E&P: Columnist Hails 'Surge' In Iraq -- WP Does Not Disclose His Brother Was One of its Architects

Editor & Publisher: Columnist Hails 'Surge' In Iraq -- Paper Does Not Disclose His Brother Was One of its Architects
By E&P Staff
Published: March 11, 2007

NEW YORK The Washington Post published an opinion piece on Sunday hailing the success of the "surge" of U.S. troops in Iraq and harshly criticizing reporters for not doing the same, or at least covering alleged major advances in that country. It failed to disclose, however, that the author of the column, Robert Kagan, is the brother of the man who has been called an architect of the "surge" idea.

Robert Kagan's bio with the Post column reveals that he is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and that his latest book is "Dangerous Nation," a history of American foreign policy. It does not disclose that his brother is Frederick Kagan, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, whose AEI report, "Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq," reportedly had a very strong influence on the White House in crafting its "surge" idea.

Robert Kagan's column today opens: "A front-page story in The Post last week suggested that the Bush administration has no backup plan in case the surge in Iraq doesn't work. I wonder if The Post and other newspapers have a backup plan in case it does.

"Leading journalists have been reporting for some time that the war was hopeless, a fiasco that could not be salvaged by more troops and a new counterinsurgency strategy. The conventional wisdom in December held that sending more troops was politically impossible after the antiwar tenor of the midterm elections. It was practically impossible because the extra troops didn't exist. Even if the troops did exist, they could not make a difference.

"Four months later, the once insurmountable political opposition has been surmounted. The nonexistent troops are flowing into Iraq. And though it is still early and horrible acts of violence continue, there is substantial evidence that the new counterinsurgency strategy, backed by the infusion of new forces, is having a significant effect."...

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003556749

And why would the Post publish and pay for a column so free of fact, packed with deception, and (bonus!) that takes the Post to task for doing some actual reportage? I've met victims of Battered Woman Syndrome, and they look like graduates of a Tony Robbins personal empowerment seminar next to the behavior of the Post.

At least the USSR never pretended that Pravda or Izvestia were something other than official mouthpieces for the government.

...since the image most people have of the WaPo is Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford bringing down Nixon, it is still assumed that the Post is one of the top "liberal" papers, and thus (depending on your own political predelictions) either a) bravely printing the truth no matter what conservatives in authority demand, or b) totally infected with left-wing bias, and thus slanted against the administration. :eyes:

They've been using that impression to get away with murder for years now. :grr:

Robert Kagan's column today opens: "A front-page story in The Post last week suggested that the Bush administration has no backup plan in case the surge in Iraq doesn't work. I wonder if The Post and other newspapers have a backup plan in case it does.

... hmmm, wasn't it the Bush administration themselves who said that Plan B was to make Plan A work???

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/03/12/The_Kagans/index.html

A sample:

How many more does will, with this slanted journalsts push to support surges.

fuck.

If we could only hold the people responsible for their part in the deaths. The propaganda machine is part of it.

or wait out the cop surge