Given all Bush's complaints about "revisionist" reporting on Iraq - which I think would be accurately described as second guessing what Bush did, not revising what any reporters have said - it suprised me just a bit to hear the Bush administration had revised their website Tuesday in response to an interview President Bush gave last week, which was not released until Monday. An article by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post sets the groundwork:
President Bush, revising his earlier characterization of the fighting in Iraq, said in an interview released yesterday that combat operations are still underway in that country.
In an interview with the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service given on Thursday and released by the White House yesterday, Bush interrupted the questioner when asked about his announcement on May 1 of, as the journalist put it, "the end of combat operations.""Actually, major military operations," Bush replied. "Because we still have combat operations going on." Bush added: "It's a different kind of combat mission, but, nevertheless, it's combat, just ask the kids that are over there killing and being shot at."
In his May 1 speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln, Bush declared: "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country." The headline on the White House site above Bush's May 1 speech is "President Bush Announces Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended."
Since then, a search of Bush speeches on the White House Web site indicates, the president had not spoken of the guerrilla fighting in Iraq as combat until this interview; he had earlier spoken of the "cessation of combat" in Iraq.
Here is a copy of the original White House press release via Global Security:
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 1, 2003President Bush Announces Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended
Remarks by the President from the USS Abraham Lincoln
At Sea Off the Coast of San Diego, California
Here is what the White House web site is saying now:
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 1, 2003President Bush Announces Major Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended
Remarks by the President from the USS Abraham Lincoln
At Sea Off the Coast of San Diego, California
My emphasis added. More documentation is available at memoryhole.org:
When the White House published the text of and photos from Bush's speech announcing the supposed end of the Iraq attack, the headline read: "President Bush Announces Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended." But on Tuesday, 19 Aug 2003, the Cursor website noticed that the headline had been changed to read: "President Bush Announces Major Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended." The word "major" had been added.Apparently, with the quagmire resulting in at least one dead US soldier a day--not to mention even more injuries, dead Iraqis, and sabotage--that headline had proved incorrect. Therefore, straight out of 1984, the headline was stealthily altered to make it seem as if that's what it had always said.
We were able to recover numerous instances of the unaltered headline. At the top of the page is the original headline, as it has been preserved on the Website of Scott Long, who collects photos of politicians on aircraft carriers. Under that, you'll find the headline as it is now. More examples are below.
What memoryhole.org missed was that this change is a direct response to the Washington Post story. So people read the Post story, look at the site, and think that the Post got it wrong! Who looks like a historical revisionist now?
The truth is, Bush's speech text said "major combat operations" so that is probably a more appropriate title. However, altering it three and a half months after the fact, without any explanation, is not what I'd expect from a President.