Did anybody hear/see Michael Ware, Time Mag, on A. Cooper last night?

[Gabi Hayes]

BIG EDIT HERE: it was Anderson Cooper, not Larry King, as first header said.

Ware said things you NEVER, ever hear from the MSM, including the phrase "Big Lie," WRT administration's attempts to gloss over the performance of the Iraqi troop/police replacement of US forces

it was utterly astounding

looking for transcript now

Wonder how long he'll have that job

I don't know, but I think he's the one who's been on CNN before, with a report of his front line experience with Iraqi troops during a big attack, one characterized by the junta as one LED by Iraqis, which he called a total lie, as well

anybody?

Here's the transcript, which obviates much of what's posted below:

COOPER: Wolf, the president says the U.S. is winning the war in Iraq but are we really? Joining us from New York for his point of view is Michael Ware, Baghdad bureau chief for "Time" magazine.

Michael, in case some viewers did not see this piece, I just play something the president said about Iraq, earlier tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: The road to victory is the road that will take our troops home. As we make progress from the ground and Iraqi forces increasingly take the lead, we should be able to further decrease our troop levels. But those decisions will be made by our military commanders, not by politicians in Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Michael, you probably spend more time, have more contact with insurgents than anyone I've ever met. How do you think they read a statement like that and all the talk in Washington about reducing troop levels?

MICHAEL WARE, "TIME" BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Anderson, this is all clearly from the president, political gymnastics. Like a magician, he's attempting to create something out of nothing. It's very clear that U.S. policy, on the ground in Iraq, is not winning, it's not creating a victory. The question is, can America get out of there with anything close to a semblance of success, of any kind? I mean, let's look at Iraq. He refers to an inclusive government. That simply does not exist and is back and owned now by a member of the axis of evil, Iran. Listening to commanders on the ground who have described to me the "big lie," that we can't really tell the truth of what's going on, we can't ask for the resources that we need for fear of betraying the true situation, here in Iraq. And this is a policy. Born of success that is seen U.S. administrations now turning to the insurgents themselves, bringing back the Ba'ath party.

In this war, all we have seen is an emboldening of Al Qaeda, which has become stronger in so many ways and emboldening of Iran. And the spillover of democracy, we're starting to see that in Palestine, with the coming to power of the Hamas Islamic extremist government that we're seeing in Iraq itself, which has brought to power a pseudo-Islamic series of parties backed by Iran. And this is a success that the president wishes to build upon.

The "great lie" of his address is the success of Iraq. The great truth is that the only long-term way out is developing alternative energy strategies. And he talks about a battle of ideologies. Well, so far in that test of wills, that test of ideas, we're simply gain no traction whatsoever.

COOPER: Sobering view on leaf on the ground. Michael Ware, thanks, from "Time" magazine.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0601/31/acd.02.html

scroll almost all the way to the bottom to find.....

"BIG LIE," baby

also, "great lie"

[LeftCoast]

1. I can't stand Larry King, but it sounds like I might've missed a good one

:shrug:

[Gabi Hayes]

4. I didn't see it.....can't stand the weasel, either. caught it on Sirius

radio later on, and it woke me right UP!

brilliant, scathing appearance, just SLOUGHED off by King, as if they were discussing Lindsay Lohan's latest dietary escapades

[babylonsister]

2. This guy; I missed it sadly but will try to catch him in future.

[Gabi Hayes]

3. this is exactly what I was talking about: vid of Warner/Cooper on CNN

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/01/embedded-time-reporter/

in which Cooper confronts Warner with Ware's account of the Tal Afar battle:

Yesterday, President Bush claimed that Iraqi security forces “primarily led” the assault on the city of Tal Afar. Bush highlighted it as an “especially clear” sign of the progress Iraq security forces were making in Iraq.

The progress of the Iraqi forces is especially clear when the recent anti-terrorist operations in Tal Afar are compared with last year’s assault in Fallujah. In Fallujah, the assault was led by nine coalition battalions made up primarily of United States Marines and Army — with six Iraqi battalions supporting them…This year in Tal Afar, it was a very different story. The assault was primarily led by Iraqi security forces — 11 Iraqi battalions, backed by five coalition battalions providing support.

