New stab-in-the-back-theory? If the civilians had only listened to the Red Team ...

Michael Gordon was a co-author with the infamous Judith Miller on several of the New York Times' articles that recycled cynical Cheney propaganda to justify invading Iraq. When I read his articles, I generally assume I'm looking at something like a Pentagon PR release.

So my first thought when I saw this article, an excerpt from a book he has coming out, I immediately thought how this will make a good stab-in-the-back-theory to argue that our glorious generals won the war in Iraq and every battle during it and everything would have turned out fine if the wimpy civilians, unworthy as they are to make decisions about war, had just listened to the Pentagon: The Iraq Red Team Foreign Policy 06/24/2012. "Nobody can say for certain what might have happened, but it is instructive that some of the spurned recommendations were very effective when belatedly implemented years later," he writes.

Check it out. Just remember it's Michael Gordon you're reading.

Tags: iraq war, michael gordon

Dick Cheney wants to bomb somewhere: what else is new?

Still, it's not good news: Cheney urging strikes on Iran by Warren P. Strobel, John Walcott and Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers 08/09/07.

War and the threat of war, that seems to be the only kind of foreign policy these people can conceive. We should also remember that Strobel, Walcott and Youssef of McClatchy (formerly Knight-Ridder) have been consistently doing some of the best reporting on the Iraq War and intelligence issues. They write:

The debate has been accompanied by a growing drumbeat of allegations about Iranian meddling in Iraq from U.S. military officers, administration officials and administration allies outside government and in the news media. It isn't clear whether the media campaign is intended to build support for limited military action against Iran, to pressure the Iranians to curb their support for Shiite groups in Iraq or both.

Nor is it clear from the evidence the administration has presented whether Iran, which has long-standing ties to several Iraqi Shiite groups, including the Mahdi Army of radical cleric Muqtada al Sadr and the Badr Organization, which is allied with the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, is a major cause of the anti-American and sectarian violence in Iraq or merely one of many. At other times, administration officials have blamed the Sunni Muslim group al Qaida in Iraq for much of the violence. (my emphasis)

When you see reports about Iran aiding insurgents in Iraq, pay attention to how many of them come from Michael Gordon, who co-authored some of Judith Miller's notorious pieces on Iraqi WMDs and is generally a Pentagon stenographer.

Tags: dick cheney, iran, iran war, iraq war, michael gordon

Is the DDR (Communist East Germany) the Cheney-Bush model for governance?

It could be. Today's New York Times carried a story by reporter [sic] Michael Gordon, who collaborated with Judith Miller on some of her notorious WMD articles, with some hair-raising claims about Iranian meddling in Iraq, Deadliest Bomb in Iraq Is Made by Iran, U.S. Says 02/10/07. Gleen Greenwald writes about it in The NY Times returns to pre-Iraq-war "journalism" Unclaimed Territory blog 02/10/07:

That is a proposition that is extremely inflammatory - it suggests that Iranians bear responsibility for attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, even though that is a claim for which almost no evidence has been presented and which is very much in dispute. Why should that be the basis for a prominent headline when Gordon's sole basis for it are the uncorroborated assertions of the Bush administration? ...

Is that extremely provocative claim even true? Gordon never says, and he does not really appear to care. He is in Pravda Spokesman mode throughout the entire article -- offering himself up as a megaphone for administration assertions without the slightest amount of scrutiny, investigation or opposing views. (my emphasis)

East Germany's leading paper was Neues Deutchsland; Pravda was Soviet, and that's what Greenwald refers to. I should note that the pre-1989 versions of both papers should not be confused with today's versions; both are still published. To get a contemporary idea of what straight party-line "news" is like, see the Washington Times or FOX News.

Digby links to at possible explanation Well, That Explains It 02/10/07. Actually, what she links to is this satirical post, New York Times Reveals "Reporter" Michael Gordon Actually Voice -Activated Tape Recorder by Jonathan Schwarz at A Tiny Revolution 02/10/07.

She's right, that would explain a lot. It would save money to do things that way. The administration press office could just call up, read the story and the Times could print it verbatim. But, heck, that's old-tech. Just let them e-mail the story in!

Tags: iran, michael gordon, new york times