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Posted By Blake Hounshell
Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - 2:34 AM
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DOHA, Qatar—David Remnick, call your office.
In a speech billed as a discussion of the Bush and Obama eras, New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh delivered a rambling, conspiracy-laden diatribe here Monday expressing his disappointment with President Barack Obama and his dissatisfaction with the direction of U.S. foreign policy.
"Just when we needed an angry black man," he began, his arm perched jauntily on the podium, "we didn't get one."
It quickly went downhill from there.
Hersh, whose exposés of gross abuses by members of the U.S. military in Vietnam and Iraq have earned him worldwide fame and high journalistic honors, said he was writing a book on what he called the "Cheney-Bush years" and saw little difference between that period and the Obama administration.
He said that he was keeping a "checklist" of aggressive U.S. policies that remained in place, including torture and "rendition" of terrorist suspects to allied countries, which he alleged was ongoing.
He also charged that U.S. foreign policy had been hijacked by a cabal of neoconservative "crusaders" in the former vice president's office and now in the special operations community.
"What I'm really talking about is how eight or nine neoconservative, radicals* if you will, overthrew the American government. Took it over," he said of his forthcoming book. "It's not only that the neocons took it over but how easily they did it -- how Congress disappeared, how the press became part of it, how the public acquiesced."
Hersh then brought up the widespread looting that took place in Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. "In the Cheney shop, the attitude was, ‘What's this? What are they all worried about, the politicians and the press, they're all worried about some looting? ... Don't they get it? We're gonna change mosques into cathedrals. And when we get all the oil, nobody's gonna give a damn.'"
"That's the attitude," he continued. "We're gonna change mosques into cathedrals. That's an attitude that pervades, I'm here to say, a large percentage of the Joint Special Operations Command."
He then alleged that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who headed JSOC before briefly becoming the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and his successor, Vice Adm. William McRaven, as well as many within JSOC, "are all members of, or at least supporters of, Knights of Malta."
Hersh may have been referring to the Sovereign Order of Malta, a Roman Catholic organization commited to "defence of the Faith and assistance to the poor and the suffering," according to its website.
"Many of them are members of Opus Dei," Hersh continued. "They do see what they're doing -- and this is not an atypical attitude among some military -- it's a crusade, literally. They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians. They're protecting them from the Muslims [as in] the 13th century. And this is their function."
"They have little insignias, these coins they pass among each other, which are crusader coins," he continued. "They have insignia that reflect the whole notion that this is a culture war. … Right now, there’s a tremendous, tremendous amount of anti-Muslim feeling in the military community."
Hersh relayed that he had recently spoken with "a man in the intelligence community... somebody in the joint special operations business" about the downfall of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia. "He said, ‘Oh my God, he was such a good ally.'"
"Tunisia's going to change the game," Hersh added later. "It's going to scare the hell out of a lot of people."
Moving to Pakistan, where Hersh noted he had been friendly with Benazir Bhutto, the journalist told of a dinner meeting with Asif Ali Zardari, the late prime minister’s husband, in which Hersh said the Pakistani president was brutally disdainful of his own people.
Hersh described a trip he made to Swat, where the Pakistani military had just dislodged Taliban insurgents who had taken over the scenic valley, a traditional vacation area for the urban middle class. Hersh said he asked Zardari about the tent cities he saw along the road, where people were living in harsh, unsanitary conditions.
“Well, those people there in Swat, that’s what they deserve,” the Pakistani president replied, according to Hersh. Asked why, Hersh said Zardari responded, “Because they supported the Taliban.” (Note: Hersh's conversation is not recounted in his 2009 New Yorker article on Pakistan's nuclear weapons, presumably because it coudn't be verified.)
The veteran journalist also alleged that the CIA station chief in Islamabad, who was recently recalled after his name surfaced in Pakistani court documents and in the lively Pakistani press, had actually been fired for disputing the plans of Gen. David Petraeus, who took over the Afghan war last summer after General McChrystal was summarily dismissed.
"When Petraeus issued a very optimistic report about the war in December that he gave to the president," Hersh said, the station chief "just declared it was bankrupt... internally. He just said ‘This is completely wrongheaded. The policy's wrongheaded.' Off he goes. Out he goes."
