WP, Milbank: No Retreat, No Retraction, No Comment From Marines

[DeepModem Mom]

No Retreat, No Retraction, No Comment From Marines
By Dana Milbank
Thursday, June 8, 2006; Page A02

There seemed to be a substantial risk that Marine Corps Commandant Michael Hagee would, at the beginning of his Pentagon press briefing yesterday, start crooning about the halls of Montezuma and the shores of Tripoli.

He was giving the first briefing by a top Pentagon official since fresh allegations surfaced three weeks ago about Marines killing two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha. But, unable or unwilling to provide information about that dark episode, he chose to talk "about what it is to be a Marine."...

***

Stirring stuff, but not exactly what the Pentagon press corps was looking for.

"General," queried ABC News's Jonathan Karl, "all that we have, officially, on the record, from the military on the Haditha incident, is that 15 civilians were killed by a roadside bomb. Can you now correct for the record that statement and tell us if that statement was inaccurate?"

Hagee could not. "As I've said several times, I cannot comment on anything that has happened until the investigations are complete."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060701967.html?sub=AR

[Spazito]

1. If this doesn't say it all...

"The spokesman seemed surprised that the Pentagon statement would be taken at face value. "Is everyone going by that press release?" Lapan asked."

An admission they lie and they lie all the time, they are only surprised that the reporters don't realize they are lying.

Geez.