--> Rumsfeld, der eigene Stärken bei anderen entdeckt,
beschuldigt bereits die westliche Presse der Fremdmanipulation!

Rumsfeld complains of success by extremists in manipulating media

By ROBERT BURNS
The Associated Press

FALLON NAVAL AIR STATION, Nev. — Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday he is deeply troubled by the success of terrorist groups in"manipulating the media" to influence Westerners.

"That's the thing that keeps me up at night," he said during a question-and-answer session with about 200 Navy personnel at this flight-training base for Navy and Marine pilots.

Rumsfeld was asked whether the criticism he draws as Pentagon chief and a leading advocate of the war in Iraq is an impediment to performing his job. He said it was not and that he knows from history that wars are often unpopular with many Americans.

"What bothers me the most is how clever the enemy is," he said, launching an extensive broadside at Islamic extremist groups that he said are trying to undermine support for the war on terror.

"They are actively manipulating the media in this country" by, for example, falsely blaming U.S. troops for civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

"They can lie with impunity," he said, while U.S. troops are held to a high standard of conduct.

Rumsfeld made similar points later, in remarks prepared for delivery at a Reno, Nev., convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

"The enemy lies constantly — almost totally without consequence," he told the veterans group.

"They portray our cause as a war on Islam when in fact the overwhelming majority of victims of their terrorism have been thousands and thousands of innocent Muslims — men, women and children — they have killed."


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