Should Scott McClellan Resign?
Keith Olbermann writes about Scott McClellan's representation yeterday that Newsweek and its unconfirmed report of desecration of the Koran by personnel at Guantanamo was responsible for the recent riots and deaths in Afghanistan.
It was just last Thursday, at a military briefing, that General Richard Myers said the protests and deaths had more to do with the continuing political and reconciliation process in Afganistan than it did to Newsweek's article about the desecration of the Koran.
Q: Do either one of you have anything about the demonstrations in Afghanistan, which were apparently sparked by reports that there was a lack of respect by some interrogators at Guantanamo for the Koran. Do either one of you have anything to say about that?
GEN. MYERS: It's the -- it's a judgment of our commander in Afghanistan, General Eikenberry, that in fact the violence that we saw in Jalalabad was not necessarily the result of the allegations about disrespect for the Koran -- and I'll get to that in just a minute -- but more tied up in the political process and the reconciliation process that President Karzai and his Cabinet is conducting in Afghanistan. So that's -- that was his judgment today in an after- action of that violence. He didn't -- he thought it was not at all tied to the article in the magazine.
Yesterday, McClellan said:
The Newsweek story... “has done damage to our image abroad and it has done damage to the credibility of the media and Newsweek in particular. People have lost lives. This report has had serious consequences.”
Today, McClellan said:
"We appreciate the step that Newsweek took yesterday," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "It was a good first step. And what we would like to see now is for Newsweek to work to help repair the damage that has been done, particularly in the region, and Newsweek certainly has the ability to help undo what damage can be undone."
Shouldn't we have a press secretary who doesn't lie to us? Olbermann says,
Ultimately, though, the administration may have effected its biggest mistake over this saga, in making the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs look like a liar or naïf, just to draw a little blood out of Newsweek’s hide. Either way - and also for that tasteless, soul-less conclusion that deaths in Afghanistan should be lain at the magazine’s doorstep - Scott McClellan should resign.
Update: Tom Burka of Opinions You Should Have wonders if the Newsweek retraction will prompt the Administration to retract its war on Iraq.
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