"I've given up being disillusioned about the CIA," Hersh said. "They're trained to lie, period. They will lie to their president, they will lie certainly to the Congress, and they will lie to the American people. That's all there is to it."
Hersh was speaking on the invitation of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, which operates a branch campus in Qatar.
*Note: Listening to the recording a second time, I believe Hersh said "whackos," not "radicals."
Where--exactly--does Hersh go wrong?
Blake Hounshell implies that Seymour Hersh is pushing the bounds of propriety or that -- egads! -- he'll be ruffling some feathers with his damning details about the US military and foreign policy establishment in Qatar.
Hounshell writes that after Hersh criticizes Obama, "it quickly went downhill from there." So what about Hersh's Doha talk brought the event "downhill"? Hounshell doesn't say. Does Hounshell have an argument to make that refutes what Hersh was saying? Not in this story. If so, he should bring it.
This all reminds me of when Seymour Hersh recounted his groundbreaking Vietnam coverage at an event for Harper's Magazine's 150th anniversary a few years ago. After Hersh spoke, Tom Wolfe expressed his displeasure at Hersh for how he portrayed American officials' motives and actions. For Wolfe, Hersh's type of excoriation was... unseemly! It just shouldn't be done.
I hope Blake Hounshell isn't developing the same of enduring respect for power that results in kneejerk dismissal of outsider critiques. Enough time in D.C. can do that to you.
Hersh - despite all bona fides - comes off as a sad ancient man slipping into his dotage with this risible shout out.
If Great Satan's Oppresso d'Libre cats start turning M'sks into casinos, pound S'Ddam's Gold K'ran into stripper poles, make Mookie disappear with a hearty LOL that maybe al Sadr really is like Mahdi! He disappeared into occultation and myabe might come back one day (truly - who could say) THEN perhaps he could taken somewhat seriously in small doses with this.
Til then - Blake was absolutely correct to expose Hersh's clay feet.
Good piece Mr H!
Courtneyme109, I have no idea what the following means:
"If Great Satan's Oppresso d'Libre cats start turning M'sks into casinos, pound S'Ddam's Gold K'ran into stripper poles, make Mookie disappear with a hearty LOL that maybe al Sadr really is like Mahdi! He disappeared into occultation and myabe might come back one day (truly - who could say) THEN perhaps he could taken somewhat seriously in small doses with this."
Actually Blake Hounshell hasn't "exposed" anything. He's dictated in a snarky way what Seymour Hersh apparently said, without any, you know, actual reporting to determine the accuracy of it or responses from the parties mentioned. Instead, because it's all JUST SO CRAZY!, we readers are supposed to "get" how Sy Hersh went too far this time.
I loathe conspiracy theories. But I also know better than blithely agree with a young reporter dismissal of Seymour Hersh without any follow-up. That's a bit rich.
Why do you "loathe conspiracy theories?"
Do you not think that conspiracy is a common form of human behavior? I never understand the people who say they don't go in much for conspiracy theories. Well, what kinds of theories do you go in for?
Other than that, I agree with the general thrust of your post.
I concur with John1's assessment. If Hounshell has specific information, then "he should bring it." I would also like to see any related piece(s) by Mr. Hersh, himself. Obviously, if Hersh is off base on this, he should be corrected and/or called out. However, I intend to reserve judgement until all the facts are in, and Hounshell's claims to the contrary notwithstanding, that does not appear to have happened as yet.
If anyone has information on this, now is the time to step forward.
Riiiight. Seymour Hersh's - who's track record of getting dirty under his fingers, dodging bullets and death threats and a reputation for speaking the truth to power - is gonna get torn down by a purely editorialized propaganda, half-literate blabbing by whatshisname? Oh, something Hounsell (never heard of him). One only knows that if its from the pen of a blogger from this website, it will surely be totally against anything someone with integrity, like Seymour Hersch. Hounsell knows that all he has to do is say, his speech went downhill from there, and all the puppets and parrots will squawk the same because whathisname said so (no substantiation necessary).
Blake, I'm usually a fan of your stuff but I have to agree with some of the opinions here. You seem to toss out an ad hominem that basically, Hersh is now just some crazy old conspiracy theorist blabbing away, but you really offer nothing to refute anything he is saying. Given Hersh's past track record, I think if you are going to write about him, you should make some sort of argument or provide some refutation. Absent that, this is just a hit-piece on Hersh.
