From: "Mark" 

I don't suppose it occurred to you, that you were not the intended
audience. Perhaps, just perhaps, Bush wanted some media coverage straight
from the horses mouth to reassure the Iraqi voters -- hence the selected
questions and the timing just before the constitutional referendum.

So, yes, I think you (and the press, but they always do) did get caught up
in insignificant side issues.

"Rich Gauszka"  wrote in message
news:434fa1e3$1{at}w3.nls.net...
> Yeah right. I reckon I just got caught up in 'side issues'. The belief
> that Bush would engage in an honest conversation with the troops.
> ===
> Later, at the White House briefing, Scott McClellan, the press secretary,
> deflected questions about the choreography, saying reporters who asked
> about that were getting caught up in "side issues."
>
> "Mark"  wrote in message
news:434f2ab0$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>> Why in the world you'd think any televised interview by anyone of anyone,
>> would be anything but pre-planned for brevity and content is beyond me
>> Rich. "Caught?" with the cameras running all along?
>>
>> But this is a most entertaining take on it:
>>
>> http://biglizards.net/blog/archives/2005/10/ap_response_to.html
>>
>>
>> "Rich Gauszka"  wrote in message
>> news:434ee31b{at}w3.nls.net...
>>> The Bushies get caught again
>>>
>>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051013/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_iraq_8
>>>
>>> WASHINGTON - It was billed as a conversation with U.S. troops, but the
>>> questions President Bush asked on a teleconference call Thursday were
>>> choreographed to match his goals for the war in Iraq and Saturday's vote
>>> on a new Iraqi constitution.
>>>
>>> "This is an important time," Allison Barber, deputy
assistant defense
>>> secretary, said, coaching the soldiers before Bush arrived. "The
>>> president is looking forward to having just a conversation
with you."
>>>
>>> Barber said the president was interested in three topics: the overall
>>> security situation in Iraq, security preparations for the weekend vote
>>> and efforts to train Iraqi troops.
>>>
>>> As she spoke in Washington, a live shot of 10 soldiers from the Army's
>>> 42nd Infantry Division and one Iraqi soldier was beamed into the
>>> Eisenhower Executive Office Building from Tikrit - the birthplace of
>>> former Iraqi leader     Saddam Hussein.
>>>
>>> "I'm going to ask somebody to grab those two water
bottles against the
>>> wall and move them out of the camera shot for me," Barber said.
>>>
>>> A brief rehearsal ensued.
>>>
>>> "OK, so let's just walk through this," Barber said.
"Captain Kennedy,
>>> you answer the first question and you hand the mike to whom?"
>>>
>>> "Captain Smith," Kennedy said.
>>>
>>> "Captain. Smith? You take the mike and you hand it to
whom?" she asked.
>>>
>>> "Captain Kennedy," the soldier replied.
>>>
>>> And so it went.
>>>
>>> "If the question comes up about partnering - how often do
we train with
>>> the Iraqi military - who does he go to?" Barber asked.
>>>
>>> "That's going to go to Captain Pratt," one of the
soldiers said.
>>>
>>> "And then if we're going to talk a little bit about the folks in
>>> Tikrit - the hometown - and how they're handling the political process,
>>> who are we going to give that to?" she asked.
>>>
>>> Before he took questions, Bush thanked the soldiers for serving and
>>> reassured them that the U.S. would not pull out of Iraq until the
>>> mission was complete.
>>>
>>> "So long as I'm the president, we're never going to back
down, we're
>>> never going to give in, we'll never accept anything less than total
>>> victory," Bush said.
>>>
>>> The president told them twice that the American people were behind them.
>>>
>>> "You've got tremendous support here at home," Bush said.
>>>
>>> Less than 40 percent in an AP-Ipsos poll taken in October said they
>>> approved of the way Bush was handling Iraq. Just over half of the public
>>> now say the Iraq war was a mistake.
>>>
>>> White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Thursday's event was
>>> coordinated with the Defense Department but that the troops were
>>> expressing their own thoughts. With satellite feeds, coordination often
>>> is needed to overcome technological challenges, such as delays, he said.
>>>
>>> "I think all they were doing was talking to the troops
and letting them
>>> know what to expect," he said, adding that the president
wanted to talk
>>> with troops on the ground who have firsthand knowledge about the
>>> situation.
>>>
>>> The soldiers all gave Bush an upbeat view of the situation.
>>>
>>> The president also got praise from the Iraqi soldier who was part of the
>>> chat.
>>>
>>> "Thank you very much for everything," he gushed.
"I like you."
>>>
>>> On preparations for the vote, 1st Lt. Gregg Murphy of Tennessee said:
>>> "Sir, we are prepared to do whatever it takes to make this thing a
>>> success. ... Back in January, when we were preparing for that election,
>>> we had to lead the way. We set up the coordination, we made the plan.
>>> We're really happy to see, during the preparation for this one, sir,
>>> they're doing everything."
>>>
>>> On the training of Iraqi security forces, Master Sgt. Corine Lombardo
>>> from Scotia, N.Y., said to Bush: "I can tell you over the past 10
>>> months, we've seen a tremendous increase in the capabilities and the
>>> confidences of our Iraqi security force partners. ... Over the next
>>> month, we anticipate seeing at least one-third of those Iraqi forces
>>> conducting independent operations."
>>>
>>> Lombardo told the president that she was in New York City on Nov. 11,
>>> 2001, when Bush attended an event recognizing soldiers for their
>>> recovery and rescue efforts at Ground Zero. She said the troops began
>>> the fight against terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist
>>> attacks and were proud to continue it in Iraq.
>>>
>>> "I thought you looked familiar," Bush said, and then
joked: "I probably
>>> look familiar to you, too."
>>>
>>> Paul Rieckhoff, director of the New York-based Operation Truth, an
>>> advocacy group for U.S. veterans of Iraq and     Afghanistan, denounced
>>> the event as a "carefully scripted publicity stunt."
Five of the 10 U.S.
>>> troops involved were officers, he said.
>>>
>>> "If he wants the real opinions of the troops, he can't do it in a
>>> nationally televised teleconference," Rieckhoff said.
"He needs to be
>>> talking to the boots on the ground and that's not a bunch of
captains."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

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