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of staff
>of
>Colin Powell.
>Now, why would this interview/article be biased?
>
>-------------------
>
><Snort>  This is Colin Powell's OPINION.  Even worse, it it the OPINION
>of someones OPINION.  GWB wasn't involved enough in
>the details...  how is this anything but opinion?  Why does GWB have a
>staff to do work for him, so he can do all the work himself?  He has to
>trust the information he was given by his staff is true, if he cannot do
>that there is no reason to have a staff.  If it turns out a staff member
>distorted details or cooked up false information, then that member's job
>is in jeopardy and that is how it should be.
>
>There is nothing in the article showing the opposing OPINION either, that
>is bias.

Brice,

if you want to read a biased article, read them in the Iraqui newspaper.
The Pentagon pays for faked positive stories. Now that is really biased.
And nobody told GWB about this. Donald probably forgot. 
George really runs the show. ;->

Paid-For Iraq Stories Concern White House 
President Bush's spokesman said Thursday "we're very concerned" about 
reports that the U.S. military is paying Iraqi newspapers and journalists 
to plant favorable stories about the war and the rebuilding effort. 

"We are seeking more information from the Pentagon," White House spokesman 
Scott McClellan said.

At the Pentagon, spokesman Bryan Whitman said, as he did a day earlier in 
response to reporters' inquiries about the reports, that he was seeking 
details from U.S. military officials in Baghdad. "I have very few facts," 
Whitman said, adding that he would not confirm the essence of the story 
until he learned more from Baghdad.

"It's certainly an issue that's easy to get emotional about, and we need to 
understand the facts, and when we do I'll provide you as much information 
as I can," Whitman said.

The spokesman said that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was "aware of 
the issue," but he would not say whether Rumsfeld had expressed concern 
about it or whether the secretary had asked for additional information 
about it.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said the reports were troubling.

"I think that the United States of America paying for stories in Iraqi 
papers undermines America's credibility," Kerry said in the White House 
driveway after attending a bill-signing ceremony. "What we need are Iraqis 
who really believe what they're saying and say it for themselves. ... You 
need to deal with the truth, not with things that you make up or put out 
there as propaganda."

McClellan noted that Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff, had said on Wednesday that he was not aware of the matter until he 
read a newspaper account of it that morning. Asked on ABC News' "Nightline" 
whether he thought the practice was appropriate, Pace replied, "Anything 
that would be detrimental to the proper functioning of a democracy in 
Iraq would worry me. I just don't know what the facts are."

Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman in Iraq, said, "I am not aware 
of any formal review of the program, although it is constantly being 
assessed for effectiveness."

In Baghdad on Thursday, a senior military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, 
was asked whether he thought the program undercuts the credibility of 
either the American military or the new Iraqi news media. Lynch did not 
answer directly but quoted a senior al-Qaida leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, as 
having told Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the main terrorist leader in 
Iraq, "Remember, half the battle is the battlefield of the media."

Lynch said Zarqawi lies to the Iraqi people and he said the American 
military does not.

"We do empower our operational commanders with the ability to inform the 
Iraqi public, but everything we do is based on fact not based on fiction," 
Lynch said.

Details about the program were first reported by the Los Angeles Times on 
Wednesday. It marked the second time this year that Pentagon programs have 
come under scrutiny for reported payments made to journalists for favorable 
press.

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