Editor&Publisher: Bush and the blogging Baghdad brothers

[DeepModem Mom]

Blogging with Bush
In trying to win support for his escalation in Iraq, President Bush was reduced to quoting two bloggers in Baghdad -- who turned out to be brothers he once met at the White House -- and their comments were more than three weeks old. Has it come to this?
By Greg Mitchell

(March 28, 2007) -- This is how far he, and his argument for continuing the slaughter in Iraq, have fallen: President Bush today was reduced to quoting two anonymous bloggers from Baghdad.

He cited them as evidence that his surge/escalation is working. One problem: their posts were written weeks ago, and re-published in the Wall Street Journal on March 7.

So the bloggers weren't even talking about current conditions in Baghdad. That left it to Rajiv Chandrasekaran, former Baghdad bureau chief of The Washington Post -- and author of the heralded 2006 book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City" -- who appeared on MSNBC's "Countdown" tonight to debunk this idea of a newly-safe Baghdad. "I talk to Iraqis all the time," he said.

He revealed that there had been steady insurgent mortar shots falling in the supposedly safe "Green Zone" all week, at least two Americans had died there in recent days, and U.S. Embassy staff had been instructed, in a switch, to wear their protective armor and helmets outside at all times. He also disclosed that the embassy's pool, scene of much partying in the recent past, has now been declared off-limits. All of this and more appears in a Post "Green Zone" article on Thursday.

To back up his point that pulling out of Iraq would be a disaster, President Bush had said on Wednesday, "They have bloggers in Baghdad, just like we've got here," in a speech to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. Well, it's good to know he is keeping his eye on "the internets."

Then he quoted two of the bloggers: "Displaced families are returning home, marketplaces are seeing more activity, stores that were long shuttered are now reopening. We feel safer about moving in the city now. Our people want to see this effort succeed."

Only hours later did the White House reveal that the bloggers were brothers, Mohammed and Omar Fadhil, and these supposedly little-known average Joes had met Bush in the Oval Office in 2004. They are dentists and write an English-language blog from Baghdad called IraqTheModel.com, also available via Pajamas Media....

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003564636

[wakeme2008]

1. LOL as much as Bill Clinton was in command of the Internet,,,, Bushie is

less :rofl:

[rodeodance]

2. go check that site out----big mug of Rudy

[youngdem]

3. 'Hey America, our CIA sponsored false flag web site says things are GREAT'

So, don't believe your lying eyes.

I read the website. It is PURE, poorly veiled Rove talking points memos put into a sort of bullshit first person narrative, complete with American slang.

The whole website reeks of something thrown together in the basement of the White House over a weekend.


The whole thing is pathetic. I mean, who could question the impartiality of an average Iraqi blogger who just happens to have EXCELLENT English skills and an open invitation to the White House? Nothing fishy about that!

:sarcasm:

[Berry Cool]

4. They are part of Pajamas Media?

Well, there you go! Prroven right-wing nuts!

[tanyev]

5. I would even bet that those two guys have some Blackwater security guards.

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Thank you for reading and reporting, youngdem --

Somehow, I couldn't bring the site up last night (too sleepy, I think).