Mark Kimmitt called Aljazeera, and other Arab media outlets the "anti-coalition media" and advised viewers to "change the channel". He was joined by John Abizaid, who said "It is always interesting to me how Al-Jazeera manages to be at the scene of the crime whenever a hostage shows up or some other problem happens to be there."
I found some Kimmitt gems, a few days ago it was accusing the insurgents of using the population as "human shields", and some Abizaid gems, but it seems a silly pursuit. The real question is if these guys worked for George Marshall or Omar Bradley or Chester Nimitz would they be strutting and puffing, in the respective roles of deputy director of deputy director of operations (Iraq) and Brigadier General, and head of US Central Command and Major General, respectively. Or would they be in-route to Unalaska and defense of the Pribiloffs.
It is rather complex. The not very great paper here, the one that went 500 words on "Mullahs bad, elections good" back during the Iranian election cycle when I was doing the multi-part "Return of the ..." series, and finding the time delay in the US media outlets multi-day and the content consolidation rather remarkable -- something like all US press on Story-Foo derived from one (totally or partiall wrong) source, for several weeks of ongoing Foo-Stories, well, the Portland Press Herald just sent one of their people, someone I like, to Iraq. To report. Bill Nimitz is going into the Cheech-and-Chong Gong show orchestrated by Abizaid, Sanchez and Kimmitt, where he could get killed just as dead as Jim Rioux was by Mohammad Atta. He would be far safer here in Portland, and writing from the material that appears in the English editions of the Gulf press, Aljazeera included. America, even the Maine unit now stuck in Iraq, doesn't need more bad copy. It needs good writing and multi-sourced reporting to present a compeating narrative. N.B. Jim Rioux was our toxic torts (lead) attorney, he was going to represent Jonah's claim(s) until 9-11 stopped him.
I started this piece today with the contrast between a Reuters wire that described Sadr as "vehemently anti-American" or some such overblown capitalization, and the texts from many Iraqi bloggers who find him equivalent in his excesses as some people the Americans (we) have put into their (our) puppet government. It was this kind of crap that drove me, personally, to learn French and read Le Monde. That was my escape from a press defined by the Five O'clock Follies" held by the MAC/V press handlers.
Source: defenselink.mil
Abizaid: I would like to add about the Fallujah situation -- I was just out there talking to the Marines a couple of days ago. The Marines have been doing a great job in conducting military operations. They've been very precise. They have attempted to protect civilians to the best of their ability. The Arab press, in particular Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiyah, are portraying their actions as purposely targeting civilians. And we absolutely do not do that, and I think everybody knows that.It is always interesting to me how Al-Jazeera manages to be at the scene of the crime whenever a hostage shows up or some other problem happens to be there. So they are -- they have not been truthful in their reporting, they haven't been accurate, and it is absolutely clear that American forces are doing their very best to protect civilians and at the same time get at the military targets there.