Kaloogian Fires Back in Photo Flap
Late yesterday Howard Kaloogian’s campaign sent out a press release responding to the photo flap (Istanbul/Baghdad) where he puts on the boxing gloves.
I’d post a link to the press release on his website, but he apparently is without a website right now.
Sorry about the ugly formatting. Having trouble pasting it out of my email and making it look right.
"SAN DIEGO) – Republican Congressional Candidate, Howard Kaloogian (website: www.KaloogianForCongress.com ), has released a statement responding to a controversy surrounding a photograph from Kaloogian’s "Voices of Soldiers" tour to Iraq. In July 2005 Kaloogian led a delegation of radio talk show hosts to Iraq to interview our troops who are serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The purpose of the trip was to allow the men and women of the United States military to report on the progress being made in Iraq direct to the American people and without the media filter that has repeatedly ignored the news of success in the war effort.
One photograph from the Iraq trip was uploaded to Kaloogian’s congressional campaign website. It was labeled as being from "Baghdad, Iraq" when in fact the photograph was actually taken in Istanbul, Turkey, where part of the delegation made a brief stop on their way back to the United States. Kaloogian has had the photograph replaced immediately when he became aware of the mistake with a correct photograph from Baghdad.
He has issued this response:
"My campaign mistakenly mislabeled a photograph as being from Baghdad, Iraq when it is in fact from Istanbul, Turkey. Immediately after I realized this error I had the photograph replaced with one we took from Baghdad.
"I made a mistake in posting the wrong picture, and I accept full responsibility for it.
"However, the anti-war activists who are supporting Democrat Francine Busby are trying to use this clerical mistake as justification for opposing the war. How silly.
"I will not apologize for supporting the missions our troops are serving in Iraq.
"I will not apologize for traveling to Iraq to afford our troops the opportunity to report back home the progress being made that is not being reported by the mainstream news media.
"I will not back down from supporting the mission our troops are serving in Iraq to defeat the terrorist threat. By bringing stability, democracy and freedom to the people who were long terrorized by the brutal dictator, Saddam Hussein, and eliminating safe havens for terrorists, we are ensuring American security at home.
"And, most importantly, I will not allow Francine Busby, her "Blame America First" friends, and the anti-military contingent to undermine America’s support for our military men and women and their mission in Iraq."
