White House denies understating Iraq violence

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Media: AFP
Byline: n/a
Date: 29 September 2006



WASHINGTON, Sept 29, 2006 (AFP) - The White House on Friday denied
deliberately understating the pace of attacks on US troops in Iraq but
declined to spell out whether they have been increasing or decreasing.

"Nobody's tried to mislead anyone about it," said spokesman Tony Snow, who
faced a barrage of questions stemming from a new book by a veteran
journalist famed for his insider accounts of the highest levels of the US
government.

Snow confirmed Bob Woodward's claim in his latest tome that Bush turns to
former secretary of state Henry Kissinger for advice on the war in Iraq, but
denied that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld feuded to the point that he would not return her telephone calls.

Snow stopped short of denying another bombshell reportedly in Woodward's
book: that former White House chief of staff Andrew Card had recommended
that Bush fire Rumsfeld.

But he sought to cast doubt on the reported rift between Rice and Rumsfeld.

"I talked with secretary Rice today and her quote was, 'This is ridiculous,
and I told that to Woodward,'" said Snow, who added that Rice and Rumsfeld
take part in a daily telephone call with the national security adviser.

Snow confirmed that Bush has been taking advice on the strategy for Iraq
from Henry Kissinger, the controversial Vietnam war-era national security
adviser turned secretary of state.

Woodward, who as a fairly junior Washington Post reporter helped uncover the
Watergate scandal that eventually led to president Richard Nixon's
resignation in 1974, said Kissinger often meets with Bush and Vice President
Dick Cheney.

"The role is not an extraordinary one," said Snow. "The president has a lot
of people in, and he listens to them. And Dr Kissinger was one of them."

"Dr Kissinger says he agrees with the overall thrust of American policy. He
thinks we're doing the right things. He said he also may have times when he
disagrees on details," according to Snow.

Snow said he would not comment on the rate of attacks in Iraq because
"classified briefings remain classified," but said "there is a shifting
situation, and sometimes the attacks go up and sometimes they've gone down."
 
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