The Los Angeles Times runs a news analysis on its front page this morning, which falsely states in its second paragraph:

L. Paul Bremer III, the civilian administrator for Iraq, left without even giving a final speech to the country — almost as if he were afraid to look in the eye the people he had ruled for more than a year.

Although you can’t see it on the internet version, the print version of the story repeats the canard on page A8, where a picture of Bremer is captioned:

HASTY DEPARTURE: L. Paul Bremer III, the U.S. civilian administrator, left Iraq without a parting speech.

Only problem is — as I told you here four days ago, on June 30 — Bremer did give a farewell speech. Bremer’s speech was quoted in this story in the San Francisco Chronicle. The speech was described in detail in this post by an Iraqi blogger, who reported that a crowd of Iraqis — containing at least one former Muqtada sympathizer — was extremely moved by Bremer’s parting words.

But apparently we imagined all that. Because the Los Angeles Times says it didn’t happen. And the Times further explains that Bremer’s failure to give the speech suggests that he is a coward.

If the Los Angeles Times says it, I guess it must be true.

Why, it’s almost as if the folks at the L.A. Times were afraid to look in the eye the facts that have been available on the internet for days.