Bush's News War: Fed up with the gloom-and-doom coverage of the conflict, the White House is taking aim at the press.

Publication: Newsweek

Publication Date: 27-OCT-03

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Byline: Richard Wolffe and Rod Nordland

It started out as a little crowd control in Baghdad. But as U.S. troops entered the streets to restore order earlier this month, the protest turned ugly. Someone threw a homemade grenade at the Americans, wounding 13 servicemen. According to the Oct. 8 Daily Threat Assessment--the Coalition's internal casualty report, which was shown to NEWSWEEK--eight soldiers were wounded seriously enough to be evacuated to military hospitals. Yet at a press conference the next day, there was no mention of the attack. Pushed by reporters, U.S. officials would only say the incident was under investigation. It was as if the ambush, and the casualties, had never happened.

In Baghdad, official control over the news is getting tighter. Journalists used to walk freely into the city's hospitals and the morgue to keep count of...

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