In a new low for partisan reporting, the Huffington Post has published a piece by Sam Stein knocking General Stanley McChrystal over the Pat Tillman affair.
Ariana Huffington, "HuffPo's" chief.
The piece chronicles an appearance by journalist Jon Krakauer on yesterday’s “Meet The Press.” Let’s take a look at Mr. Krakauer’s comments from MTP:
MR. KRAKAUER: After Tillman died, the most important thing to know is that within–instantly, within 24 hours certainly, everybody on the ground, everyone intimately involved knew it was friendly fire. There’s never any doubt it was friendly fire. McChrystal was told within 24 hours it was friendly fire. Also, immediately they started this paperwork to give Tillman a Silver Star. And the Silver Star ended up being at the center of the cover-up. So McChrystal–Tillman faced this devastating fire from his own guys, and he tried to protect a young private by exposing himself to this, this fire. That’s why he was killed and the private wasn’t. Without friendly fire there’s no valor, there’s no Silver Star. There was no enemy fire, yet McChrystal authored, he closely supervised over a number of days this fraudulent medal recommendation that talked about devastating enemy fire.
GREGORY: And that’s the important piece of it. And, and he actually testified earlier this year before the Senate, and this is what he said about it.
(Videotape, June 2, 2009)
LT. GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL: Now, what happens, in retrospect, is–and I would do this differently if I had the chance again–in retrospect they look contradictory, because we sent a Silver Star that was not well-written. And although I went through the process, I will tell you now I didn’t review the citation well enough to capture–or I didn’t catch that if you read it you could imply that it was not friendly fire.
(End videotape)
GREGORY: Even those who were critical of him and the Army say they don’t think he willfully deceived anyone.
MR. KRAKAUER: That’s correct. He, he just said now he didn’t read this hugely important document about the most famous soldier in the military. He didn’t read it carefully enough to notice that it talked about enemy fire instead of friendly fire? That’s preposterous. That, that’s not believable.
Mr. Stein gleefully adds the following:
Krakauer is a widely read and respected writer and biographer. And because his book has been released just at the apex of McChrystal’s status in American politics, his writing has become all the more significant and newsworthy. As such, expect more than a few interviewers and outlets to revisit this obviously difficult period in recent army history and one of the few clear dark spots on McChrystal’s resume.
Let’s be frank, Gen. McChrystal’s real crime, according to Stein and HuffPo, was asking Obama for more troops. How dare the General force Mr. Obama to make a tough decision?
Where was the Huffington Post’s criticism when McChrystal was appointed to the U.S. high command in Afghanistan earlier this year? Oh yeah, General McChrystal was favored by Obama and therefore the Huffington Post.
I don’t think I’ve seen one article on the Huffington Post critical of the President in any way. In an amateur move, HuffPo is firing some of the opening shots in what will surely be a campaign to de-legitimize General McChrystal on the left-wing of the blogosphere and other like minded media outlets.
Sure, this begins with Krakauer and NBC, and McChrystal’s actions are always open for scrutiny, but let’s be honest, the Huffington Post would not be running a piece like this if General McChrystal wasn’t at odds with the President.
Even if the Huffington Post and the left somehow take down General McChrystal, Mr. Obama will still have to eventually make a decision on whether to send more troops to Afghanistan. So far in 2009, more Americans have been killed in Afghanistan than in 2007 and 2008 combined.
Related posts:
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- Press Piles on McChrystal with Exaggerations Over Rolling Stone Article
- Huffington Post Trashes Palin’s Fox Debut
- President Tells Glenn Beck Fans to Try The Huffington Post. Good Luck Mr. President.
John Romano is the publisher Yes, But However!, the lead singer of the rock band The Sugarmen, a political correspondent for BBC Radio London and a and a serial web entrepreneur. Oh, and his nickname is Johnny Rome, has been for 15 years.
