AVOID THE RUSH LATER, BEGIN DESPISING "JOURNALISTS" NOW

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his top military adviser said Tuesday they have evidence the Arab television news organizations Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya cooperated with Iraqi insurgents to witness and videotape attacks on American troops.

Rumsfeld said the effort fit a pattern of psychological warfare used by remnants of the Baathist government, who want to create the impression that no amount of U.S. firepower can end the insurgency.

"They've called Al-Jazeera to come and watch them do it (attack American troops), and Al-Arabiya," he told a Pentagon news conference. "`Come and see us, watch us; here is what we're going to do.'"

Pressed for details, Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both indicated that U.S. forces in Iraq had collected more than just circumstantial evidence that one or both of the Arab news organizations might have cooperated with the attackers.