Saturday, May 22, 2004
Powell Far From Finished
Admittedly, I am little late commenting on Powell’s interview with Tim Russert last Sunday. However, better late than never. This is how the Washington Post described the incident, which happened towards the end of interview.
“Toward the end of a "Meet the Press" interview with Secretary of State Colin Powell in Jordan, the camera suddenly moved off Powell to a shot of trees in front of the water.
"You're off," State Department press aide Emily Miller was heard saying.
"I am not off," Powell insisted.
"No, they can't use it, they're editing it," Miller said.
"He's still asking the questions," Powell said.
Miller, a onetime NBC staffer who recently worked for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, also told Powell: "He was going to go for another five minutes."
Undeterred, Russert complained from Washington: "I would hope they would put you back on camera. I don't know who did that." He later said, "I think that was one of your staff, Mr. Secretary. I don't think that's appropriate."
As the delay dragged on, Powell ordered: "Emily, get out of the way. Bring the camera back please." Powell's image returned to the screen, and Russert asked his last question.
What happened was that both NBC and Fox News were using Jordanian television facilities for back-to-back Powell interviews. Russert was allotted 10 minutes and was asked to wrap when he went over by about two minutes. He said "Finally, Mr. Secretary," but abruptly lost his guest.
Russert was still puzzled afterward. "A taxpayer-paid employee interrupted an interview," he said. "Not in the United States of America, that's not supposed to go on. This is attempted news management gone berserk. Secretary Powell was really stand-up. He was a general and took charge." Powell later called the NBC anchor from his plane to apologize for the glitch.
State Department spokeswoman Julie Reside disputed Russert's characterization, saying that NBC "went considerably beyond the agreed end time. Other networks were waiting for their interviews and had satellite time booked, and we didn't want to keep them waiting."
Asked why he simply didn't edit out the awkward interlude from the taped interview, Russert said: "It's part of the story."
I am no conspiracy theorist, but I have to agree with Russert’s meek characterization of what happened as “news management gone berserk”. Not only did Emily try muzzle/censor the Sectary of Defense she was obviously watching over Powell had the behest of someone quite powerful. Guppies do not attack sharks without the protection of another shark (most likely from the Pentagon, but more on that below.)
Whoever it was, they had reason to want Powell muzzled. Picking up on an earlier quote indicating that Powell thought that the information he presented before UN was false, Russert asked Powell about the his earlier statement. This is what Powell said. “When I made that presentation in February 2003, it was based on the best information that the Central Intelligence Agency made available to me. We studied it carefully; we looked at the sourcing in the case of the mobile trucks and trains. There was multiple sourcing for that. Unfortunately, that multiple sourcing over time has turned out to be not accurate. And so I'm deeply disappointed. But I'm also comfortable that at the time that I made the presentation, it reflected the collective judgment, the sound judgment of the intelligence community. But it turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and in some cases, deliberately misleading. And for that, I am disappointed and I regret it.”
Now, some members of the press have speculated that the reason that Powell did this was to sure up his legacy that was dearly damaged by the UN speech. Perhaps. However, I do not think that Powell is so selfish as to put his own legacy ahead of the interests of the country. I think Powell’s original comments and the last sentence quoted above is just one more saga in the continuing war between the Pentagon and State Department and the CIA over the reliability of the INC. Powell essentially called INC a bunch of liars. As for that long running war, pace those people who have all but written Powell off, the arrest of some of INC people, the leaked stories about the INC being suspect for some time and decision to no longer fund them is a sure sign that the INC battle is at last over and surprise State Department and the CIA have won.
Admittedly, I am little late commenting on Powell’s interview with Tim Russert last Sunday. However, better late than never. This is how the Washington Post described the incident, which happened towards the end of interview.
“Toward the end of a "Meet the Press" interview with Secretary of State Colin Powell in Jordan, the camera suddenly moved off Powell to a shot of trees in front of the water.
"You're off," State Department press aide Emily Miller was heard saying.
"I am not off," Powell insisted.
"No, they can't use it, they're editing it," Miller said.
"He's still asking the questions," Powell said.
Miller, a onetime NBC staffer who recently worked for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, also told Powell: "He was going to go for another five minutes."
Undeterred, Russert complained from Washington: "I would hope they would put you back on camera. I don't know who did that." He later said, "I think that was one of your staff, Mr. Secretary. I don't think that's appropriate."
As the delay dragged on, Powell ordered: "Emily, get out of the way. Bring the camera back please." Powell's image returned to the screen, and Russert asked his last question.
What happened was that both NBC and Fox News were using Jordanian television facilities for back-to-back Powell interviews. Russert was allotted 10 minutes and was asked to wrap when he went over by about two minutes. He said "Finally, Mr. Secretary," but abruptly lost his guest.
Russert was still puzzled afterward. "A taxpayer-paid employee interrupted an interview," he said. "Not in the United States of America, that's not supposed to go on. This is attempted news management gone berserk. Secretary Powell was really stand-up. He was a general and took charge." Powell later called the NBC anchor from his plane to apologize for the glitch.
State Department spokeswoman Julie Reside disputed Russert's characterization, saying that NBC "went considerably beyond the agreed end time. Other networks were waiting for their interviews and had satellite time booked, and we didn't want to keep them waiting."
Asked why he simply didn't edit out the awkward interlude from the taped interview, Russert said: "It's part of the story."
I am no conspiracy theorist, but I have to agree with Russert’s meek characterization of what happened as “news management gone berserk”. Not only did Emily try muzzle/censor the Sectary of Defense she was obviously watching over Powell had the behest of someone quite powerful. Guppies do not attack sharks without the protection of another shark (most likely from the Pentagon, but more on that below.)
Whoever it was, they had reason to want Powell muzzled. Picking up on an earlier quote indicating that Powell thought that the information he presented before UN was false, Russert asked Powell about the his earlier statement. This is what Powell said. “When I made that presentation in February 2003, it was based on the best information that the Central Intelligence Agency made available to me. We studied it carefully; we looked at the sourcing in the case of the mobile trucks and trains. There was multiple sourcing for that. Unfortunately, that multiple sourcing over time has turned out to be not accurate. And so I'm deeply disappointed. But I'm also comfortable that at the time that I made the presentation, it reflected the collective judgment, the sound judgment of the intelligence community. But it turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and in some cases, deliberately misleading. And for that, I am disappointed and I regret it.”
Now, some members of the press have speculated that the reason that Powell did this was to sure up his legacy that was dearly damaged by the UN speech. Perhaps. However, I do not think that Powell is so selfish as to put his own legacy ahead of the interests of the country. I think Powell’s original comments and the last sentence quoted above is just one more saga in the continuing war between the Pentagon and State Department and the CIA over the reliability of the INC. Powell essentially called INC a bunch of liars. As for that long running war, pace those people who have all but written Powell off, the arrest of some of INC people, the leaked stories about the INC being suspect for some time and decision to no longer fund them is a sure sign that the INC battle is at last over and surprise State Department and the CIA have won.
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