Richard Holbrooke Taken Out of Context
Reported by Marie Therese - October 27, 2004 -
On yesterday's Big Story with John Gibson, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke discussed the missing explosives situation. During the interview he made a statement that the Bush surrogates have taken out of context and are now repeating ad nauseam to every newsperson who sticks a microphone in their face. Here are some excerpts from that interview:
In response to Gibson's statement that the NBC crew didn't see any UN seals on any explosives when they traveled near the Al Qaqaa munitions site, Holbrooke says "That's not accurate" and goes on to say that the NBC reporter noted that "they didn't look very hard and then they moved on and she didn't see anything. And that was three weeks later. You and I don't know what happened...I do know one thing. In most administrations the buck stops in the Oval Office. The White House press spokesman, Scott McClellan, says that President Bush was only aware of this ten days ago and I'm a little troubled by that.." Later he said: "You don't know the truth. I don't know the truth....If this stuff's missing, it's a direct threat to Americans."
Later still:
HOLBROOKE: "...But, the President said in the first debate that "Senator Kerry had the same intelligence that I had." Do you believe that, John? I worked in the White House. I worked in the government for 40 years...
GIBSON (interrupts): You're saying the President knew more than Kerry learned at the UN, when he went to meet the Security Council?
HOLBROOKE: Of course. The President of the United States - our commander-in-chief - has
GIBSON (Interrupts again): You're saying he knew there were no WMD?
(FOX starts playing its "get that guest off in a hurry" music.)
HOLBROOKE (patiently, as if explaining to a particular dense child): No. I'm saying that when George Bush says that John Kerry had the same intelligence he - the President of the United States - had, that's completely untrue. The fact is that Presidents have intelligence in a way that no one else has. (Gestures to Gibson) Wait a second - I'm gonna finish - and secondly that it's his intelligence. You didn't have it. I believed there was WMD. You believed. John Kerry. John Edwards believed it, but it was the administration's intelligence.
Comment
On today's Big Story White House spokesman Dan Bartlett jumped all over Holbrooke's one statement "I don't know the truth" to impugn John Kerry for attacking the President.
To his credit Gibson did read back the quote and offered his own explanation for what Holbrooke meant, i.e., that the ultimate resonsibility for knowing about this lay with the President.
