NY Times Smacked for Not Questioning Pentagon Story

Jun 07, 2009 - By CLARK HOYT -- NY Times Public Editor When the Times brought Hoyt on, it described him as 'readers' representative', to respond to complaints and comments from the public and monitors the paper's journalistic practices. This is his op-ed on the latest 'detainees returning to battlefield' claims. ------------------------------------------------------- WHEN former Vice President Dick Cheney assailed President Obama’s plan to close the prison at Guantánamo last month, he used ammunition plucked right from that morning’s Times. - 0 Comments

Pentagon Withdraws P.R. Report

May 06, 2009 - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/us/06generals.html?_r=1 By DAVID BARSTOW In a highly unusual reversal, the Defense Department’s inspector general’s office has withdrawn a report it issued in January exonerating a Pentagon public relations program that made extensive use of retired officers who worked as military analysts for television and radio networks. Donald M. Horstman, the Pentagon’s deputy inspector general for policy and oversight, said in a memorandum released on Tuesday that the report was so riddled with flaws and inaccuracies that none of its conclusions could be relied upon. - 10 Comments

Who’s in Charge—Obama, the Pentagon or Israel?

Jan 17, 2009 - http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090115_whos_in_charge_obama_the_pentagon_or_israel/ Posted on Jan 15, 2009 By William Pfaff The sea change often comes at night, its signals to the sailor subtle ones, but sometimes large and sudden. This has been a pre-inaugural period of extravagant speculation by Barack Obama supporters, with an unprecedented investment of hope—and also of anxiety, as if, after this, there might not be another chance. More than one Obama supporter has warned himself, or secretly assumed, in the aftermath of the celebration of Obama’s victory, “now prepare to be disappointed.” Obama has luck, but on the record of his career it has been earned luck, the best kind. - 1 Comment

A 10% cut at the Pentagon?

Feb 01, 2009 - A 10% cut at the Pentagon?posted at 9:42 am on January 31, 2009 by Ed Morrissey While the Obama administration tries pushing through its trillion-dollar porkfest of Mall resodding and Medicare expansion, the Pentagon has gotten a much different mission from the White House. President Obama has demanded a 10% reduction in the defense budget for FY2010, even while we fight a war in Afghanistan and conduct counterterrorist operations around the world: The Obama administration has asked the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to cut the Pentagon’s budget request for the fiscal year 2010 by more than 10 percent — about $55 billion — a senior U.S. defense official tells FOX News. - 7 Comments

Study: Give bigger raises to better performers

Mar 13, 2008 - By William H. McMichael - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Mar 13, 2008 7:24:59 EDT http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/03/military_10thqrmc_pay_031208w/ The Pentagon should overhaul its pay system to attract and reward the best performers and broaden bonuses for those in critical skills, a far-reaching review of military pay released Wednesday concludes. The changes would help address the need to recruit the “best and the brightest” despite wartime demands on the force, a shrinking pool of military-eligible recruits and competition from the private sector. - 3 Comments

The Pulitzer-Winning Investigation That Dare Not Be Uttered on TV

Apr 21, 2009 - ((I'm still working out how to highlight stuff - sorry)) Published on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 by Salon.com by Glenn Greenwald The New York Times' David Barstow won a richly deserved Pulitzer Prize yesterday for two articles that, despite being featured as major news stories on the front page of The Paper of Record, were completely suppressed by virtually every network and cable news show, which to this day have never informed their viewers about what Bartow uncovered. Here is how the Pulitzer Committee described Barstow's exposés: Awarded to David Barstow of The New York Times for his tenacious reporting that revealed how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended. By whom were these "ties to companies" undisclosed and for whom did these deeply conflicted retired generals pose as "analysts"? - 10 Comments

Marines faulted for 'MRAP' delays

Dec 08, 2008 - By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press Writer Richard Lardner, Associated Press Writer 21 mins ago WASHINGTON – The Marine Corps left troops in Iraq vulnerable to deadly roadside bombs by failing to answer an urgent request from battlefield commanders for blast-resistant vehicles, according to an internal Pentagon investigation obtained by The Associated Press. Acquisition officials shelved the February 2005 request for the "MRAPs" (pronounced EM-raps) after Marine leaders decided armored versions of the Humvee were the best answer to the improvised explosive devices that became the signature weapon of the Iraq war. However, the beefier Humvees proved incapable of withstanding the increasingly powerful IEDs. - 5 Comments

Wartime Spending - MAJOR Problems

Jun 07, 2009 - http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/07/report-finds-major-problems-wartime-spending/ Construction of a $30 million dining facility at a U.S. base in Iraq is scheduled to be completed Dec. 25. - 18 Comments

Files prove Pentagon is profiling reporters

Aug 27, 2009 - WASHINGTON — Contrary to the insistence of Pentagon officials this week that they are not rating the work of reporters covering U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Stars and Stripes has obtained documents that prove that reporters’ coverage is being graded as “positive,” “neutral” or “negative.” Moreover, the documents — recent confidential profiles of the work of individual reporters prepared by a Pentagon contractor — indicate that the ratings are intended to help Pentagon image-makers manipulate the types of stories that reporters produce while they are embedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan. - 19 Comments

Holder's Decision "Reasonable"

Nov 20, 2009 - Jim Comey, a deputy attorney general and U.S. attorney in Manhattan during the Bush administration, is general counsel of Lockheed Martin Corp. Jack Goldsmith, an assistant attorney general during the Bush administration, teaches at Harvard Law School and is on the Hoover Institution's Task Force on National Security and Law. - 1 Comment