Huh?
That was my first thought.
My second? "Who is this little prick?"
6/And it didn’t take long for US reporters to condemn the post-invasion absence of WMD and reveal the feckless occupation strategy and incompetent sr personnel. The NYT also did a deep dive and mea culpa on its unscionable failure to vet Iraq WMD stories.
The little prick is 74-years-old and, according to my father, something of a joke among his peers because he's still intel (all these years later) and not really a reporter.
I asked C.I. about what she thought of Stein's lying Tweet. THE NEW YORK TIMES mea culpa was buried on A10 and promised further investigation (that never happened) and it only happened because then editor Bill Keller knew public editor Daniel Okrent was going to address the issue in his upcoming column.
"Didn't take long?" C.I. asked. "THE NEW YORK TIMES did their kinda-culpa in May of 2004, over a year after the Iraq War started. And the whole point of 'Reading Press Releases Live From The Green Zone' in September 2005. They were lying to continue the Iraq War. It had gone to hell but you wouldn't know that from the Go-Go boys NYT put in the Green Zone. The selling of the Iraq War continued long after the war began. The initial hard sell was to get the US over there. The 'turned corner' and 'good news' b.s. that continued for years was to keep the US there. I agree with your father, Jeff Stein is -- and always has been -- a joke."
And for those like Jeff Stein who may wonder why I'm quoting C.I.? Unlike Jeff Stein, C.I. knows why Daniel Okrent finally covered the Iraq reporting. C.I. can even; tell you the name that prompted it (a reader). And, of course, unlike Jeff Stein, C.I. is actually mentioned and quoted in PUBLIC EDITOR #1: THE COLLECTED COLUMNS (WITH REFLECTIONS, RECONSIDERATIONS, AND EVEN A FEW RETRACTIONS) OF THE FIRST OMBUDSMENT OF THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Daniel Okrent's 2006 book.
While we're on the press . . . Brian Stelter, remember that you are not the story. If you are the subject of news, let others cover it. Otherwise, you look like a self-indulgent drama queen.