Bush Is Called ‘Despicable’ for Smearing L.A. Times

The American Prospect’s Greg Sargent calls Bush “truly despicable” for saying in a speech that an L.A. Times article had tipped off terrorists to some of our anti-insurgent technology. In fact, the relevant information had been public far before the article ran, and the piece highlighted the fact that the technology was 10 months late arriving in Iraq–resulting in who knows how many deaths. Sargent writes: “So who’s really anti-troops here, again?”

American Prospect:

WHITE HOUSE SMEARS. This is truly despicable. Yesterday in his speech at George Washington University, President Bush offered the latest chapter in the GOP’s ongoing blame-the-press-for-Iraq narrative. Speaking of something called the Joint IED Neutralizer, which is meant to counter roadside bombs, Bush said this:

Earlier this year, a newspaper published details of a new anti-IED technology that was being developed. Within five days of the publication — using details from that article — the enemy had posted instructions for defeating this new technology on the Internet. We cannot let the enemy know how we’re working to defeat him.

Bush didn’t name the newspaper. But his aides subsequently leaked confirmation to the press that he was talking about the Los Angeles Times. And guess what: It turns out that Bush left out a small detail about the offending article in question. Turns out it was about the fact that some military officials were angry that this potentially life saving technology still hasn’t been shipped to Iraq, ten months after Pentagon officials recommended investing in research and sending prototypes to Iraq for testing.

Full story