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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFOIA 'terrorists' Jason Leopold and Ryan Shapiro suing FBI for records on Michael Hastings
We're Suing the FBI For Records on Journalist Michael Hastings
July 28, 2013
By Jason Leopold Follow @@JasonLeopold
Does the FBI have any records on the late investigative journalist Michael Hastings? I don't know. But fellow FOIA terrorist Ryan Shapiro and I just filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the agency to find out.
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"By suing the FBI for failure to comply with the Freedom of Information Act, [we] hope to obtain records pertaining both to the unusual circumstances of Michael Hastings's death and to the broader issue of FBI surveillance of journalists and other critics of American national security policy," Shapiro said.
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I knew Hastings and had spoken to him on several occasions over the past year about my Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) work. I told him I just filed a request with the Pentagon and Army after reading an investigative story he reported for BuzzFeed in July 2012 on the "Auchwitz-like" conditions at a hospital in Afghanistan operated by the U.S. I was hoping to obtain government documents that would shed further light on the alleged cover-up Hastings wrote about pertaining to the investigation into facility. My FOIA request is still open.
I called him again a week later to tell him I was writing a story about him that I thought he would get a kick out of. I had just received a batch of documents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) related to the agency's surveillance of Occupy Wall Street. Within those documents were dozens of emails written by top DHS officials who went ballistic over a story Hastings wrote for Rolling Stone about the agency's surveillance of OWS.
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I wanted Hastings to give me a quote for my story but he wanted to read the documents first. I sent it to him. And as I reported, there weren't any inaccuracies in Hastings's story. DHS thought it could resolve its public relations nightmare by intimidating Hastings. They failed. Hastings discussed DHS's interest in his work on The Young Turks and was generous enough to credit my reporting.
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https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/blog/2013/07/were-suing-fbi-records-journalist-michael-hastings
[hr]
"Congressional Probe: Cover-Up of "Auschwitz-like" Conditions at U.S.-Funded Afghan Hospital" (+ OWS/DHS/Stratfor at the end)
Published on Aug 1, 2012, DemocracyNow.org -
A Congressional investigation has revealed a top U.S. general in Afghanistan sought to stall an investigation into abuse at a U.S.-funded hospital in Kabul that kept patients in "Auschwitz-like" conditions. Army whistleblowers revealed photographs taken in 2010, which show severely neglected, starving patients at Daoud Hospital, considered the crown-jewel of the Afghan medical system where the country's military personnel are treated. The photos show severely emaciated patients, some suffering from gangrene and maggot-infested wounds. The general accused of the cover-up is Lt. General William Caldwell, one of the nation's highest-ranking commanders in Afghanistan, who served as the commander of the $11.2 billion-a-year Afghan training program. We speak to Michael Hastings, contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine and a reporter for BuzzFeed, which has been following the story closely.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)snot
(10,530 posts)Cleita
(75,480 posts)the bottom of this.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)Cleita
(75,480 posts)we stand for justice and democracy when we do things like this.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)(waiting for the Leopold bashers to show up )
Catherina
(35,568 posts)xiamiam
(4,906 posts)its shocking.. gangrene and maggot infested wounds? .. give me a fucking break
Catherina
(35,568 posts)I guess it's to be expected with all the torture, renditions, illegal wars, killing kids...
Just one more thing to trouble our souls.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)really is an eye opener. Instant explosion
LA Times:
Michael Hastings death: New video of crash emerges
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-michael-hastings-death-new-video-of-crash-emerges-20130727,0,2133280.story
loli phabay
(5,580 posts)But when you consider the volatility of the gas driving it its no stretch to imagine that sometimes it blows.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)I don't buy it. Yes, fires happen but that was too quick and the timing seemed wrong.
Anyway ...... the redacted FOIA papers will reveal dark pages if they win the suit.
loli phabay
(5,580 posts)Its not common but not unheard of.
johnnyreb
(915 posts)Be ready for liberal application of FOIA exceptions, journalists.