Than Andre Damon's review of Sy Hersh's book at WSWS.
The review is so bad -- superficial hagiography -- that I have to wonder if Andre Damon even read the book?
C.I. covered the book with "Seymour Hersh meanders throughout REPORTER: A MEMOIR." From that review:
In Wednesday's snapshot, I noted past history with Hersh including the fact that I had accused him -- and he had denied -- ratting out a public protest, informing on what was planned. I dropped out of the action because of the fact that there was a rat in the midst. So did Coretta Scott King. She had no idea who it was. I believed then it was Sy Hersh. He denied it.
One of my worst qualities -- or at least the one that always ticks me off -- is that I will doubt myself. When I know I'm right and someone assures me that, no, they didn't do whatever it is they did, I will take their word and assume automatically that I was wrong.
Reading REPORTER, I'm suddenly reminded of how right I was to suspect Hersh and I do believe he was a rat. Why was he present at planning sessions? He showed up out of nowhere, this NEW YORK TIMES reporter who covered the CIA. Just showed up. Now he couldn't -- and he didn't -- participate in the protest for peace that took part. As a reporter for THE TIMES, he couldn't. And he wasn't reporting on peace protests for THE TIMES. So why was he there?
I believe I know why he was there. He was gathering information to sell people out. He wanted a bigger story and was willing to do favors (such as spying and snitching). As I said in Wednesday's snapshot, that's what I thought happened and journalists have no ethics.
This comes through repeatedly in the book. For example, then CIA-head William Colby? He wants a story killed in the fall of 1973 -- a rather major story that would finally emerge in 1975 -- about a submarine and Hersh agrees to kill it. But, of course, quid pro quo. He'll gladly drop the story but needs something in exchange.
That's the reality of reporting.
It's also probably the scariest part of the book.
I disagree with Hersh, for example, about politics. Eugene McCarthy was scum -- you didn't have to wait for his 1980 endorsement of Ronald Reagan to grasp that. RFK would have been not just a better choice, he would have been the best choice.
Now you can disagree with that and Hersh does.
But here's what you can't disagree with: A truth teller tells truth.
Hersh isn't telling truth, not full truth. It's half-truths and evasions. He covers for this person or that person based on his own personal biases and beliefs. He makes deals to conceal information and kill stories -- legitimate news stories -- based on his own capricious whims and alleged judgment.
That's not truth telling.
Sadly, it is reporting -- or what passes for it in the United States.
And that might be the saddest conclusion when you reach the last page of REPORTER: A MEMOIR -- that and the fact that your average alley cats have more integrity, they're motivated by lust, not vanity.
I've read the book. It was appalling to watch Hersh share killing a story. Somehow Andre Damon missed that.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Deadly protests rage in Iraq over lack of services as political transition deadlocks. Our round-up of a chaotic week in Iraq:
VIDEO: Protesters demonstrate outside the local government headquarters in Basra, the oil-rich city in southern Iraq shaken by two months of rallies over unemployment and the dire state of basic public services
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Six people killed while protesting on Tuesday alone. Things are not improving in Iraq. Basra has led on the protests. It is Basra where the oil makes so many in the government rich but cannot provide jobs for the people. It is Basra where the temperature right now is 114 degrees Fahrenheit and where the Iraqi government cannot provide a steady flow of electricity (three hours a day is 'good' currently). It is Basra where the people, hundreds, have had to seek medical treatment in the last weeks because they drank the local water.
Basra is an example of the failures of the Iraqi government -- the continued failures.
Here's a Tweet that's not aging well.
I met with Iraqi Prime Minister al-Abadi. We discussed Iraq's recent elections, our countries’ joint commitment to defeating ISIS and combating terrorism in the region, and our shared desire to build a better life for the Iraqi people.
A shared desire to build a better life for the Iraqi people?
Hayder's had four years to do that, Elizabeth, four years, and Basra is only one example of his failure.
So what are you doing, Elizabeth?
You're not just a US senator, you're someone who wants to be president.
So what are you doing?
You claim some "desire to build a better life for the Iraqi people."
The Iraqi people are in the streets, risking their lives, to call for basic rights.
What are you doing?
The Iraqi people need help, what are you doing?
No one asked you to try to grandstand on Iraq on July 4th. You chose to. And Hayder was a joke already before your Tweet. You chose to get in there so what are you going to do now?
This isn't fun and games for the Iraqi people.
Do you even care? Or was it just your effort in building empire? You're a well known fake ass who spent your life being a Republican and then suddenly drifted to the left or 'left.' At what point do you take an action -- a real action -- the proves you mean what you say? For someone hoping to be president in 2020, you don't have a lot of time to waste.
Like Elizabeth Warren, the US government wants the inept Hayder al-Abadi to have four more years as prime minister. (Barack Obama installed Hayder in 2014. That's what happened. We've always said it. NPR said it too -- on air -- not all that long ago.)
The US horse fell at the first jump in Iraq ejmagnier.com/2018/09/04/the…
Elijah J. Magnier explains:
The battle between the US and Iran came to light overtly in the first session of the new Iraqi parliament. This contest will remain open until the federal court decides which of the two coalitions holds the largest number of deputies and is therefore eligible to form a government (the Speaker – and his two deputies-, the President – and his two deputies – who will ask the Prime Minister to form a government). Haidar Abadi, the interim Prime Minister, failed to present the largest coalition but managed to gain more time to enable his ally, the US, to exert even more pressure on Iraqi politicians on Abadi’s behalf. But whatever direction the wind blows, there is no doubt that Iran now has over 150 MPs supporting it. Thus, any US attempt to isolate Tehran or unilaterally control Mesopotamia has irreversibly failed.
