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Obama Fires Top General Without Even a Phone Call Daniel Halper January 25, 2013 10:26 AM President Barack Obama fired General James Mattis, the head of Central Command, without even calling the general to let him know he was being replaced. "I am told that General Mattis was travelling and in a meeting when an aide passed him a note telling him that the Pentagon had announced his replacement as head of Central Command. It was news to him -- he hadn't received a phone call or a heads-up from anyone at the Pentagon or the White House," Thomas E....

A Fox News anchor abruptly ended an interview when the guest criticized the news network. Jon Scott was interviewing Thomas Ricks about his book, "The Generals" when Ricks accused Fox News of hyping up the recent attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi. According to the AP, Scott questioned Ricks as to why he would make such a claim when the attack resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including Christopher Stevens - the first U.S. Ambassador assassinated in more than three decades. Ricks asserted the incident amounted to a "small firefight" and said, "I think that the emphasis on...

by Mark Finkelstein October 6, 2006 - 21:36 In State of Denial, Bob Woodward claims Marine Gen. James L. Jones, the U.S. commander for Europe, said that the Iraq war is a "debacle" and that "the Joint Chiefs have been systematically emasculated by Rumsfeld." Two reporters from two publications followed up on the story. They couldn't have reached more diametrically opposed conclusions as to whether Woodward quoted Jones accurately. How's this for dueling headlines? "U.S. European Commander Confirms Quotes in Book" "NATO Chief Denies Quotes in Woodward Book" When it comes to contradictions, it doesn't get more stark and point-blank...

When it comes to media bias, I'm a hard guy to surprise. That the Washington Post often sees the world in topsy-turvy terms, I take as a given. Nevertheless, the exchange between Howard Kurtz and Post reporter Tom Ricks, on yesterday's Reliable Sources, leaves me speechless: Tom Ricks, you've covered a number of military conflicts, including Iraq, as I just mentioned. Is civilian casualties increasingly going to be a major media issue? In conflicts where you don't have two standing armies shooting at each other? THOMAS RICKS, REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I think it will be. But I think civilian...