Here's what I thought you'd like to hear about today:

1. Hearing from the Generals
2. When is Old News News Again
3. Goodbye to Scotty

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Hearing from the Generals

One of the most popular canards of the anti-liberationists on the left about the Iraq war is that the generals didn't have all the resources they needed, and were ignored in their pleas for more. General Pace appeared this week at a Pentagon briefing to refute that argument, and did a fine job. Thanks to the Corner on National Review Online for the pointer, and the Pentagon Channel Podcast for the audio. Transcript here. Thanks to C-SPAN for the audio.

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Any questions? Of course that hasn't stopped the media barrage of calls for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld. The other day, Rush Limbaugh played one of his famous montages of audio clips of everyone in the media reading from the same playbook on the 6 generals who think he should go.

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How many generals are six? According to Slate and Right Wing News, that's six out of approximately 4,700 retired and alive generals in the U.S. today. It's always nice to get some perspective. From the Explainer Podcast on Slate we hear:

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One tenth of one percent. Amazing how powerful those .1% are when they conform to the story the media already believes and wants to share with their consumers.

When is Old News News Again

The last Wizbang Podcast had a segment on the big media rehashing old news as new, and they are at it again in the latest stories about mobile bio-weapons labs in Iraq. In 2003 the media did stories on some intelligence the administration reported about some mobile vans that were suspected of being factories for production of bio-weapon materials. The Washington Post did a breathless story on Wednesday 4/12 that said were contrary opinions in the intelligence community about the purpose of those vans. The Captains Quarters blog had this to say about the story the same day it was published.

The Minority Report (Updated and Bumped)

The Washington Post runs a deceptive and dishonest report about the evaluation of the Iraqi trailers that had been identified as biological weapons labs prior to the invasion in March 2003. Their front-page story announces breathlessly that the Bush administration ignored the findings of a team of experts who concluded that the trailers could not have acted as portable bioweapons platforms prior to a Bush announcement of exactly the opposite -- but below the fold, they tell a different story.

Let's take a look at the lead first:

On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile "biological laboratories." He declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."

The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.

A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement.

Sounds damning, and if that was the only report on the trailers, it certainly would be. What the Post neglects to mention in its sensationalist zeal is that this was one of several teams that investigated the trailers, and the totality of their evaluations came to a different conclusion that that of the leakers who supplied this story. Skip down to the 12th paragraph, which is when Joby Warrick finally gets around to providing the context:

Intelligence analysts involved in high-level discussions about the trailers noted that the technical team was among several groups that analyzed the suspected mobile labs throughout the spring and summer of 2003. Two teams of military experts who viewed the trailers soon after their discovery concluded that the facilities were weapons labs, a finding that strongly influenced views of intelligence officials in Washington, the analysts said. "It was hotly debated, and there were experts making arguments on both sides," said one former senior official who spoke on the condition that he not be identified.

The Pentagon didn't send one team of experts to review the trailers; they sent three, presumably to get a diverse analysis of the evidence, especially since the pre-war intel on WMD had come up remarkably short. That sounds like a prudent strategy to me, having competing teams research the same equipment and evidence to develop independent analyses to present to the Pentagon. They did so, and two of the three teams provided conclusions that fit the pre-war intel, while one did not.

The White House was not content to leave the evisceration of the Washington Post to some bloggers in their pajamas. As Stephen Spruiell of National Review noticed, Scott McClellan came after the press with both barrels at the Wednesday White House Press briefing. Listen to his responses at two different times during the briefing. Thanks to C-SPAN for the video.

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Go getem Scotty! He was clearly prepared for this meeting. I always admire a presenter who is well prepared. Don't expect the gotcha journalism to diminish in the future, though. When the media is constantly required to provide their readers with new material to keep their anti-Bush feelings in place, the mere fact that the material is not new makes no difference.

Goodbye to Scotty

Today, Wednesday brings news that Scott McClellan has resigned from his post after almost three years as the White House press corps punching bag. We can speculate on his reasons (more time with the family, perhaps?) And speculate on his replacement (Tony Snow?). I suggest we choose Justice Roberts' babysitter. From last weekend's Saturday Night Live, we have the following prescient clip, thanks to Expose the Left for the video. How did they know?

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I love the part about the slutty Norah O'Donnell. Go and watch the clip for a good laugh.

That's it for now podcatchers.