Al Snyder at USC Center on Public Diplomacy’s Worldcasting cites this post where I asked whether General Abizaid actually gave a speech referred to in notes taken by an anonymous student of the Naval War College where the speech was said to have taken place. Not only were the same notes circulated on the internet with different citations but they were read on Washington Journal by Brian Lamb who said they’d been e-mailed to someone on C-Span’s staff. Lamb used them to bolster the argument that the press has been unduly negative in its Iraq coverage and he quoted similar comments made by Donald Rumsfeld to Jim Lehrer on 8 December 2005 as well.
Al Snyder finds:
In the holiday crease between Christmas/Chanukah and January 1, when knowledgeable public affairs aides became available, Worldcasting confirmed with both U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and the Naval War College that General Abizaid did indeed speak at the College on November 10. He spoke from notes, the speech was not recorded, and there is no official transcript of it. LT. Tawney Dotson at CENTCOM public affairs says reports on the Internet “accurately reflect the spirit” of General Abizaid’s remarks.
Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough of The Washington Times‘ Inside the Ring reported similar details on 16 December 2005, more than a month after this “off-the-record” speech was given and little more than a week after people began to question the existence of the speech and the validity of the e-mails posted to the internet as early as 22 November.
Al Snyder concludes:
It remains unclear why the definitive report on General Abizaid’s remarks had to come from an anonymous student, or whoever it really was, with the inevitable questions raised of its authenticity, which surely diminished its impact. An official transcript of General Abizaid’s off-the-cuff remarks could have easily been supplied to the press to avoid the confusion, and to promote a fuller understanding of U.S. military operations in Iraq.
So why didn’t Bush quote Gen. Abizaid on his recent PR offensive for the continuing occupation? Is Abizaid an unreliable source after all?