Also, the tenor of what he is saying has essentially been found to be true with respect to the US military attitude/actions towards the mission in Iraq and Afghanistan. We now know that Bush and many in the military did try to reframe it as a sort of moral crusade.
There is an unfortunate tendency these days for the media to be waaaay too deferential to those in power. The collective reaction to the Rolling Stone story about McChrystal was in effect "how dare that young upstart reporter betray a military leader like that!" The media seems to have forgotten that their job is not to protect the powerful, but to get to the truth and cut through the spin wherever it is present. This love affair with the military-beltway conventional wisdom is what sent us down this Iraq War rabbit hole to begin with. Perhaps if the media had actually done it's job, the torture, the unecessary war in Iraq, the growth of the national security state unrestrained by any system of accountability (and CERTAINLY not by the press) etc. might not have taken place.
Mr. Hersh asserted in his speech that senior members of the U.S. Army are engaged in a modern-day religious crusade against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, that they are members of the Order of Malta, and exchange secret coins between themselves. Sounds crazy, no?
Yet, you suggest the author here has engaged in some sort of ad hominem attack against Mr. Hersh by openly questioning Hersh's assertions. What kind of refutation could the author have offered? How would he go about proving Gen. McChrystal is not part of some Catholic conspiracy to defend the Holy Land and gain access to oil resources? You are asking the author to prove a negative.
If Hersh has any evidence of such a conspiracy, then it's incumbent upon him to produce it. Otherwise, I think it's safe to accord his speech as lunacy whatever his earlier accomplishments may have been.
"Mr. Hersh asserted in his speech that senior members of the U.S. Army are engaged in a modern-day religious crusade against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, that they are members of the Order of Malta, and exchange secret coins between themselves. Sounds crazy, no?"
No not really. After all, who can forget the ramblings of Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin, who told an audience, "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."
"We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God have been raised for such a time as this," Boykin said.
I suspect you have no idea what Opus Dei actually is. To put it in terms that can be easily understood, Dan Brown was horribly wrong.
Also, having had contact with more than a few soldiers and Catholics (and Catholic soldiers) I can say that the idea of generals in the U.S army taking orders from a fairly unimportant Catholic organization is ludicrous. I'm reminded of people who were terrified when JFK took office because they thought he would take orders from the Pope.
Any proof of such "weird" statements ?
I think that Mr. Hersh is getting old and his senility starts to blind his intelligence.
I trust Hersh more than I trust the govt or the military
Funny thing is that had Hersh said all this during the Bush administration, the Obamabots would have agreed with him. Now that Obama's in charge suddenly Hersh is a conspiracy theorist!
Does he need to offer a counter argument to Hersh's points? Special Forces being in Opus Dei? The Knights of Malta? Anyone with even the smallest understanding of the U.S. military and foreign policy knows that Hersh claims during this speech were completely outlandish and baseless.
Indeed - when someone starts claiming that the JSOC personel have little coins identifying them to each other as members of Opus Dei, you really have to ignore the big billed name and start checking out how fetching that Tinfoil hat is...
"Anyone with even the smallest understanding of the U.S. military and foreign policy knows that Hersh claims during this speech were completely outlandish and baseless."
What is it about U.S. military and foreign policy that makes Hersh's claims baseless? apart from the crazy rants of General William Boykin, have you not heard the theories of John McCain's pastor, who claims that the US was created by God to destroy Islam?
Given my obversations over the last 12 years Seymour Hersh seems to be spot on. Using the typical tip of the iceberg theory, chances are the conspiritorial aspect of foreign policy in the US over this period is even more insidious that what he portends to reveal. The only thing I tend to disagree with is his What we need is an angry Black Man reference. Obama has been privy to much more information as President than he ever was as a member of congress and his job is a work in progress. He has to ease us out of these situations without leaving them in a worse state, not only to save face but to try to accomplish something positive in the name of all who have died and suffered in the effort.
Not something you do overnight.
Really, people? Knights of Malta, "christian crusade" and Opus Dei at JSOC, controlling the United States military establishment from the inside. Kinda far fetched, don't you think?
is the Bavarian Illuminati.
