Bush Cites Iraqi Bloggers as Evidence Surge is Working

Posted on March 28, 2007

Editor & Publisher reports that President George Bush cited some blogs posts from Iraqi bloggers in a speech as evidence the surge is going well. However, the blog posts President Bush cited turned out to be older posts that had been reprinted in the Wall Street Journal earlier this month.

So the bloggers weren't even talking about current conditions in Baghdad. That left it to Rajiv Chandrasekaran, former Baghdad bureau chief of The Washington Post -- and author of the heralded 2006 book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City" -- who appeared on MSNBC's "Countdown" tonight to debunk this idea of a newly-safe Baghdad. "I talk to Iraqis all the time," he said.
He revealed that there had been steady insurgent artillery shots falling in the supposedly safe "Green Zone" all week, at least two Americans had died there in recent days, and U.S. Embassy staff had been instructed, in a switch, to wear their protective vests outside at all times. He also disclosed that the embassy's pool, scene of much partying in the recent past, has now been declared off-limits to extended stays.
To back up his point that pulling out of Iraq would be a disaster, President Bush had said today, "They have bloggers in Baghdad, just like we've got here," in a speech to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
Then he quoted two of them: "Displaced families are returning home, marketplaces are seeing more activity, stores that were long shuttered are now reopening. We feel safer about moving in the city now. Our people want to see this effort succeed."

Editor & Publisher also points out that both the bloggers were dentist brothers who had met President Bush in 2004. They also write a blog called IraqTheModel.com that can be found on the conservative Pajamas Media blog network.

Only hours later did the White House reveal that the bloggers were brothers, Mohammed and Omar Fadhil, and these supposedly little-known average Joes had met Bush in the Oval Office in 2004. They are dentists and write an English-language blog from Baghdad called IraqTheModel.com, also available via Pajamas Media.

Pajamas Media refers to the two Iraqi bloggers here as the "illustrious Pajamas duo." The Editor & Publisher article ends with two recent posts from the Fadhil brothers that are not upbeat about current the situation in Iraq.