For a couple of days, the wingnuts have been ecstatic over a story that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace would tell President Bush to cut Iraqi troop strength in half. I first heard the story on CBS Radio News Friday morning on my way to work. The LA Times, quoting anonymous Pentagon and Administration officials, printed the the story in its Friday edition.
But the story was a fabrication, likely designed to quell the growing support for the war. Late Friday, Pace denied (FoxNews) the report.
The original LA Times story went to explain to readers that Pace’s recommendation would be devastating to Bush, forcing him to pull out of Iraq. Clearly, Julian Barnes and Peter Spiegel, the authors, made up much of the story or failed to obtain corroboration from independent, reliable sources.
My beef is with the media’s response to Pace’s denial of the story’s authenticity. Perhaps LA Times, the AP, and CBS News ran retractions or corrects. If they did, the corrections are well hidden. My Googling found that only Fox News (linked above) and Reuters. Yahoo! News carried the Reuters retraction, but not in their Top News sections. Sadly, al Jazeera proves more honest than the AP, LA Times, Washington Post, ABC, MSNBC, and CBS, carrying the retraction in English. Gateway Pundit, too, noticed the lack of retractions.
It amazes me that people, myself included, even bother to look to the MSM for information. Then, again, we scan the World News while in line at the grocery store.