Liberty Maven

In response to the Daily Telegraph’s release of its report on the prisoner photos, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs not only denied the accuracy of the report, but issued a rather peculiar statement about the British Press in general.

“If I wanted to read a write-up today of how Manchester United fared last night in the Champions League cup, I might open up a British newspaper. If I was looking for something that bordered on truthful news, I’m not sure it would be the first stack of clips I picked up… Again, I think if you do an even moderate Google search, you’re not going to find many of these newspapers and truth within, say, 25 words of each other.”

I’m not even really sure where he’s coming from on this one. The Daily Telegraph is not a British tabloid – it’s by all accounts a credible newspaper which has the largest circulation of any in the United Kingdom. Further, the report isn’t from an anonymous source – it quotes American Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who actually agrees with the Obama Administration when it comes to not releasing the photos, using their sensational nature as his justification. Is Gibbs really disputing the reporting of Taguba’s statements, or Taguba, the man who carried out the investigation of Abu Ghraib, himself?

On second thought, maybe I can see why he’d target the press.

Update: Was Gibbs right afterall? Taguba is now stating he never saw the photos in question, but rather was speaking generally about photos which have already been released, and was taken out of context.