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Posted at 10:35am on Jun. 22, 2008 The New York Times Names Names

A newspaper's "credibility" trumps a CIA agent's safety

By AcademicElephant

The lead article in the Sunday New York Times is "Inside a 9/11 Mastermind's Interrogation" by Scott Shane. The article is full of the standard boilerplate--Iraq has caused more terrorist plots against us (of course they haven't been actually carried out, but that's hardly the point), "torture" inflicted by CIA interrogators has destroyed our international reputation, and the terrorist detainees really aren't so very bad (they write poetry and drink Ensure, just like many readers of the Times). This may seem just another piece in the emerging narrative in which Iraq is a dirty war. It doesn't matter if we win because the very conflict is illegitimate--and what could be worse than victory without honor? It really would be better to have just lost, as many have been arguing for the last five years.

Hang on, there's more here. Through conduits he chooses not to elucidate, Mr. Shane had access to substantial documentation of the capture and interrogation of several high-value targets. And in the Hallowed Times Tradition, the paper decided its dedication to journalistic integrity was more important national security interests, and a deliberate editorial decision was made to reveal the identity of KSM's chief interrogator--his name, his employer, and his current involvement with the Agency.

Read on...

Posted in new york times | outing CIA agents | terrorist interrogations | War — Comments (32)/ Email this page » / Read More »