Magnier outlines how the Kurds are sitting it out currently, waiting to see who will make what promise -- let's hope the Kurds have finally learned that words are empty from all the broken promises of the past.
Hero Talabani's nonsense over the weekend was her making clear what the PUK wants (demands) for their support: The post of president. The Talabani family is corruption defined.
That she thinks she can make demands today is appalling. She should be sitting in prison for deceiving the Iraqi people.
Dropping back to the July 22, 2014 snapshot:
From December 2012 to July of 2014, Jalal The Fat Ass Talabani was not in Iraq. He was also not carrying out his duties as prime minister. He couldn't speak. He couldn't move.
But Hero lied to the Iraqi people. She lied to start with denying he'd had a strike. She took part in the lies of photo ops, posing Jalal (who could not move on his own) for a series of photos (denounced on Arabic meeting as a bad rip off of WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S) to make it appear he was meeting with people and taking part in discussions. He would be back in Iraq shortly. She said that six weeks in, she said it three months in, she said it . . .
Per the Iraqi Constitution, Jalal was not able to carry out his duties and should have been replaced. But Hero lied over and over. She deceived the Iraqi people.
That alone is outrageous.
But grasp that actions have consequences.
Thug Nouri al-Maliki was given a second term as prime minister by Barack Obama (via The Erbil Agreement). This second term found the thug becoming even more of a thug.
Could Jalal have stopped any of that? Maybe. Maybe not.
But what did happen while Iraq was without a functioning president was that Nouri persecuted the Sunnis repeatedly and constantly and ISIS was able to take root as a result.
PUK spokesperson confirms that Hero Ibrhaim Ahmed, (wife of late Mam Jalal), Qubad and Bafel Talabani recently visited KDP President Masoud Barzani to apologize for post-Oct. 16 events.
Saadi Pira said that visit would help the situation in #Kurdistan Region.
Hero Talabani, late Talabani’s wife and her two sons Bafel and Qubad Talabani visit Masoud Barzani to strength the ties between the two ruling clans: NRT TV.
Barzani has accused Bafel and Hero of betrayal over fall of Kirkuk less than a year ago.
#Kurdistan
Yes, Hero and her family also sold the Kurds out on Kirkuk.
There's a reason why the PUK has gone from being, along with the KDP, the dominant party in the KRG to now running a distant third to Goran (which was built with CIA seed money).
Let's move to another female face of empire.
“If @SenatorCollins and @lisamurkowski vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh they will be voting to take away many of the rights and freedoms I fought to defend and uphold.” VoteVets launching $330K buy in Maine and Alaska featuring Iraq War Veteran Kate Logan. #KavanaughConfirmation
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First off, your military service didn't make you an expert on s**t beyond loading weapons. You didn't build democracy. You don't know what you're talking about.
Second, Kate Logan, you should be on your knees begging the Iraqi women for forgiveness. How dare you use your actions in Iraq to claim that you stood for women's rights. The US mission was to destroy the rights of Iraqi women. Quit whoring, you cheap trash. You're not a hero. You're not anyone to admire. You took part in a criminal activity that destroyed the country of Iraq. The women of Iraq had the best standing in the Middle East. You helped destroy that. You helped destroy their rights. How dare you now lie and pretend like you were in Iraq for women's rights. Your words would be laughable were it not for the very real suffering the Iraqi women have endured.
I'm really tired of people who could be tried for War Crimes trying to use their military actions as ground to stand on. You should be ashamed. Vote Vets? I believe the CIA idiot fails to understand who she would serve in Congress. I've laughed at her repeatedly because she is so deeply stupid. But I haven't felt the need to call her out because, unlike Kate Logan, she's not trying to pretend that she fought for the rights of women.
Hey, Kate Logan, the US service members who plotted a home invasion, who killed a five-year-old girl and her parents when not taking turns gang-raping Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi -- were they advancing women's rights too?
Let's remember that the soldiers then tried to set the bodies on fire and make it look like 'rebels' had carried out the crimes. Let's remember too that their actions were known. Let's remember, most importantly, that if their actions hadn't resulted in an attack on US service members, it's doubtful anyone would have come forward to expose what really happened.
"Let me be clear," Kate Logan, you need to take responsibility for the way your actions destroyed the lives of Iraqi women. You have no defense. You chose to join and you chose to join in 2005. By then Iraqi women were already in the streets protesting what the US war and occupation was doing, how their rights were being slashed in the US rush to hand over control to radical despots.
I don't care if you're scared that you may not be able to have an abortion in the future, Kate. I do care that in the right now you have destroyed the rights of Iraqi women and you have no awareness of that. You're a stupid idiot and yet another example of how so few learn in the military. You learned to follow orders, Kate, you didn't learn much else. You still feel nothing for the people of the country you invaded or for the destruction your actions caused. Sit your tired ass down. No one needs to here from you. And instead of expecting us to thank you for your actions, how about thanking the American people for paying your wages and apparently increasing your vanity?
Kate reeks of entitlement and are we surprised? A woman who identifies with oppressors is always a freak and Kate's a super freak. She wants us to listen to her because she helped destroy the lives of women in another country? The only thing greater than her White entitlement is her complete lack of awareness.
Iraq did not attack the US. The US attacked Iraq. It's a reality Kate wants us to all forget. Oppressors never push for honest dialogues.
The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley and BLACK AGENDA RADIO -- updated:
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