Has Hersh ever stopped and realised how crazy this sounds?
It's missing because the Illuminati of any stripe don't exist
Opus Dei and the Knights of Malta do. They are not secret societies and only the associations those names have with movies and conspiracy theories makes Hersh's claim anything out of the ordinary.
Besides Boykin, how many stories about bible verses etched on guns do you need to call Iraq a crusade? Bush openly called it that. He also told the French President about Gog and Magog. These are all facts.
It shouldn't need to be said, but Hersh isn't saying there is a conspiracy theory. "They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians." This a rationalization and justification of the already ordered mission. In no way did a secret cabal - well, I guess that describes the NSC - so in no way did an already-existing secret Christian cabal force the US to invade Iraq as a way to initiate a modern Crusade.
You really don't know who the Knights of Malta are?
Seriously? They were a group of crusaders who returned to their home country of Malta and served as an authorized source of defense against the Ottoman Empire within the islands in the Mediterranean. They're not some conspiracy theory group.
And quite frankly, I really don't see how anything he said is too particularly crazy. First, I'd be amazed if Obama did stop renditions and torture. He's continued every other Bush era policy, even going so far as to grossly expand them. What's so crazy in thinking that he's having people tortured in countries like Egypt still?
Secondly, I don't see why it's so crazy to think that people in the upper echelons of our military see themselves as crusaders. We already know the head of Blackwater thought of himself in such a way, and he was a former upper level spec ops guy. We know evangelical Christians throughout the country view the military as their outlet to destroy Islam, and from what I've heard from other news sources, evangelicals have been flooding into the military. Why is it so hard to believe that they view themselves as crusaders? The come into the military with that attitude, so why should I think they abandoned it once they joined the actual military? Even if it isn't the official policy of the US military, when you have enough people on the ground viewing this as a war against Islam and Muslims, official policy is irrelevant.
Hersh is generalizing, but he is right in part
As for the military stuff, it is completely false to say that members of JSOC have coins that identify themselves as O.D. Absolutely false. There are quite a few Jews and Muslims in JSOC...it's not some knights templar organization. though, it should be said, if we're being honest, that the military, and especially special ops units DO draw in a lot of angry Christians who view this as some sort of crusade. THAT is fact. IT is not official policy however. Hersh is arrogant and ignorant to think/ say it is. That said, I guess I can see how one might get that idea, having met quite a few SF/ SOF guys before, there are many VERRRRY Christian guys in those organizations. It breaks down like this: Rangers are evangelical or agnostic, and as is expected are highly aggressive, and to an outsider could come off as "crusader". SEALs are catholic and agnostic, and in general are even more aggressive, and perhaps the most ethnocentric and borderline racist members of the community. Army SF is the best in this regard, there are many Christians, but their mission is different as they are required to be culturally sensitive. none of this is universally true however, which is my point...who the hell is Hersh to tell us about what is and isnt official SOCOM/ JSOC policy? Hell, we pay these guys to kill terrorists, need them to kill terrorists, if it helps a few get through the day by seeing this as a crusade...fine with me...but it is NOT policy.
This is strange.
I didn't think the US military had Jews in combat arms anymore and only poor Muslims.
What is the percent of Jews and/or Muslims in JSOC??
Back in the 1950s and 60s during the days of the draft (that everyone now hates) there were a lot more. Everyone served and not only right wingers and religious nuts
the only part which seems far-fetched is the fact that the Christian evangelism inherent in many soldiers is active military policy. Everything else seems to be supported by the facts of what happened over the past 10 years, with the baseless invasion of Iraq, the lack of serious journalistic or civil discourse on whether or not its a good idea, etc.
I would also say that Obama is unwilling to change Bush policies because he doesnt want to pick a fight with the security establishment, but that's just my suspicion.
I'm not sure I can make sense of what in Hersh's "diatribe" is truth and what is exaggeration, but he should know that this sort of rhetoric undermines what may be valid analysis of the motivation of certain military leadership.
If it walks like a Crusade, talks like a Crusade...sure. But Opus Dei? I mean, really? My general rule is that any sufficiently large group of people will achieve results that appear to be intentional but are more a result of alignment of individual motivations. In the military, quasi-theological undertones are practically the norm, and encouraged by our country's military structure and training. A cabal of finger-twiddling powerbrokers working in concert to obtain ultra-religious ends? That, I'm less convinced of.
