Just like Bush with Abu Ghraib

It was just a few WaPost privates who oversold Iraq, Getler says

Senior management, op-ed staff conveniently overlooked

Washington Post ombudsman Michael Getler claims it was primarily lower-level copy editors and their ilk who are to blame for hyping the potential invasion of Iraq.

The Post contributed a fair number of stories that raised questions about the issue of weapons of mass destruction. But too many of these were placed well inside the paper. Several other stories that challenged the official wisdom and unfolded in public were either missed or played down. I have attributed this mostly to what seemed to me to be a lack of alertness on the part of editors who at the time were also undoubtedly focused on preparing for the coming war.

He then concedes that higher-ups, if that is to whom he is alluding, might have a bit of fault:

Rather, it seemed to me that editors didn't have their eye on, and didn't go for, the right ball at the right time. It's a lesson that ought to be etched in the culture here as deeply as Watergate.

But he refuses to admit this is a case of “fish rotting from the head down,” or “newsroom culture starting at the top.”

He insists that Post reporters stood tough against Bush.

The administration was enormously skillful and disciplined at getting its message across while keeping other things secret. It made effective use of our concerns and reactions to the scary post-Sept. 11 world. Some journalists or news organizations may have been intimidated by the atmosphere. I don't think The Post was.

Well, maybe compared to the New York Times you weren’t, but then again, not everybody is lucky enough to have a Judy Miller.

In short, Getler refuses to name names on senior news editors or editorial management.

So I will. What about National Editor Michael Abramowitz? Deputy Foreign Editor Pamela Constable? Associate Editor Karen DeYoung? Associate Editor Robert G. Kaiser? Assistant Managing Editor Mike Keegan? Deputy National Editor Daniel LeDuc? Assistant Managing Editor for Investigations Jeff Leen? Deputy Foreign Editor Andy Mosher? Investigations Editor Larry Roberts? Deputy National Editor Judy Sarasohn? Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward (especially if Getler wants to say the Post fell down, compared to its Watergate coverage)?

Hell, what about Getler himself? What was his stance on Iraq starting from the summer of 2002?