Seymour Hersh, the Afghanistan War WikiLeaks, and Getting the Real Story
One of the best investigative journalists who has been reporting on America's wars is Seymour Hersh. Hersh has been consistently ahead of the pack -- revealing hard-to-believe atrocities far before the political marketplace was often ready or willing to accept his reporting.
The extraordinary posting on WikiLeaks of more than 92,000 classified documents on America's military activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan confirms Hersh's claims of battlefield executions and death squads.
Besides Hersh, The New Yorker's key commentators on Afghanistan have been Steve Coll, George Packer, and Hendrick Hertzberg.
I am a big fan of all of these brilliant writers. However, although these generalizations may be unfair to them and may overstate, Coll, and Packer have been mostly in the camp of supporting the administration's general course in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- though there are exceptions in the portfolios of each. Hertzberg has been a cautious skeptic of the administration -- and Hersh has been the most dramatically revealing of America's self-deception about success in the Afghan War.
Given what has just been released in this disturbing dump of classified documents, we hope that The New Yorker encourages Hersh to get back on this beat and into the field soon on this stuff.
-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note, is editor-at-large at Talking Points Memo, and Clemons can be followed on Twitter @SCClemons

















It's been said a million times or more but this thing smells more like Vietnam every day. And the damned thing started by people who never understood that it doesn't matter how many bombs you drop or how many people you kill (or how many schools you build) one day the army has to leave and the whole thing will be a blood bath. But GW Bush just had to have his war.
July 26, 2010 5:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
fpie -- I agree. I have another post just above that makes a similar point in that the intel dump of these Afghan War Logs via WikiLeaks is the modern version of the Pentagon Papers. Circle complete. Best, steve clemons
July 26, 2010 5:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm, not sure what happened to my original comment here but some of Hersh's critics clearly owe the man an apology.
July 26, 2010 8:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is it correct and as i have previously mentioned for many years,
'from the bush//obama administration to the obama//bush administration'.
July 26, 2010 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
or worse.
July 26, 2010 10:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
RE: "One of the best investigative journalists who has been reporting on America's wars is Seymour Hersh." - Clemons
MY COMMENT: Sy Hersh is truly a great American! You want proof of that? Richard Perle called Hersh "the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist." I rest my case! Our "childrens" will sing great songs about Seymour Hersh years from now.
Speaking of great Americans, I also think Naomi Klein is a great Canadian. You want proof? She referred dismissively to Richard Perle as an "arms dealer with an impressive vocabulary".
P.S. I will not bore you with my own opinion of "Perle of Provence". La dolce vita! There's gold in them thar armaments.
July 26, 2010 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
RE: "There's gold in them thar armaments." - moi, above
ADDENDUM:...and in 'sucking up' to Conrad Black, a/k/a Baron Black of Crossharbour!
July 26, 2010 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
For you TPMCafe vets, I sure miss ole' Howard when it comes to Afghanistan discussion. We covered this same ground eons ago, it seems, fightin' tooth and nail, down the page. Where'd he go?
July 26, 2010 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
News item: 'Kerry Starts New Organization - Vietnam Vets Against Obama!' and forms his own Foreign Relations Committee....
July 28, 2010 5:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
News item: 'Kerry Starts New Organization - Vietnam Vets Against Obama!' and forms his own Foreign Relations Committee....
July 28, 2010 5:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
input this URL:
http://www.fashionsports.org
you can find many cheap and fashion stuff
(jor dan s-h-o-e-s)
(NBA NFL NHL MLB j-e-r-s-e-y)
( lv h-a-n-d-b-a-g)
(cha nel w-a-l-l-e-t)
(D&G s-u-n-g-l-a-s-s-e-s)
(ed har dy j-a-c-k-e-t)
(UG G b-o-o-t)
WE ACCEPT PYAPAL PAYMENT
YOU MUST NOT MISS IT!!
July 29, 2010 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
tiffany uk
tiffany online
August 13, 2010 2:01 AM | Reply | Permalink