Pentagon bans anonymous quotes
2005-08-02 20:39
Washington - The Pentagon has banned the use of anonymous quotes in news releases, calling the recent use of nearly identical quotes attributed to unnamed Iraqis an "egregious error".
Lawrence DiRita of the Pentagon said the incident involving press releases issued by the army's 3rd Infantry division in Iraq was under investigation.
He said: "This is an egregious error that reflects a lack of rigour in the development of these news statements.
"The use of anonymous quotations in a department of defence news statement is prohibited."
It said any statements that included comments by third parties must identify them and have their permission to use them.
Public affairs professionals
It also emphasised that press statements should be drafted by "trained public affairs professionals," and not delegated to others.
Two 3rd Infantry division statements quoted an unnamed Iraqi official as criticising an insurgent bombing in nearly identical terms as "enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics".
The quote said: "They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists."
The only variation in the quotes was the one which said, the terrorists were attacking "the infrastructure, the children and all of Iraq," while the other said they were attacking "the infrastructure, the Iraqi security forces and all of Iraq".
- AFP