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'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release

By TChris, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Mon Jul 25, 2005 at 04:16:56 PM EST
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by TChris

Is the Army's public affairs office inventing quotes and attributing them to unidentified Iraqis? This is from a July 13 press release issued by the military:

"The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the children and all of Iraq," said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified. "They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists."

This is from a press release issued by the same office yesterday:

"The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the ISF and all of Iraq. They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists," said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified.

Either the unidentified Iraqi has memorized his speech, or the Army's PR team is recycling quotes, which may or may have originated with an actual Iraqi. Strangely, the words echo language frequently employed by President Bush.

In both statements, the military quoted an Iraqi calling the attackers "enemies of humanity" and vowing to "take the fight to the terrorists," the latter an expression President Bush frequently has used in speeches.

Maybe the Iraqi reads the president's speeches in the NY Times and likes the sound of them. Yeah, that must be it.

The military's explanation for the repitition of the quotation? "Administrative error." Translation: "We got caught making stuff up."

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    'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release | 13 comments (13 topical)
    Re: 'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release (none / 0) (#1)
    by Darryl Pearce on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:36 PM EST
    Well, I can't hold it against them. I've been knee-jerkily repeating myself as well.

    Re: 'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release (none / 0) (#2)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:36 PM EST
    Wild speculation here, but maybe translating from Arabic obscured some differences?

    Re: 'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release (none / 0) (#3)
    by coralreef on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:36 PM EST
    No way! "I will now take the fight to the terrorists" Only an American would put those words together for that meaning. The phrase is Rambo speak and certainly has no corollary in Arabic. Sure the guy may have made a statement referring to an increase in resistance to this horror but no way did he do it Bruce Willis style. I have lived out of the USA much of my life and am certain these are not the words of any person speaking English as a second language or a translation from another language. It is American English as spoken in the USA only. I remember being extremely frustrated when trying to explain the exact meaning of “Kicking as*es and taking names" to a German. The man spoke English very well but that phrase is meaningless to him as it had no German equivalent. Consequently any one suggesting that a German said it would be guilty of a multicultural anachronism. "F*ck Saddam, we are taking him out"..to an American: you are going to kill him, to the rest of the world: you are going on a date with him. As a young man I was told by an old Dutchman, in Dutch, not to walk around with my hands in my pockets as my testicles might explode and I would lose my fingers. I understood every word the man said but had no idea what he meant as the relationship of the words was unintelligible to a mind that was taught to integrate words in English. And so on…………. They are lying!!!!! Come on sat it now…the L word.

    Re: 'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release (none / 0) (#4)
    by Peter G on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:36 PM EST
    Why have I forgotten who made the famous remark about the "first casualty" in war? Or perhaps it was some unidentified Iraqi who said that.

    Re: 'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:37 PM EST
    CENTCOM's lies are so plentiful that it is HILARIOUS to see that this latest flub is being greeted with mild suspicion. How about the 19 Al Qaeda bombers who they caught at the border, who confessed to blowing up the UN mission building. Fact was that they had a single Iraqi teen in custody, who they already knew wasn't involved. The 19? They were press release fodder. For the Fools Back Home.

    Re: 'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release (none / 0) (#6)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:37 PM EST
    They are making stuff up? This has a familiar ring to it. Isn't this how we got here? Well, I guess it beats telling the truth.

    Re: 'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release (none / 0) (#7)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:37 PM EST
    Bloglodyte writes:
    "I will now take the fight to the terrorists"
    Actually, I find it right the opposite. No Amerucan would say it that way... "I will now take...." He'd say... "I'm gonna get those sob's." But it makes perfect sense for someone with US english as a second, or third language. Note how stilted it is.

    Re: 'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release (none / 0) (#8)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:37 PM EST
    No suspcion here, I have no doubts our psy-ops people (who are usually employed by CNN and the McPaper)are inventing Iraqis...but who are they inventing them for? Certainly, the Iraqis know it's a pile of BS...just who exactly is dumb enough to swallow this?

    Re: 'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release (none / 0) (#9)
    by Peter G on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:37 PM EST
    It has been attributed to both Athur Ponsonby in "Falsehood in Wartime" (1928) and US Senator Hiram Johnson in a 1918 speech. However, the true origin may be in the edition of "The Idler" magazine from 11/11/1758 which says "...among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages." The Guardian Other sources suggest Aeschylus may have said it first, but they don't say in which play.

    Re: 'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:37 PM EST
    Aeschylus? Sounds like a Muslim name. How did he have time to write those plays if he was chanting Allahu Akbar and pointing his gun in the air at weddings? At least Sophocles knew that most of our current problems derive from having sex with Bush's mom.

    Re: 'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:37 PM EST
    We Have ALWAYS been at war with Eurasia

    Re: 'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release (none / 0) (#12)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:37 PM EST
    PPJ,
    "I will now take the fight to the terrorists"
    re:"But it makes perfect sense for someone with US english as a second, or third language. Note how stilted it is." According to CNN, the vow to "take the fight to the terrorists" is "an expression President Bush frequently has used in speeches". Yes, I agree with you. It makes perfect sense for some who uses English as a second language. Thanks for the chuckles.

    Re: 'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release (none / 0) (#13)
    by Jlvngstn on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:37 PM EST
    7-11-05 George Bush "We will continue to take the fight to the enemy" 12-17-04 Bush "We'll take the fight to the terrorists abroad " 4-29-02 - Condi Rice And so the best . . . defense is a good offense. We have to take the fight to the terrorists There are hundreds more, but I am bored researching it...

    'Administrative Error' in Iraq Press Release | 13 comments (13 topical)