Regarding neoconservative influence on George W. Bush administration foreign policy, Hersh uses overblown rhetoric but his general point is broadly correct. Neoconservatives had large influence on Bush administration foreign policy, especially during the first term. They did their work in plain sight. Those who overlooked their influence just weren't paying attention.
See books by George Packer, James Bamford, Jacob Heilbrunn, Michael Isikoff and David Corn, and Tom Ricks for starters.
Does anyone know where to find the full transcript?
I'd love to get the full transcript to this curious speech.
This article is absurd for the many reasons stated above. The influence of occult and esoteric influence on Atlanticist governments is well documented, to dismiss this respected man on the basis that "it's just too wacky" to be credible only shows a knowledge gap on the author's part.
Personally, this crusade bothers me very little and is unsurprising. If I have to choose between cathedrals and mosques I'll gladly take the former, lesser evil.
on if you are a young boy or a woman.
Here's a local story by a Western journalist. http://bit.ly/h33NYv
Please don't be so prejudiced!
There is ample sexual molestation of young boys in Islam - once again, here we have the insinuation that the Islamic world can't keep pace with Christianity and is still in the dark ages, beating and raping women while Catholicism has progressed to buggery of young boys. Sir, your bigotry offends me deeply!
I am an equal opportunity offender. I am quite sure Catholics have beat and raped women in modern times, although rarely among its clerics. As for Islamic buggery, due to the cultures where Islam dominates, I tend to doubt it is widespread - but I'll take your word for it.
Ask the dancing boys of AF.
(pun intended) But this describes warlords recently returning to an Afghan (probably Pashtun) practice. It therefore isn't widely spread (pun intended) and it definitely is not Islamic.
FP, apologies for the terrible typos in the above. Hoping you get me anyway.
Gosh, I'm just a civilian outside the Beltway where I've seen multiple articles over the past 10 years about the special ops Army brigadier who wore his uniform to his church & then allied his special forces with Christianity, the complaints at the Air Force Academy of proselytizing on & off campus with on-base chaplains trying to convert Jewish cadets & other Christians to the "correct" "Born Again" way.
This past year there are the articles about soldiers having to take spiritual evaluations, outside religious organizations holding civilian events on base - at Ft. Bragg & others bases with the base commanders' OKs.
Mr. Hounshell, if you don't have access to Lexis/Nexis, at least learn to Google or check out the WaPo and/or NY Times archives.
I think that some lines got crossed here
Last I remembered, Opus Dei was an order in the Roman Catholic Church, which was also home to the Knights of Malta.
.
.
However, if I remember correctly, evangelical Christians in the US are Protestants, not Roman Catholics.
.
A website dealing with excessive proselytizing in the armed forces can be found here:
http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/
Hersh's speech deserved an analysis, not a diatribe in return. If the writer disagreed with Hersh he should have spelled it out. And too many things Hersh has written confirm what I know about certain subjects, which leads me to align with Hersh here.
"That kooky old fart forgot his meds again"
full stop
It appears that Mr. Hounshell has done less investigative reporting into the various branches of our military than Mr. Hersh.
Care to contest ONE claim with facts ?
Between the long and stellar record of Sy Hersh in busting secrets and embarrassing facts that have annoyed several administrations (R or D, doesn't matter) to no end, and the scoffing diatribe of an aspiring Member of the Very Serious People, I'll take Sy Hersh any day of the century.
BTW Mr. Hounshell, would you care to refute, be it ONE of Seymour Hersh claims, with FACTS? or is it too much to ask from you?
Either do that, or your "article" will be taken as yet another example of ad hominem attack by a DC Villager aspiring to access the Versailles-on-the-Potomac club.
Northern Soul:
Mr. Hersh made several fantastic claims in his speech without apparently offering any evidence in support of those claims. Yet, Mr. Hounshell correctly calls Hersh on those claims and you demand he refute Hersh's unsupported claims with contrary facts. What would those facts look like? How does Hounshell go about proving the negative?
