By: E&P Staff On Friday, one of the top stories in the media concerned a strong denunciation of U.S. killing of civilians by new Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki. His quoted words went well beyond the alleged Haditha massacre to include more "routine" actions, as he put it, such as U.S. troops in vehicles running down Iraqis or running them off the road.
A widely reprinted account written by Richard Oppel Jr. in The New York Times quoted him calling such killings a "daily phenomenon." Others carried strong language without the "daily" quote. All were presumably based on translations. "They crush them with their vehicles and kill them just on suspicion," Maliki said, in The New York Times version. "This is completely unacceptable."
The different wording in the translations was noted by some defenders of the U.S. effort in Iraq, and then it became a large issue at Press Secretary Tony Snow's briefing at the White House on Friday, after he announced that the prime minister now claims he was "misquoted" -- but could not explain at all what he actually did say.
Now, will the media stand by its quotes and translations? So far they have, except for a correction from The New York Times of the key "daily" reference.
In a followup on Saturday, Oppel observed that a review of its Maliki quotes confirmed them, except for the "daily" reference. "In its translation," he explained, "The Times also quoted Mr. Maliki as saying that the violence he was condemning had become a 'daily phenomenon.' The review of that quotation found that it was inaccurately translated. Mr. Maliki said that the violence had become a 'regular occurrence' ? not a 'daily phenomenon.'"
Here is the relevant portion of the Tony Snow briefing transcript.
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Q And also can you -- have you been able to get any kind of readout on what the Prime Minister said yesterday about --
MR. SNOW: Yes. As a matter of fact, I just -- I spoke just a couple of minutes with Ambassador Khalilzad, who, today with General Casey, went over and spoke with the Prime Minister. And according to the Ambassador, the Prime Minister says he was misquoted. General Casey has said that he will inform him fully of the results of investigations when they have concluded. He filled him in on the fact that there are two separate tracks, one having to do with the timing of reporting in Haditha, and number two, on the criminal investigations.
And apparently the Prime Minister did try to sort of explain how such a characterization would be made in the press, but that is a little too complicated for me to try to read out. But in any event, they did have a meeting with him.
It's probably also important to note that, on a more general basis, a couple of propositions. Secretary Rumsfeld today said of the allegations, "We don't expect U.S. soldiers to act that way, and they're trained not to." But as I have done from this podium, and as all of us in the administration will continue to do, you're not going to be able to get specific reaction to specific charges for the simple reason that it could, in fact, get in the way of any necessary prosecution, should it become necessary, and we're not going to get ourselves embroiled in the legal process.
A couple of other points. The President has, on a number of occasions recently, expressed his admiration for Prime Minister Maliki, who seems to be a take-charge guy. We were heartened by the fact that it appears that he will be completing his cabinet and filling it out within the next few days also. But he went to Basra, which was a pretty courageous thing to do, a couple of days ago, saying, we're going to go in and we're going to take care of the security here. The Prime Minister is clearly somebody who is eager to take on the responsibilities of providing for the safety and security of the Iraqi people, and we look forward to working with him.
Q He was misquoted. Do you have a sense of what he said or meant to say?
MR. SNOW: No, I -- it was one of these things where he said at one point he was asking an unrelated question about a traffic stop, and it really does get pretty convoluted. I don't want to get myself too much into it. But he said -- what Ambassador Khalilzad did say is that he said he was misquoted and they're going to look into it. That is what Prime Minister said.
Q Can I just follow on that, Tony, because it sounds a little too neatly wrapped up.
MR. SNOW: Well, then you're going to have to take that up with the Prime Minister.
Q Well, but I assume we were taking that up with the Prime Minister. So why don't we talk about it from the U.S. government perspective.
MR. SNOW: All right.
Q Which is how does the President react to the fact that someone we had heaped praise on has fired a pretty serious shot across the bow at U.S. forces who are securing Iraq?
MR. SNOW: Well, I've just told you, David, that he said he didn't.
Q And that's it? I mean --
MR. SNOW: Yes.
Q -- he was just misquoted?
MR. SNOW: Yes.
Q So what did he -- I just want to push --
MR. SNOW: Well, again, you can feel free to push. I've tried to relay to you what was related to me by --
Q That he just didn't mean it?
MR. SNOW: No, no, not that he didn't mean it, that he didn't say it. He said he was misquoted. When somebody says they're misquoted that means --
Q What's the issue? What's the concern that U.S. officials over there are trying to deal with, then?
