A Soldier’s Op-ed
EmailThis originally appeared on the Powerline blog ….
"Lt. Tom Cotton writes this morning from Baghdad with a word for
the New York Times:
"Dear Messrs. Keller, Lichtblau & Risen:
"Congratulations on disclosing our government’s highly classified anti-terrorist-financing program (June 23). I apologize for not writing sooner. But I am a lieutenant in the United States Army and I spent the last four days patrolling one of the more dangerous areas in Iraq. (Alas, operational security and common sense prevent me from even revealing this unclassified location in a private medium like email.)
"Unfortunately, as I supervised my soldiers late one night, I heard a booming explosion several miles away. I learned a few hours later that a powerful roadside bomb killed one soldier and severely injured another from my 130-man company. I deeply hope that we can find and kill or capture the terrorists responsible for that bomb. But, of course, these terrorists do not spring from the soil like Plato’s guardians. No, they require financing to obtain mortars and artillery shells, priming explosives, wiring and circuitry, not to mention for training and payments to locals willing to emplace bombs in exchange for a few months’ salary. As your story states, the program was legal, briefed to Congress, supported in the government and financial industry, and very successful.
"Not anymore. You may think you have done a public service, but you have gravely endangered the lives of my soldiers and all other soldiers and innocent Iraqis here. Next time I hear that familiar explosion — or next time I feel it — I will wonder whether we could have stopped that bomb had you not instructed terrorists how to evade our financial surveillance.
"And, by the way, having graduated from Harvard Law and practiced with a federal appellate judge and two Washington law firms before becoming an infantry officer, I am well-versed in the espionage laws relevant to this story and others — laws you have plainly violated. I hope that my colleagues at the Department of Justice match the courage of my soldiers here and prosecute you and your newspaper to the fullest extent of the law. By the time we return home, maybe you will be in your rightful place: not at the Pulitzer announcements, but behind bars.
"Very truly yours,
"Tom Cotton
Baghdad, Iraq"
HERE’S NYT EXECUTIVE EDITOR BILL KELLER’S LETTER explaining why the newspaper published its story.
–jt
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Unfortunately, the presumption behind Lt. Cotton’s argument is that the war in Iraq is an essential part of the President’s self-proclaimed “War on Terror,” and that any reporting which might in the slightest possiblity be harmful to the “War on Terror” is also harmful to the war in Iraq. This presumption is what the administration is counting on for support from the populace while spewing its outrage at the latest revelations of yet another secret intelligence-gathering program. This President’s administration has tried time and time again to inextricably link the two wars, when,from all available evidence, it is clear that Iraq was not linked to the terrorism of Al Qaida before the US declared war on Iraq. I deeply regret Lt. Cotton’s losses, but he’s blaming the messenger for reporting the news instead of whom he should blame: the men responsible for this unholy mess.
I saw Eric Lichtblau on yesterday evening’s “News Hour with Jim Lehrer,” and he mentioned that this administration stepped up and widened its Congressional briefings of what it was doing AFTER the NYT printed its story. Evidently, it had not briefed as many memmbers of Congress beforehand as it said it had. Messrs. Keller, Lichtblau, and Risen were absolutely correct in reporting the story.
Posted by: chuck | June 27, 2006, 8:54 am 8:54 am
I don’t get this. This LT is a Harvard Grad with a law degree and went into the infantry. Come clean LT. As a former miltary member with combat experience, I resent your post. The NYT and all other publications have a right and duty to report events to the general problem.
Posted by: Ron | June 27, 2006, 12:58 pm 12:58 pm
Why are so many of those who ‘defend’ freedom and democracy (quotemarks are for Bush and his rightie buddies, not soldiers who actually do the defending, but I digress…) so antsy with those of us who actually exercise them?
Posted by: phillygirl64 | June 27, 2006, 4:30 pm 4:30 pm
I appreciate your letter and your feelings on the matter of the NYT and the monitoring of financial information. However, are you saying that the government should be able to tell the press what to print and what not to print?
I beleive the NYT was absolutely correct to run the story.
Posted by: Maggie | June 27, 2006, 8:45 pm 8:45 pm
phillygirl, you took the words right out of my head. I don’t understand how some folks can be so vehemently pro-freedom, and yet the slightest bit of criticism against the administration or the war has them crying “treason!” If I’m not mistaken, that was one of the reasons why a lot of people left England and settled in America in the 1600s-1700s. That, and a thing called “religious freedom” that seems to be slowly disappearing in this country as well.
Posted by: B&M RR | June 27, 2006, 8:46 pm 8:46 pm
Lt. Tom Cotton,
Excuse those who dont have a clue of where to draw the line between treason and the public’s right to know. Obviously those who support the NYT reporting classified information arent those risking their lives as our soldiers are. I pray the NYT and the person/persons involved in leaking this information are prosecuted and rot in prison. Perhaps the NYT will go belly up and those who support its treason will leave this country and we’d be the better for both.
Posted by: Kim | June 28, 2006, 10:29 am 10:29 am
I do want to remind everyone that regardless of what Bush thinks and the reasons everyone thinks we are still over there, all of that doesn’t matter. What matters is that our friends and family are there, just doing their jobs. My husband is in the Navy, and while we don’t agree with everything our government says and does, he has a job to do. He signed a contract and until it’s up, he is only doing his job. So please remember that when you discuss the reasons we shouldn’t be there, and also when you make light of the fact that people are dying over there, that soldiers like Cotton are doing their job and trying to stay alive and keep his men alive. I don’t agree with why they say we are over there. This should’ve been over by now, and I am also worried since my husband may be shipped out to there. But I will support the men and women who are over there, doing their jobs. The rest of America should support them, if not the government.
Posted by: Jessica | June 29, 2006, 8:53 am 8:53 am