Rumsfeld Says Media Are Either Allies or Dupes of Al Qaeda

Washingtonpost.com:

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.

...

"Interestingly, all of the exaggerations seem to be on one side," Rumsfeld said today, referring to recent reporting on the conflict. "It isn't as though there simply have been a series of random errors on both sides of issues. On the contrary, the steady stream of errors all seem to be of a nature to inflame the situation and to give heart to the terrorists and to discourage those who hope for success in Iraq."

The Post-ABC poll also said half of all Americans say the United States should begin withdrawing its forces from Iraq.

"There's been a public opinion poll reporting that the readers of these exaggerations believe Iraq is in a civil war -- a majority do," Rumsfeld said, adding that faulty news reports had "an effect" on the poll results, swaying the opinion of the American people.

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

"I have no way to judge; I'm not going to judge them," Rumsfeld said of the news media. "It's just a fact that [Casey] is saying that. And I believe he's correct."

Later, Rumsfeld added: "We do know, of course, that al-Qaeda has media committees. We do know that they teach people exactly how to try to manipulate the media. They do this regularly. We see the intelligence that reports on their meetings. Now I can't take a string and tie it to a news report and then trace it back to an al-Qaeda media committee meeting. I'm not able to do that at all.

"We do know that their goal is to try to break the will; that they consider the center of gravity of this -- not to be in Iraq, because they know they can't win a battle out there; they consider it to be in Washington, D.C., and in London and in the capitals of the Western world."

Mmmmmmmm, despicable.  Wonder where Instahack gets it from?

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.

Who you gonna believe, the people on the ground or Don "I'm not going to judge them" Rumsfeld?