Monday, May 17, 2004

The World's Greatest

As I have said before, there is no finer journalist in the United States, and perhaps the World, than Seymour Hersh. This man embodies what it means to be a journalist, and fully embraces the journalist's role in a democracy: to provide an honest, even-handed yet probing report on the activities of the government of the people. This article grants him his share of well-deserved praise.

His latest article, appearing in the May 24th edition of the New Yorker, is yet another example of his tireless quest to uncover the truth behind the public statements made by governments with something to hide. This article should also put to rest the ludicrous theory that the widespread systemic abuse that occurred in Iraq and elsewhere, a very small amount of which was photographed, was committed by a few low-level MPs acting on their own initiative. This quote sums up the conclusion of his recent inquiries:

"The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. Rumsfeld's decision embittered the American intelligence community, damaged the effectiveness of elite combat units, and hurt America's prospects in the war on terror."

The rest of the article is another must-read from the World's Greatest.




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