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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>From the Houston Chronicle</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Julie-ann</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>_________________</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></EM> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">March 19, 2004,
1:36PM</SPAN></EM><I><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"></P></SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN><!--/htdig_noindex-->
<H2 style="MARGIN: auto 0cm"><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">A
war story I wish I'd written<o:p></o:p></SPAN></H2>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">By HARVEY
RICE</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The realization that
the first anniversary of the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> invasion <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region></st1:place>
invasion was drawing near awakened memories I had buried since covering the war.
They<B> </B>summoned a measure of resentment, frustration and even guilt.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Those feelings were
sharpened<B> </B>by recent revelations raising the possibility that the
rationale for the war was cynically manufactured by the Bush administration<B>
</B>from selected, wildly inaccurate intelligence. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I was a witness to, and in
a sense a participant in, the most concerted, successful attempt by our
government to control war coverage in our<B> </B>history. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">And it went off with barely
a whimper from the men and women of the media. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The Chronicle had sent me
to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Doha</st1:City>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Qatar</st1:country-region></st1:place>, where I was to cover the war
from the headquarters of U.S. Central Command at Camp as Sayliyah.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Hundreds of reporters from
all over the world flocked to the $1 million press center at the base, believing
that this is where they would get a daily briefing{<>} on the progress of
the war. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Reporters with combat units
could only view a fragment of the story. The press briefers at<B> </B>Central
Command would give the overview. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">At least that's what
everyone thought. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Reality intruded the day
the war began. I was among a mob of reporters watching the opening salvos of the
war on a bank of television sets in the press center. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I turned to the press
officer nearest me, who was surrounded by reporters peppering him with
questions. "No comment," he told incredulous reporters."We don't want to
endanger the troops." <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Could he at least
acknowledge that the war had begun? <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"No comment."
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">When it was pointed out
that we were watching the invasion of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region> on television, he was unmoved.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Gradually, it dawned on me
that the military had herded us into the press center so that we could be kept
away from information. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The press center was sealed
off from the rest of the base, and access was controlled by armed guards. A
reporter's contact with military personnel of any rank was {<>}controlled
by a press officer. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">All military personnel,
except the press officers, were restricted to the base, so there was no
opportunity, as in past wars, for reporters to meet officers or enlisted men for
candid appraisals of the<B> </B>fighting as it unfolded<B>.</B>{<>}
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The entire anti-information
campaign was run by a Texan named<B> </B>Jim Wilkinson, a Republican political
operative who once worked for former U.S. Rep. Dick Armey.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Wilkinson, now
communications deputy for National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, was one of
a score of Republican operatives who descended on <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Florida</st1:place></st1:State> during the
balloting recount in the 2000 presidential campaign. Wilkinson also helped sell
the impression that Al Gore claimed to have "invented the Internet."
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Despite his penchant for
desert camouflage uniforms and military jargon, Wilkinson, a civilian, was
essentially a political commissar who controlled information about the war as if
he were running{<>} an election campaign. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">His assignment was to keep
the operation "on message." <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Wilkinson once called
a{<>} staff meeting to praise the 42 press officers for keeping reporters
away from news of any sort, one of the press officers revealed<B>.</B>
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Of the daily news briefing
at the base, Kevin Diaz, a reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, said, "It
was a political briefing from beginning to end. They never intended to give us
the X's and the O's." <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Michael Wolff, a columnist
for <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State>
magazine, drew hearty applause from reporters when he asked Brig. Gen. Vincent
Brooks, one of the command's chief spokesmen, during a briefing why we should
attend when so little information was forthcoming. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Every reporter I knew
concurred with the evaluation of the press center that appeared in Wolff's next
column: "It takes about 48 hours to understand that information is probably more
freely available at any other place in the world than it is here.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"At the end of the 48
hours, you realize that you know significantly less than when you arrived, and
that you're losing more sense of the larger picture by the hour. Eventually,
you'll know nothing." <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The contrast with the
British military spokesmen was profound. They readily gave me and other
reporters as many details as they could verify about British clashes with Iraqi
units. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> press officials steadfastly
refused to give a shred of information about American units outside the
briefings. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"In reality, we had two
different styles of news media management," Group Capt. Al Lockwood, the British
army spokesman at Central Command, told the Guardian newspaper. "I feel
fortunate to have been part of the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">U.K.</st1:place></st1:country-region> one." <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The British gave me one of
my few scoops, admitting that an uprising in Iraqi-held city of <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Basra</st1:place></st1:City> had fizzled.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Wilkinson waited until
three days after the war began before throwing out a few scraps of information.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">On the afternoon of the
third day, Gen. Tommy Franks, the man in charge of running the war, gave the
first briefing to a press corps thirsting for news. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">They were disappointed.
Franks spoke in generalities and gave little information about the progress of
the<B> </B>invasion<B>.</B> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"All in this room should
remain convinced that what we say from this podium -- myself or my staff -- or
what we say from the various press centers associated with this coalition, will
be absolute truth as we know it," Franks told us. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Yet he began the briefing
with a half-truth. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The <st1:country-region
w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region> had entered its second war with
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region> without the support of the
United Nations and with a much smaller coalition than the first war. In a clear
attempt to hype the perception of support for the war, Franks told the
briefing<B> </B>that 52 nations were represented at Central Command.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">He neglected to say that
many of those 52 nations were supporting <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> efforts in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:country-region>, not <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>. And many
of them were stridently opposed to the invasion. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">And that's where my guilt
comes in. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In retrospect, I realize
now that I should have filed a story the first day of the war saying that no
information was coming from Central Command. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Although most reporters
individually treated the press operation with the disdain it so richly<B>
</B>deserved, there were no stories revealing it for what it was.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">There were no publishers
making angry phone calls to the Pentagon or the White House -- no letters, no
outrage. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In this, we all<B>
</B>failed the American public. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Rice is a reporter for the <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Houston</st1:place></st1:City>
Chronicle.</SPAN></EM><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P><!--htdig_noindex-->
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