Operation Obsfucation?

I missed the President's big press conference yesterday, but I did spent too much time afterwards reading up on it. The most important aspects of it news-wise were the Iran parts, which were confusing as all hell. And honestly, I think that was the point. Throw out some random, vague accusations which allows people to jump to their own conclusions while maintaining plausible deniability for yourself. 2002 deja vu.

For an example, the following Reuters and AP reports were reporting on the same speech! But try and make sense of the two in terms of a cohesive narrative, as they both apparently got two different things from the same information (such as it is).

Reuters: Unclear if Iran leaders ordered weapons to Iraq: Bush

President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he did not know if the leaders of Iran ordered members of the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards to provide improvised explosive devices to militias in Iraq...

...His comments contrasted with comments by U.S. officials in Baghdad who had said earlier that the highest levels of the Iranian government were involved.

Okay, now take it away, Associated Press-

AP: Bush: Iran supplying weapons in Iraq

President Bush said Wednesday he's certain the Iranian government is supplying deadly weapons used by fighters in Iraq against U.S. troops, even if he can't prove that the orders came from top Iranian leaders...

..."I'm going to do something about it," Bush pledged, displaying apparent irritation at being repeatedly asked about mixed administration signals on who was behind the weaponry...

Yea, I don't know where anyone would be getting mixed signals from.

Confused? That might just be mission accomplished as far as the White House is concerned. If your brain is need of a serious reality infusion, I highly recommend this detailed, fact-based summary of the saga thus far, courtesy of Talking Points Memo. Really take a few minutes to read the whole thing; he brings all of this into perspective.

(UPDATE: Now the administration's officially backtracking on the allegations their anonymous military officials made on Sunday. It'll live on with right-wing hawks, of course.)

Salon's War Room also looks at all the line-blurring quotes from administration officials.

For other topics discussed at the press conference, go here, here, and here.