The New York Times today implies that the White House has been misleading in publicly acknowledging or discussing details related to the CIA’s decision to destroy interrogation tapes.
The sub-headline of the story inaccurately says that the “White House Role Was Wider Than It Said”, and the story states that “…the involvement of White House officials in the discussions before the destruction of the tapes…was more extensive than Bush administration officials have acknowledged.”
Under direction from the White House General Counsel while the Department of Justice and the CIA Inspector General conduct a preliminary inquiry, we have not publicly commented on facts relating to this issue, except to note President Bush’s immediate reaction upon being briefed on the matter. Furthermore, we have not described – neither to highlight, nor to minimize — the role or deliberations of White House officials in this matter.
The New York Times’ inference that there is an effort to mislead in this matter is pernicious and troubling, and we are formally requesting that NYT correct the sub-headline of this story.
It will not be surprising that this matter will be reported with a reliance on un-named sources and individuals lacking a full availability of the facts — and, as the New York Times story itself acknowledges, some of these sources will have wildly conflicting accounts of the facts. We will instead focus our efforts on supporting the preliminary inquiry underway, where facts can be gathered without bias or influence and later disseminated in an appropriate fashion.
We will continue to decline to comment on this issue, and in response to misleading press reports.
(WhiteHouse Statement To Press)
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2 Responses
Because it is owned by a family of assimilated Jews (Ochs-Sulzberger), the NY Times is hostile toward Israel and Orthodox Jews: in the (supposedly objective) news articles and (of course) on their editorial pages.
Examples:
1. Their frequent use of the derogatory term ULTRA-Orthodox to refer to Chareidim.
2. Their recent statement in a news article that the Rav HaRashi SHLIT”A of Medinas Yisrael “Rabbi Metzger is considered by many a PUPPET of his 97 year old colleague” HaRav Elyashiv SHLIT”A. Very disrespectful of Gedolai Yisrael! Their (irreligious) Israel correspondent could have said (regarding the reluctance to issue a blanket Heter Mechira during this Shmitah year), that Rav Metzger IS INFLUENCED BY the Rabbinical rulings of his senior colleague.
My personal policy is to boycott the NY Times; i.e., never to buy it. If (occasionally) the Yeitzer HaRa becomes active, I may (at most) just glance at their Web page.
I am pleased to report that the primary sources of news for my family are The Yeshiva World and Arutz Sheva Web sites.
Re. The NY Times, the following appeared recently in ENR (Engineering News-Record), the McGraw-Hill magazine for the construction industry:
“N.Y. Times Takes No Action To Stop Tower’s ‘Ice Storms’
“An ice shower, described as a hail storm by one eyewitness, pelted pedestrians as pieces of ice and slush fell from the north face of the 52-story New York Times Building in Manhattan on Friday, Dec. 14. In the event of another incident, the New York Times Co., which owns the nine-month-old building with Forest City Ratner Cos., will close the sidewalk. It has no plans to try to prevent the showers.”