MSNBC anchor Brian Williams attempted to discredit Attorney General William Barr and his Thursday press conference by redubbing him “Baghdad Bill Barr.”
WATCH:
“It’s already been mentioned around here — it would harken back to a conflict decades ago — we would not be surprised if some headline writer somewhere came up somewhere with ‘Baghdad Bill Barr’ for what we saw today,” Williams claimed. (RELATED: Brian Williams Runs Fake News Segment About Trump And Dogs)
Williams was referring, of course, to “Baghdad Bob” — Iraqi Defense Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf under Saddam Hussein. “Bob,” so nicknamed by American media, earned a reputation for fabricating Iraqi victories even when photo or video evidence directly refuted what he was saying.
“Baghdad Bob” was known for such gems as:
- “I triple guarantee you, there are no American soldiers in Baghdad.”
- “I speak better English than this villain Bush.”
- “We will kill them all……..most of them.”
- “Yes, the American troops have advanced further. This will only make it easier for us to defeat them.”
Williams and his guest, former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, went on to argue that Barr’s repetition of the conclusion, “There was no collusion,” made it clear that Barr’s intended audience was President Donald Trump and the message was that he was going to defend the president in spite of any evidence to the contrary.
Williams himself has had a tenuous relationship with the truth in the past. An admittedly fabricated story about his experience as a war correspondent led to NBC suspending Williams without pay for six months in 2015.
