Rumsfeld Suggests bin Laden, Zarqawi Manipulating U.S. Press

NEW YORK When Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld appeared on Rush Limbaugh's talk radio show on Monday, his remarks defending himself from calls for his resignation drew wide attention. Generally overlooked were a couple of questions and answers on the subject of press coverage in Iraq.

For one thing, Rumsfeld said it was important to "recognize that the terrorists, Zarqawi and bin Laden and Zawahiri, those people have media committees. They are actively out there trying to manipulate the press in the United States. They are very good at it. They're much better at (laughing) managing those kinds of things than we are."

Asked why fewer reporters were embedding in Iraq, Rumsfeld said he'd talked to one journalist, and "there was a kind of impression left that 'Well, if you got embedded then you were really part of the problem instead of part of the solution and you were almost going over to the other side,' argument. I think that's an inexcusable thought, and I don't know if that's the case." He did not explain why he mentioned that, not knowing if it was true."