Spinmeister Joe Lockhart

Who cares what Joe Lockhart thinks? AP writer Deb Riechmann does.

Why? He is saying what she and the MSM want to hear--BUSH LIED, BUSH LIED, BUSH LIED.

From AP:

A Pentagon report detailing incidents in which U.S. guards at Guantanamo Bay prison desecrated the Quran is creating another public relations challenge for President Bush.

...Joe Lockhart, former press secretary for President Clinton, said that when a news organization - such as Newsweek - makes a factual mistake, White House officials are tempted to try to discredit the entire story.

"I think on this issue, they fell into a trap," Lockhart said. "They saw a way to push back on a damaging story by making it look like it was just out-of-control journalists, and now they've had to admit that it has happened."

McClellan's statements after the Newsweek report left an impression that no desecration at all had occurred at Guantanamo, Lockhart said.

"While the news organization got an example wrong, they got the practice right," he said. "I think certainly the public is within their right, in this case, to believe they were misled."

WHAT???

The public was not misled by the White House. However, they are misled day in and day out by the Old Media.

Lockhart claims that McClellan left the impression that no desecration of the Quran/Koran (whatever) took place. No, he didn't. Maybe Lockhart has comprehension problems, causing his confusion; but I wasn't left with that impression.

Why not?

BECAUSE McCLELLAN NEVER SAID THERE WEREN'T ANY PROBLEMS REGARDING MISHANDLING KORANS. HE WAS TALKING ABOUT TOILETS!!!!!

From a May 16, 2005 briefing:

Q Can you 100 percent say for sure that it is wrong, that there were no incidents of American interrogators putting Korans in the toilets?

MR. McCLELLAN: I know of no such incidents. And the Department of Defense said last week that they could find no credible evidence of it either. They have looked into it. And obviously, we would take something like that very, seriously, because we've made it clear that that is simply not -- that does not represent the values of the United States of America. The United States of America values the religious freedom of all. And, in fact, at Guantanamo, we have made sure that the detainees are able to worship freely, and that they are provided copies of the holy Koran.

McClellan was asked a direct question about something very unambiguous. His answer was clear, and according to the report, true.

Hey! Lockhart! He's talking about Korans in toilets--a very specific practice. The investigation did not find any such cases. How was the American public misled?

White House officials noted that the investigation last month, by Brig. Gen. Jay Hood, the commander of the detention center, also found 15 cases of detainees mishandling their own Qurans.

"These included using a Quran as a pillow, ripping pages out of the Quran, attempting to flush a Quran down the toilet and urinating on the Quran," Hood's report said. It offered no possible explanation for the detainees' actions.

So--

Detainees engaged in Koran desecration toilet-style, not Americans. Moreover, the cases where Americans were involved in showing disrespect to the Muslim holy book in other ways were handled appropriately.

Lockhart and the Associated Press need to get a grip on the truth.