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Why we ran the bank story [Times editor on the paper's decision to expose U.S. money monitoring]
LA Times ^ | June 27-2006 | Dean Baquet -Editor LA Times

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 ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: baquet; financing; gwot; keller; lat; latimes; monitoring; newyorktimes; nyt; swift; terrorcells; terrorism; wot
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There is also this: Letter From Bill Keller on The [NY]Times's Banking Records Report:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/business/media/25keller-letter.html?_r=1&oref=login

1 posted on 06/27/2006 2:58:02 AM PDT by Hadean
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To: Hadean

Mr. Keller and the Times can "Tell it to the Judge"...


2 posted on 06/27/2006 3:01:32 AM PDT by Drammach (Freedom... Not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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To: Hadean

why can't the MSM just come out and admit that they published the story on orders of their leader osama bin-laden?


3 posted on 06/27/2006 3:04:21 AM PDT by JohnLongIsland
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To: Drammach
This one was so in your face and what are you going to do about it.... that the government will be forced to act.

There is some serious blowback that is going to land on the NY Times.

4 posted on 06/27/2006 3:04:22 AM PDT by Dog (The founders gave freedom of the press to the people, they didn't give freedom to the press.)
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To: Hadean
We sometimes withhold information when we believe that reporting it would threaten a life.

OK...how about lives.....about 300 million of them?

5 posted on 06/27/2006 3:06:46 AM PDT by edpc (What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly - Thomas Paine, American Crisis)
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To: Hadean

What a load of drivel. I laughed out loud when he said "this paper isn't out to get the administration."


6 posted on 06/27/2006 3:07:07 AM PDT by Pusterfuss (Proud member: Minnesotans for Global Warming)
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To: Hadean
a close read of the article shows that some in the government believe that the program is ineffective

And there you have it - that's all we need - SOME in the government think it's ineffective.

7 posted on 06/27/2006 3:07:13 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: Hadean

Mr. Keller:

You were STRONGLY ENCOURAGED, by the highest levels of the US government not to publish this story.

Time to pay the price.


8 posted on 06/27/2006 3:07:20 AM PDT by roaddog727 (Bullshit doesn't get bridges built.)
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To: Hadean

How about, you did it because you're a bunch of treasonous a$$holes?


9 posted on 06/27/2006 3:08:02 AM PDT by tomzz
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To: Hadean

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.


10 posted on 06/27/2006 3:08:21 AM PDT by Judith Anne (Thank you St. Jude for favors granted.)
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To: Drammach

Ditto.


11 posted on 06/27/2006 3:08:43 AM PDT by Cindy
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To: Hadean

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.


12 posted on 06/27/2006 3:09:30 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
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To: roaddog727
What amazed me when I read ...that Bush got Democrats and the 9/11 commission chairmen Kean and Hamliton to ask the Times to pull the story and Keller blew them off.

If the DEMS were on board helping Bush....Keller is on very shaky ground.

13 posted on 06/27/2006 3:10:46 AM PDT by Dog (The founders gave freedom of the press to the people, they didn't give freedom to the press.)
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To: Dog

Hopefully.


14 posted on 06/27/2006 3:11:22 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
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To: Hadean

We were on an important mission.
15 posted on 06/27/2006 3:11:30 AM PDT by Reform4Bush
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To: edpc

By sometimes they mean if they don't see how it can hurt Bush.


16 posted on 06/27/2006 3:12:00 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
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To: mainepatsfan

It is to in your face....it will have to be answered by the government.


17 posted on 06/27/2006 3:12:33 AM PDT by Dog (The founders gave freedom of the press to the people, they didn't give freedom to the press.)
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To: Pusterfuss

Even their own moonbat readers laughed out loud at that one.


18 posted on 06/27/2006 3:12:35 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
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To: Dog

"If the DEMS were on board helping Bush....Keller is on very shaky ground."

More like Quicksand.


19 posted on 06/27/2006 3:13:05 AM PDT by roaddog727 (Bullshit doesn't get bridges built.)
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To: Judith Anne

The memogate was serious but at the same time pretty funny. There's nothing to laugh about in this story.


20 posted on 06/27/2006 3:13:28 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
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