Among his more outrageous allegations, Hersh claimed McChrystal was a member or supporter of the Order of Malta and that members of JSOC have "crusader coins" they pass among themselves. If Hounshell were to get Gen. McChrystal on record saying he's never even heard of the Order of Malta, would he have disproved Hersh's assertions? If a full search was done of McChrystal and no "crusader coin" was found, would that disprove Hersh's claims. After all, McChrystal is certainly smart enough to deny any connection with the Order of Malta, Opus Dei, or to carry a coin that might identify him as a modern crusader. Or maybe he just gave away his last coin and hasn't had a chance to order new ones?
In short, you demand Hounshell do the impossible but ask nothing from Hersh. Hersh makes unsupported allegations that fit into a narrative you apparently want to believe and you accuse the author who relates those assertions of an ad hominem attack.
The Answer is Probably in WikiLeaks
After looking at an upcoming leak we'll probably find out that Hersh's "meanderings" are probably implausible sounding but spot on. We do know from other sources that there were some highly conservative religious, some would say zealots, who were in the special forces command. sounds like the author might just be a little "red-faced" with Hersh's characterization of them. But how low the US has fallen.
Going by the US foreign policy establishment's recent record I don't for a second doubt that the global war on terror has been "hijacked". It would be up to the author to provide evidence. Then I would wait for a leak to happen that would contradict his word.
What was the statement about the "dean" of US foreign policy, Kissinger. "Every word that comes from that man's mouth is a lie and that includes 'a', 'and', and 'the'". Thanks to information currently available we now inhabit the same "space".
Remember, the first casualty of war is the truth. Man, and this war has brought us that in spades. This is the Vietnam experience revisited except for the protests because of no draft. And some say Washington's elite doesn't learn.
less than 2 years after the inauguration of President Obama , we see a very different Arab street, one where unarmed civilians, lead by young people, ousted their autocratic leader of 23 years; an Arab street where I spotted a sign that said, in English YES WE CAN on one side, along w twitter # and on the other, in Arabic, thanks to al Jazeera for coverage of events. If that's not change, what is?
or not due at all. Yes, They Did, against the US decade old policy of propping up a dictatorial, corrupt but west friendly regime. I will give Obama credit when Hamas regains power in Palestine.
Hersh's record was a lot better than the critics'
Every society that wants its soldiers to be careerists who can't cut it elsewhere-- at least for 20 years for afterwards they get on war toys corporate boards and help them rob the taxpayers blind with their connections (military hardware makes corps rich only through fraud in development and parts as the contract % is limited so only more makes more $)-- ends up with the guys who couldn't make it elsewhere or have a taste for rigid yes-sirism. Except for an experimental era or when there was a draft, this is all we're getting: the shoot-em up gang. I recall the sandal when the head of SpecOps proved to be a Christian Yahoo instead of one of the great minds we used to seek for Special Forces. He gave a lecture that confirms much of what Hersh said-- IN PUBLIC-- and bush had to fire him. So now, in the era of Wikileaks, you'd do better never saying never as Hersh is the type that works his sources over and over and over and over and over again.
We may not have such open proof of the dumb ox perspective that Hersh addresses since that general was relieved, but we sure do have indication of their competence through output. So I can only urge: STAY TUNED, you have no idea what crazy stuff you may soon hear. Afterall, this is not Gen. Johnson's army anymore.
Hersh may have been duped by Pentagoners on our imminent attack of Iran but there's do doubt that it was meant by the JCS types to stop Bush from attacking Tehran. As for the Christian Yahoos, one need not pretend that they don't exist unless one is using them for his/her own reason and wants them protected so they can be directed to enhance the Second Coming of Christ my smashing the Muslims to make Israel the master of the Mideast and ONLY THEN will the Second Coming commence. Alas, we don't get too many scientific minds in command, so this is a rather common perspective. Just wait a while and yet another will lose control of his mouth and speak up!
In the meantime, Hersh's record is unbeatable. I recall how so many-- me included-- cursed him about My Lai....but the guy was right on the money then and especially since on the neocons, showing what crooks they are.
Thought this was serious for a second.
I had (for a brief, wonderful moment) forgotten about Seymour Hersh's existence and so thought this article was going to be about the US Army being run by Evangelicals or something. Alas. The Knights of Malta... haven't heard that one since Age of Empires III!
The speech sounds more appropriate for a Colbert parody.
I agree with the majority of commenters. Sure, