Pot, Meet Kettle

So the White House is in an uproar over the Newsweek error. It's also full of hypocrisy.
Let's be clear. The basic facts of the Newsweek article are not in question. In fact, the Pentagon is investigating the allegations.

Let's also be clear that last Thursday, General Richard Myers, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon that rioting in Afghanistan was related more to the on-going political reconciliation process there, than it was to a controversial note buried in the pages of Newsweek claiming that the government was investigating whether or not some nitwit interrogator at Gitmo really had desecrated a Muslim holy book.

The hypocrisy comes from Whitehouse spokesman Scott McClellan:

"It's puzzling that while Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refused to retract the story," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "I think there's a certain journalistic standard that should be met and in this instance it was not."

"The report has had serious consequences," McClellan said. "People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged."

Keith Olbermann says it better than I:

Whenever I hear Scott McClellan talking about ‘media credibility,’ I strain to remember who it was who admitted Jeff Gannon to the White House press room and called on him all those times.

Whenever I hear this White House talking about ‘doing to damage to our image abroad’ and how ‘people have lost lives,’ I strain to remember who it was who went traipsing into Iraq looking for WMD that will apparently turn up just after the Holy Grail will - and at what human cost.

Read the whole thing. Then shake your head in wonder.