We were on an important mission.
Posted on 06/27/2006 2:57:57 AM PDT by Hadean
MANY READERS have been sharply critical of our decision to publish an article Friday on the U.S. Treasury Department's program to secretly monitor worldwide money transfers in an effort to track terrorist financing. They have sent me sincere and powerful expressions of their disappointment in our newspaper, and they deserve an equally thoughtful and honest response.
The decision to publish this article was not one we took lightly. We considered very seriously the government's assertion that these disclosures could cause difficulties for counterterrorism programs. And we weighed that assertion against the fact that there is an intense and ongoing public debate about whether surveillance programs like these pose a serious threat to civil liberties. We sometimes withhold information when we believe that reporting it would threaten a life. In this case, we believed, based on our talks with many people in the government and on our own reporting, that the information on the Treasury Department's program did not pose that threat. Nor did the government give us any strong evidence that the information would thwart true terrorism inquiries. In fact, a close read of the article shows that some in the government believe that the program is ineffective in fighting terrorism....
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/business/media/25keller-letter.html?_r=1&oref=login
Mr. Keller and the Times can "Tell it to the Judge"...
why can't the MSM just come out and admit that they published the story on orders of their leader osama bin-laden?
There is some serious blowback that is going to land on the NY Times.
OK...how about lives.....about 300 million of them?
What a load of drivel. I laughed out loud when he said "this paper isn't out to get the administration."
And there you have it - that's all we need - SOME in the government think it's ineffective.
Mr. Keller:
You were STRONGLY ENCOURAGED, by the highest levels of the US government not to publish this story.
Time to pay the price.
How about, you did it because you're a bunch of treasonous a$$holes?
Thanks for posting this letter too.
The ARROGANCE of liberals to think that THEY can judge what will or won't pose a threat to this country or to citizens' or soldiers' lives is nothing but egregious hubris.
Pride goeth before a fall, LATIMES. Mark you well, Dean Baquet and Bill Keller--America does not like you, America does not trust you, America thinks YOU are traitors, and America will turn its back on you.
Ditto.
I'll bet they had to consult with their attorneys before publishing their responses. The MSM will now do everything in it's power to turn this story into them being them victims of censorship.
If the DEMS were on board helping Bush....Keller is on very shaky ground.
Hopefully.
By sometimes they mean if they don't see how it can hurt Bush.
It is to in your face....it will have to be answered by the government.
Even their own moonbat readers laughed out loud at that one.
"If the DEMS were on board helping Bush....Keller is on very shaky ground."
More like Quicksand.
The memogate was serious but at the same time pretty funny. There's nothing to laugh about in this story.
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