How curious that this story about Donald Rumsfeld’s trip to Iraq is being almost entirely ignored by mainstream media: Rumsfeld needles media as troops bemoan bad press.

Notice: this Reuters release is hidden away in the India section of Yahoo’s news, doesn’t show up in a search, and doesn’t even quote the entire question asked by the soldier:

MOSUL (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Friday took a delighted dig at the media after troops he was visiting in Iraq complained their good works were ignored by the press while disasters grabbed the headlines.

A soldier at his first stop in Mosul asked Rumsfeld how the “propaganda” worked?

Rumsfeld, under attack since he appeared to brush aside a question about poor equipment from a U.S. soldier in Kuwait that later turned out to have been composed with help from a reporter, jumped at the opportunity to turn the tables.

“That doesn’t sound like a question placed by the press,” he told his audience to loud applause.

UPDATE at 12/24/04 4:45:49 pm:

Here’s a different version of the story, from another obscure corner of the internet, revealing that questions about negative media were voiced to Secretary Rumsfeld by more than one soldier: Rumsfeld needles media as troops bemoan bad press. (Hat tip: [Engineer].)

A soldier at his first stop in Mosul asked Rumsfeld how the “propaganda” worked?

Rumsfeld, under attack since he appeared to brush aside a question about poor equipment from a U.S. soldier in Kuwait that later turned out to have been composed with help from a reporter, jumped at the opportunity to turn the tables.

“That doesn’t sound like a question placed by the press,” he told his audience to loud applause.

A few hours later in Tikrit, the same frustration surfaced with another soldier complaining that she had a hard time explaining what they were doing in Iraq when she got back home and asking what could be done to get past the bad press.

UPDATE at 12/24/04 4:49:13 pm:

Rush Limbaugh’s site has a complete transcript of the question—and reaction—that mainstream media doesn’t want you to hear: The Troops Support Rummy. (Hat tip: zombie.)

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Everything we do good, no matter whether it’s helping a little kid or building a new school, the public affairs sends out the message that the media doesn’t pick up on. How do we win the propaganda war?

RUMSFELD: That does not sound like a question that was planted by the press. That happens sometimes. (Uproarious Laughter.)

RUSH: And the raucous uproarious laughter and applause continued. When it died down, the secretary answered question.

RUMSFELD: Everything we do here is harder because of television stations like Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabia and the constant negative approach. You don’t hear about the schools that are open, and the hospitals that are open, and the clinics that are open, and the fact that the stock market is open and the Iraqi currency is steady and the fact that there have been something like 140,000 refugees coming from other countries back into this country. They’re voting with their feet because they believe this is a country of the future. You don’t read about that. You read about every single negative thing that anyone can find to report. I was talking to a group of congressmen and senators the other day, and there were a couple of them who had negative things to say and they were in the press in five minutes. There were 15 or 20 that had positive things to say about what’s going on in Iraq and they couldn’t get on television. Television just said we’re not interested. That’s just — sorry. So it is, I guess, what’s news has to be bad news.