Posted on 01/19/2005 4:08:57 PM PST by KMC1
LIBERALS WILL GET US KILLED: That line was an recurring theme in my syndicated column during the campaign. Now Sarah Boxer from the New York Times is proving it true. And I do agree with Jim Geraghty at TKS - I feel a blog-swarm rising...
Sarah Boxer in this recent piece in the NYTIMES repeatedly speculated out loud about the possibility that the bloggers at IraqTheModel might in fact be undercover CIA agents.
Glenn Reynolds (the all knowing BlogFather) pointed out that some soldiers in Iraq are charging American media with specifically trying to aid and abet the enemy.
In Boxer's speculations she names three prominent pro-American, pro-Iraq, pro-democracy Iraqis. She names them by name and speculates as to whether or not they might be CIA operatives.
More or less she hands Zarqawi and others a prime target and paints the bulls-eye on him for all to see. How much would the insurgency love to think that they had beheaded a CIA operative so that they could play it over and over again on their dimented web-sites?
And what were these blogger's crimes? They love freedom, democracy, Iraq, and America...
Boxer is recieving criticism from other published journalists - Jeff Jarvis for one. And Ed Cone is pointing out that she never even spoke to any of the sources that she "cites" in her piece.
Reynolds summed it up nicely:
But the New York Times has no compunctions about putting the lives of pro-American and pro-democracy Iraqis at risk with baseless speculation even though the consequences they face are far worse than those that the Times' leakers have to fear. It seems to me that doing so is far worse for America.
And on that I heartily agree with him!
UPDATE: Hugh Hewitt has some more great thoughts on the matter...
If this blogger is not a CIA operative, then there is no defense for Boxer's incredible indifference to the man's safety. If he is, then what's the difference between him and Valerie Plame, except that Plame was never in any danger following publication of her name and affiliation?
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