In Search of Rumsfeld's 5,000 Iraqi Small Businesses (Page 2)

An Amiable Major at the Defense Department

So I e-mailed Maj. Joseph Yoswa, defense press officer, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, seeking answers to how Rumsfeld had arrived at the 5,000 figure and how his department defined "small businesses."

In his prompt reply, the major wrote that "the Secretary received this information from the CPA during his last visit to Baghdad. So you would need to get the details from them."

After some insistence on my part, the major eventually provided me with the e-mail address of an actual person at the CPA whom I could contact, Ms. Karen Triggs, CPA public affairs.

Ms. Triggs Does Her Best

On October 10, Ms. Triggs replied to my e-mail with the encouraging statement that "you'll be pleased to know that we are looking at your questions. I will be back in touch by email with answers as soon as they come in."

In reply to my e-mail thanking her for the quick response, Ms.Triggs noted, "Yes I do really exist! And someone is really looking at your questions."

My delight in having found a friendly human being willing to provide me with information turned out, however, to be premature.

On October 16, in reply to my query on how her search was proceeding, Ms. Triggs sent me a curt note stating that "Major Joe Yoswa of the Pentagon Public Affairs office is dealing. You should communicate directly with him. Many thanks, Karen."

The CPA Reacts

Meanwhile, I was severely reprimanded by a senior member of US administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer's staff for having gotten in touch with Ms. Triggs.

In an e-mail dated October 15, this official, for whom I have great professional admiration and thus will remain nameless, said:

I am surprised and disappointed at you. Why in the world are you even asking (never mind attempting to bully) a junior press officer in Baghdad about remarks by the Secretary of Defense? If you want expansion of Rumsfeld's remarks, ask Rumsfeld's press office!

At this point I cannot deny a certain irritation on my part.

Noting in an e-mail to the above-mentioned official that I had been referred to Ms. Triggs by Major Yoswa, a Defense Department press officer, I sent a copy of the official's e-mail regarding Ms. Triggs's "junior" status to both Major Yoswa and Ms. Triggs.

Keeping everyone in the loop did not pay off: I have not heard from the good major or Ms. Triggs since--nor, of course, from the above-mentioned official.

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