MR. SNOW: They're not. There are regular meetings. I think -- as you know, there are allegations of things that have gone on in Haditha, in Hamandiya and now in Ishaqi. And these things are -- these are matters --
Q But his remarks are much more general than that.
MR. SNOW: But I'm answering your question, because what I'm trying to do is to talk about the nature of the conversations between the Ambassador and General Casey and the Prime Minister. And, again, this is based on my conversation just concluded with the Ambassador. And they try to maintain regular contact about these things, and they want to make sure that he's fully informed.
Now I am sure that the Prime Minister is every bit as troubled by the allegations as the President of the United States is. And he got the full assurances from General Casey that he will be given all the evidence and all the materials available so he will know what's going on. I think that's really what's going on.
The other thing is, it seems pretty clear that Prime Minister Maliki values the contributions of American forces, but he also wants to make sure, at the earliest practicable moment, that Iraqis can stand up and take full responsibility for security within their borders. And on that, they're all working together on a daily basis.
Q So does the Ambassador and does General Casey sense that they've got some frustration in the Iraqi leadership?
MR. SNOW: No, I don't think so. As a matter of fact, this is an Iraqi leadership that's not even two weeks old. They don't sense frustration. Actually, what's interesting is that the readout I am getting on the Prime Minister -- and everybody -- they're still in that phase where they're getting to know each other -- Prime Minister Maliki is not an English speaker, he speaks Arabic, and so it's not the kind of thing where these guys have had long-standing conversations. So they're feeling each other out.
What I'm getting is just the opposite of frustration. They're impressed. They're impressed that they've got a guy who is not afraid to make decisions, who is not afraid to show leadership, and who is not afraid to put himself in some pretty difficult situations, such as making the trip down to Basra the other day.
So, no, I would wave you away from any characterization that there's frustration. What I'm hearing is, everybody is impressed and they're wishing him success and they want to see more and they want to get to know him better.
Q I'm talking about frustration on his end toward us.
MR. SNOW: No. No.
Q So we don't have a problem here with the Iraqi Prime Minister?
MR. SNOW: No. No.
Q What was misinterpreted? Surely -- you've been a reporter a long time. You just simply ask, what was the real reason that he --
MR. SNOW: Well, what I've tried to do --
Q Where does he say he was misinterpreted?
MR. SNOW: Well, unfortunately, Helen, I have just tried to -- what I'm trying is to relate to you, through Ambassador Khalilzad, through me, what was told to him through an interpreter by the Prime Minister. And it becomes a little convoluted, and so I don't want to make a real clear characterization, because it's a little hazy to me, too. All right? What I do know is that he was misquoted, he's looking into it. But that what he said, and when he said it, and in reaction to what is a little gauzy.
Q No, no, no, but what was the crux of the misinterpretation?
MR. SNOW: The crux is that he says he didn't say it, and that there was --
Q He didn't say he wants us out?
MR. SNOW: Somebody had shouted out a question about an unrelated incident, and I'm not sure I can quite follow it either.
Jim.
Q The phrase that I saw was, "a daily phenomenon." This is fairly specific stuff he's talking about. So to say, well, we know he didn't say that, when the quotes are -- it's not a generalization, it's very specific stuff that he's quoted as saying. So if you then turn around and say: Well, we know he didn't say that; we don't know what he said, but we know he didn't say that --
MR. SNOW: I'm just telling you what he said. But here's the other thing. Here's Rich Oppel's piece --
Q You're not telling us what he said.
MR. SNOW: But I don't know exactly what he said. All I'm doing is giving you the characterization I repeated through the Ambassador. I'm trying my best to be your advocate on this one. But I did not have a direct conversation with the Ambassador -- I mean, with the Prime Minister. But it's interesting to note that you have -- violence against civilians has become a "daily phenomenon by many troops in the American-led coalition who did not respect the Iraqi people." This is gauzian in and of itself. It doesn't refer to American troops. It talks about troops in an American-led coalition, which also involves Iraqi troops. I don't know what this means. I wish I did, and I wish I could give you clearer guidance.
Q But we do know that it's favorable in terms of the relationship between Maliki and the United States?
MR. SNOW: Yes....
Q And at some point, we will get a more accurate readout about exactly what he did mean?
MR. SNOW: Lots of luck. We will see what we can get. All right?
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