Rumsfeld: Enemy in Iraq 'Manipulating' the U.S. Press

By: E&P Staff in this pre-election news cycle, several top Bush administration officials have been giving interviews to friendly local radio hosts. Among them: Secetary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Yesterday he chatted with Bill LuMaye of WPTF, in Raleigh, N.C.

Rumsfled complained that the news media has focussed on the bad news out of Iraq, which he claimed is mainly isolated in provinces close to Baghdad. Then Lumaye asked about insurgents and the election and the press. Here is that portion of the transcript.
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LUMAYE: Do you think -- do you agree with the vice president -- and I think there's a lot of validity in this -- in that part of the uptick we're seeing in violence in Iraq -- and I don't want to lay it all on his statement that -- but it could quite possibly, could it not, be due to the fact that the -- we're going through the elections cycle here? Do you agree with that?

SEC. RUMSFELD: Well, General -- I believe General Caldwell out in Baghdad announced that there are websites that are encouraging violence because of the election. So it -- I mean, there's evidence of that.

You know, they're very good at manipulating the American press and managing the news in a way that advantages them and tries to break the will of the American people. And they're good at it, they know what they're doing, they consciously plan their attacks to achieve that end.

LUMAYE: Well, Mr. Secretary, I know that they come after you all the time, and I don't think it bothers you. But I know you care an awful lot about the soldiers, unquestionably. How do you feel about the kinds of reports we're seeing -- and I don't want to get stuck on the media thing, but you know, you had CNN recently with the terrorist tape; I've seen Katie Couric, CBS News, they have embedded reporters with the Taliban. And I could give you a long list, but I think you get the gist of where I'm going with this. How do you react to that?

SEC. RUMSFELD: Well, it is -- you know, it's a judgment call for people. I feel so strongly and so supportive of the American troops and what they're doing and they're so proud of what they're doing, and they know what they're doing is achieving a positive end and making progress. You can't visit with them out in Iraq or even in the hospital at Walter Reed or Bethesda here and not come away inspired by their dedication and their patriotism and their conviction that they're going to succeed in what it is they're doing. And to see anyone denigrate that in some way or another is obviously discouraging. On the other hand, we've got 145,000 troops over there that are sending back e-mails telling the truth, telling their families and friends what's actually going on. And I think that's a salutory thing in this conflict.