From: "Mark" 

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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