On Friday, June 2, Richard Oppel wrote in the New York Times that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, speaking to reporters on Thursday, had denounced coalition troops’ treatment of Iraqi civilians. Oppel wrote:

In his comments, Mr. Maliki said violence against civilians had become a “daily phenomenon” by many troops in the American-led coalition who “do not respect the Iraqi people.” “They crush them with their vehicles and kill them just on suspicion,” he said. “This is completely unacceptable.”

These were startling words coming from a man whom President Bush and Secretary of State Rice had practically hand-picked to be the prime minister. Just the week before, Condi was praising him on Fox News for his promise to use “maximum force to stop…the violence against the Iraqi people.” “This is a strong leader,” said Condi.

Yesterday in the White House briefing room, Tony was asked about Maliki’s allegations:

Q And also can you — have you been able to get any kind of readout on what the Prime Minister said yesterday about —

MR. SNOW: Yes. As a matter of fact, I just — I spoke just a couple of minutes with Ambassador Khalilzad, who…went over and spoke with the Prime Minister. And according to the Ambassador, the Prime Minister says he was misquoted… and apparently the Prime Minister did try to sort of explain how such a characterization would be made in the press, but that is a little too complicated for me to try to read out.

Too complicated to read out? What’s so difficult about telling us what the Prime Minister of Iraq said? The reporter followed up:

Q He was misquoted. Do you have a sense of what he said or meant to say?

MR. SNOW: No, I — it was one of these things where he said at one point he was asking an unrelated question about a traffic stop, and it really does get pretty convoluted. I don’t want to get myself too much into it. But he said — what Ambassador Khalilzad did say is that he said he was misquoted and they’re going to look into it. That is what Prime Minister said.

You’re babbling, Tony. Maliki was asking WHOM about a traffic stop? And what does that have to do with American vehicles crushing Iraqis? David Gregory gave another whack at the tar baby:

Q Can I just follow on that, Tony, because it sounds a little too neatly wrapped up.

MR. SNOW: Well, then you’re going to have to take that up with the Prime Minister.

Q Well, but I assume we were taking that up with the Prime Minister. So why don’t we talk about it from the U.S. government perspective.

MR. SNOW: All right.

Q Which is how does the President react to the fact that someone we had heaped praise on has fired a pretty serious shot across the bow at U.S. forces who are securing Iraq?

MR. SNOW: Well, I’ve just told you, David, that he said he didn’t.

Q And that’s it? I mean —

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Q — he was just misquoted?

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Q So what did he — I just want to push —

MR. SNOW: Well, again, you can feel free to push. I’ve tried to relay to you what was related to me by —

Q That he just didn’t mean it?

MR. SNOW: No, no, not that he didn’t mean it, that he didn’t say it. He said he was misquoted. When somebody says they’re misquoted that means —

Q What was misinterpreted? Surely — you’ve been a reporter a long time. You just simply ask, what was the real reason that he —

MR. SNOW: Well, what I’ve tried to do…

Then Helen Thomas gave it a try…

Q Where does he say he was misinterpreted?

MR. SNOW: Well, unfortunately, Helen, I have just tried to — what I’m trying is to relate to you, through Ambassador Khalilzad, through me, what was told to him through an interpreter by the Prime Minister. [Khalilzad doesn't speak Arabic and needs an interpreter to speak to Maliki??? -E.B.] And it becomes a little convoluted, and so I don’t want to make a real clear characterization, because it’s a little hazy to me, too. All right? What I do know is that he was misquoted, he’s looking into it. But that what he said, and when he said it, and in reaction to what is a little gauzy.

Q No, no, no, but what was the crux of the misinterpretation?

MR. SNOW: The crux is that he says he didn’t say it, and that there was —

Q He didn’t say he wants us out?

MR. SNOW: Somebody had shouted out a question about an unrelated incident, and I’m not sure I can quite follow it either.

Jim.

Q The phrase that I saw was, “a daily phenomenon.” This is fairly specific stuff he’s talking about. So to say, well, we know he didn’t say that, when the quotes are — it’s not a generalization, it’s very specific stuff that he’s quoted as saying. So if you then turn around and say: Well, we know he didn’t say that; we don’t know what he said, but we know he didn’t say that —

MR. SNOW: I’m just telling you what he said. But here’s the other thing. Here’s Rich Oppel’s piece —

Q You’re not telling us what he said.

MR. SNOW: But I don’t know exactly what he said. All I’m doing is giving you the characterization I repeated through the Ambassador. I’m trying my best to be your advocate on this one. But I did not have a direct conversation with the Ambassador — I mean, with the Prime Minister. But it’s interesting to note that you have — violence against civilians has become a “daily phenomenon by many troops in the American-led coalition who did not respect the Iraqi people.” This is gauzian in and of itself. It doesn’t refer to American troops. It talks about troops in an American-led coalition, which also involves Iraqi troops. I don’t know what this means. I wish I did, and I wish I could give you clearer guidance.

Q But we do know that it’s favorable in terms of the relationship between Maliki and the United States?

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Q We know that there’s no problem, everybody is in great shape, “Kumbaya”? (Laughter.)

MR. SNOW: No — do you really think it’s “Kumbaya”? You were talking —

Q That’s what I’m asking. I’m trying to figure out what it is.

MR. SNOW: No, that is — no, come on. You’re —

Q That’s the impression you’re giving from the podium.

MR. SNOW: I am not giving — when we are talking about investigations that could lead to capital prosecutions, nobody is singing “Kumbaya.” And when you have —

Q And that’s not what I referring to now, either, and you know that.

MR. SNOW: And when you have General Casey going in and trying to brief a Prime Minister, nobody is singing “Kumbaya.” You know what they’re saying? They’re saying, let’s figure out what the facts are and let’s work together to secure peace.

Q And Tony, that referred specifically to the idea of what the Ambassador is reporting the conversation with the Prime Minister said. That’s all I’m trying to figure out.

MR. SNOW: I gave you my best readout, which is, he said the Prime Minister said he was misquoted, and the Prime Minister was looking into how the misquote appeared.

Q And at some point, we will get a more accurate readout about exactly what he did mean?

MR. SNOW: Lots of luck.

Lots of luck??? You’ve got to be kidding, Tony. The Prime Minister of Iraq denounces coalition violence against Iraqi civilians, and you say everything’s “gauzian,” hazy, and convoluted? OK, let’s try another source. The BBC also translated Maliki’s remarks, as follows:

Mr Maliki told reporters violence against civilians was “common among many of the multinational forces”. Many troops had “no respect for citizens, smashing civilian cars and killing on a suspicion or a hunch”, he added.

That slightly different—the violence is ‘common’ instead of ‘daily’—but not nearly enough to solve your problem, Tony.

Today, Rich Oppel responded in the Times to the ‘misquoting’ charge:

[Yesterday] Mr. Maliki was quoted as saying that many troops in the American-led coalition “do not respect the Iraqi people. They crush them with their vehicles and kill them just on suspicion. This is completely unacceptable.” Accounts elsewhere quoted him similarly, and a review of the translation on Friday found the quotation accurate.

In its translation, The Times also quoted Mr. Maliki as saying that the violence he was condemning had become a “daily phenomenon.” The review of that quotation found that it was inaccurately translated. Mr. Maliki said that the violence had become a “regular occurrence” — not a “daily phenomenon.”

So you were part right, Tony—according to the Iraqi Prime Minister, coalition forces crush civilians with their vehicles not daily but regularly.

Can we all sing Kumbaya now?

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