Ah. Max Frankel Has a History of Flacking for the Bushies...
A commenter at Firedoglake points to past acts of journamalism from Max Frankel:
joejoejoe says: Max Frankel wrote a highly cynical review of Wesley Clark's Winning Modern Wars in Oct. 2003. Read this excerpt and tell me if you think Frankel isn't firmly in the neocon camp with Miller and Gordon:
[Gen. Clark's] deft review of the battlefield tactics that won Baghdad in less than a month is merely the preface to a bitter, global indictment of George W. Bush. The president and his administration are condemned for recklessly squandering a brilliant military performance on the wrong war at the worst possible time, diverting resources and talent from the pursuit of Al Qaeda, neglecting urgent domestic needs and dissipating the post-9/11 sympathy and support of most of the world.
[...]
As portrayed by Clark, the attack on Saddam Hussein -- without evidence to link him to Al Qaeda -- was not only wrong but deeply cynical. It bespoke a cold war mind-set of assigning terrorists a state sponsor, a "face" that could be more easily attacked. "It was almost certain to be successful. It emphasized U.S. military strengths and built on a decade of preparation for a refight of the gulf war."
The benefit of toppling Hussein is only faintly acknowledged: "All else being equal the region and the Iraqi people were all better off with Saddam gone. But the U.S. actions against old adversaries like Saddam have costs and consequences that may still leave us far short of our objectives of winning the war on terror -- or, in themselves, may actually detract from our larger efforts." (Don't be fooled by those conditional "mays"; the general knows how to protect a rhetorical flank.)
Frankel may have been a good editor once but he sounds like somebody who used to walk 5 miles to school uphill both ways in this piece. And he misses the clear point that deep background gossip from US officials regarding spying on the Soviets is not the same as outing an American spy. That's a basic point that Frankel fails to grasp.