TIME Magazine reporter Michael Ware, who is embedded with the U.S. troops in Iraq who participated in the Tal Afar battle, appeared on Anderson Cooper yesterday. He said Bush’s description was completely untrue:

''I was in that battle from the very beginning to the very end. I was with Iraqi units right there on the front line as they were battling with al Qaeda. They were not leading. They were being led by the U.S. green beret special forces with them.''

watch the amazing exchange here:

http://streaming.americanprogress.org/ThinkProgress/2005/ware.320.240.mov.html

this was discussed at the time it happened, but Ware was at least as insistent on the huge lies being told last night

[librechik]

5. transcript here

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/30/cnna.ware.robertson/index.html

[grasswire]

9. that's not the same interview

This one is with Soledad O'Brien. I hope we can find the other one.

[Gabi Hayes]

11. that's not the right transcript....I just searched CNN/King and he's

not on there, either, and I couldn't find one with him and Cooper for his show.

I may be wrong about which show it was on, but I thought it was King

and he DID use the phrase "big lie"

did Cooper have a show last night, or was it pre-empted by the speech?

there's no transcript for a show for him on Feb 1 that I could find

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/2006.02.01.html

[grasswire]

6. thank you, thank you, thank you

I was hanging on his every word and meant to start a thread about it. Yes, he did use the word "LIE" about Bush's description of the situation in Iraq. Yes, he was very negative about the prospects of "victory" or even an honorable solution.

I urge all DU-ers to watch this segment or read the transcript.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Wasn't he on Anderson Cooper, not Larry King?

He was amazing -- and thank you for remembering his name because I was going to post about this earlier and couldn't remember it. As I said last night, he makes Christiane Amanpour sound understated. So nice to hear somebody tell the truth for a change.

[grasswire]

8. yeah

Anderson Cooper was a bit stunned, I thought.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. I noticed that, too...

Taken aback and, for a second, speechless.

[Gabi Hayes]

12. so, where's the transcript of the Cooper interview w/Ware?

did they scrub it? I posted a CNN link, and he's not even listed for Feb. 1

shades of Larry Flynt on Crossfire, when they scrubbed mention of the Shrub abortion back in 2000? remember that?

[Blue_In_AK]

13. It was last night that I saw it...

...but quite late here. I don't know if it was a rebroadcast from earlier, but it would have been about 2 a.m. Eastern time.

[Gabi Hayes]

14. that's when I heard it, I think....which show was it? I can't find

transcript of Cooper, and Ware isn't on the King transcript

[Blue_In_AK]

15. Here you go, I found it

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0601/31/acd.02.html (toward the bottom) ... (rough transcript disclaimer)


COOPER: Wolf, the president says the U.S. is winning the war in Iraq but are we really? Joining us from New York for his point of view is Michael Ware, Baghdad bureau chief for "Time" magazine.

Michael, in case some viewers did not see this piece, I just play something the president said about Iraq, earlier tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: The road to victory is the road that will take our troops home. As we make progress from the ground and Iraqi forces increasingly take the lead, we should be able to further decrease our troop levels. But those decisions will be made by our military commanders, not by politicians in Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Michael, you probably spend more time, have more contact with insurgents than anyone I've ever met. How do you think they read a statement like that and all the talk in Washington about reducing troop levels?

MICHAEL WARE, "TIME" BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Anderson, this is all clearly from the president, political gymnastics. Like a magician, he's attempting to create something out of nothing. It's very clear that U.S. policy, on the ground in Iraq, is not winning, it's not creating a victory. The question is, can America get out of there with anything close to a semblance of success, of any kind? I mean, let's look at Iraq. He refers to an inclusive government. That simply does not exist and is back and owned now by a member of the axis of evil, Iran. Listening to commanders on the ground who have described to me the "big lie," that we can't really tell the truth of what's going on, we can't ask for the resources that we need for fear of betraying the true situation, here in Iraq. And this is a policy. Born of success that is seen U.S. administrations now turning to the insurgents themselves, bringing back the Ba'ath party.

