Excerpt from a Jan. 6 White House Briefing

Helen Thomas is an institution in the White House press corps not some minor reporter from a small liberal publication. That’s what makes her questions to Ari Fleischer all the more stunning. Here’s an excerpt:

Thomas: My follow-up is, why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?

**Fleischer:**Helen, the question is how to protect Americans, and our allies and friends –

**Thomas:**They’re not attacking you.

This story got play in Saudi Arabia’s English language daily Arab News and Pakistan’s Daily Times. Other than the Minnesota Star-Tribune I don’t know of any mainstream American press that’s picked this up.