It's Natural To Defend Your Comrades

But not necessarily wise. From a live chat with White House reporter Peter Baker:

New York, N.Y.: Peter,

I know the story was written by reporters other than you, but I have a comment about today's story on Cheney's office by VandeHei and Pincus. They write: "Cheney, a longtime proponent of toppling Saddam Hussein, led the White House effort to build the case that Iraq was an imminent threat because it possessed a dangerous arsenal of weapons."

I stopped reading the article right there. The "imminent threat" claim was debunked YEARS ago. The argument that was made - including by the President himself in the State of the Union address - is that we can't wait until the threat becomes imminent. Now, agree or not with that claim (and I don't agree with it), THAT'S the claim the White House actually made. Not that Iraq actually was an imminent threat.

It's just so frustrating to read stories by reporters who seem to lack even a basic grasp of the facts. Care to comment/defend your colleagues?

Peter Baker: Always happy to defend first-rate guys like Jim VandeHei and Walter Pincus. I wasn't covering the White House at the time of the Iraq war, but a simple Nexis search shows that White House spokesman Ari Fleischer was asked whether Iraq was an imminent threat and said, "Absolutely." Dan Bartlett, then the White House communications director, was asked whether Hussein was an imminent threat to U.S. interests and he said, "Well, of course he is." And if I'm not mistaken, the White House argued at one point that Iraq "could launch a biological or chemical attack 45 minutes after the order is given."

Peter Baker cites the exceptions that prove the rule; New York cites the rule. Bush did explain things just as New York says: We can't wait until we're dead before we start defending ourselves. I'll take my cues on Bush's policy from, say, Bush.

(VandeHei and Pincus being, as I said earlier today, the gentleman who have misreported what Bush said in his State of the Union speech about Iraq, uranium and Africa.  And Pincus being the subject of one of my unanswered emails to then-ombudmsman Michael Getler when Pincus mistakenly reported that Wilson found no evidence that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger.)

Update: Spruiell at NRO's Media Blog says that in today's story, VandeHei misrepresents statements by Judy Miller.