In this war, all we have seen is an emboldening of Al Qaeda, which has become stronger in so many ways and emboldening of Iran. And the spillover of democracy, we're starting to see that in Palestine, with the coming to power of the Hamas Islamic extremist government that we're seeing in Iraq itself, which has brought to power a pseudo-Islamic series of parties backed by Iran. And this is a success that the president wishes to build upon.

The "great lie" of his address is the success of Iraq. The great truth is that the only long-term way out is developing alternative energy strategies. And he talks about a battle of ideologies. Well, so far in that test of wills, that test of ideas, we're simply gain no traction whatsoever.

COOPER: Sobering view on life on the ground. Michael Ware, thanks, from "Time" magazine.

[Gabi Hayes]

16. thanks....I was putting it in the header as you were posting yours

I looked in the wrong place

isn't it astounding that we're not hearing this all the time?

just kidding

the last time I heard anything like this was in the post with the John Warner clip, which was generated by Ware's talk with Cooper

funny how HE never gets anything approaching the amount of airtime all the lying liars/apologists get isn't it

not

[grasswire]

18. the reporter looked as if he had glimpsed...

...the bowels of hell. IMO.

[Gabi Hayes]

20. his picture here looks like he lives there

how are YOU, btw?

[grasswire]

22. doing okay, thanks!

No pugs in my neighborhood. Missing the Samadi Sweet Shop on Rte. 50.

[leftchick]

17. whoa! that is excellent

I admire Michael Ware and can not believe he has not been pulled yet. He is tough as nails and truthful as they come. :)

[Maru Kitteh]

19. One of my first thoughts this morning was I wonder if

Mr. Ware still has a job. I was astounded. Flabbergasted, it was one of my favorite T.V. moments of all time.

[Gabi Hayes]

21. pretty shocking stuff......he reminds me of Robert Parry, ca. Iran/Contra

he lost his jobs at Newsweek and the wire service (can't remember if it was AP or UPI/pre-Moon) for insisting on doing his job

[burythehatchet]

23. Michael Ware has been speaking out for some time now

[Gabi Hayes]

24. isn't it interesting that he, being on the front lines, and, therefore,

being one of the very best informed of all, is being mostly ignored by the rest of the media?

wonder why...

[3waygeek]

25. Ware was also

on this morning's Marc Riley show. I only caught the last 30 seconds or so -- anyone know where I can find an online transcript?

[Gabi Hayes]

26. As amazing as both sets of above Ware quotes are. THIS is

just stunning, and pretty well explains why things are the way they are with the totally complicit Fascist/Corporate Media

I still can't believe THIS:

the Ware exchange with Cooper from November.....linked above.....NEVER made into the pages of Time Magazine itself

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

seriesly! Shouldn't that be a hugh story in itself?

they NEVER printed Ware's retelling of the exchange with Cooper, in which he calls the US spokespeople big lying liars

here....I just found this

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/media_people/with_the_greatest_respect_to_the_president_thats_completely_wrong_28936.asp

Said Ware: "I was in that battle from the very beginning to the very end. I was with Iraqi units right there on the front line as they were battling with al Qaida. They were not leading. They were being led by the U.S. Green Beret Special Forces with them -- Green Berets who were following an American plan of attack, who were advancing with these Iraqi units as and when they were told to do so by the American battle planners. The Iraqis led nothing."

Said Time: Funnily enough, nothing that I could find on their website. Strange to have your own man break something big like that and not to claim it for your own. But I'm not a Time subscriber, and the headlines on their website aren't dated. So I could have missed it. Updates if I did.

Update: I didn't. Confirmed by a Time spokesperson. Geez, dropped that ball, Time, didn't you?

their own fricking Baghdad BUREAU chief, and they stifle what should be a gigantic blockbuster of a story, a story that goes to the HEART of the lies at the fundament of the entire Iraq fiasco.