"Stagegate" Upstaged All the Good News From Bush's Video Teleconference

October 14th, 2005 6:01 PM

In the midst of the feeding frenzy concerning contentions that the video teleconference between President Bush and soldiers stationed in Iraq was staged (video link to follow), most of America’s media forgot to tell the public what actually happened during the event. In fact, there was a lot of great news offered by these soldiers that has largely gone unreported as a result.

For instance, as reported by Gerry Gilmore of the American Forces Press Service:

“Capt. Stephen Pratt, of the 116th Brigade Combat Team, said U.S., coalition and Iraqi Army and police forces have conducted many security exercises. Pratt said he was impressed with the cooperation exhibited between the U.S. and Iraqi security forces and predicted ‘a very successful and effective referendum vote.’

“Voter registration is up 17 percent in north central Iraq, Capt. David Williams, of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, told Bush. This constitutes about 400,000 new voters, Williams said, noting that his sources say the Iraqi people are eager to vote in the referendum.”

For those that are interested in what the media didn't report, here is a Video Link to the teleconference, and a Full Transcript.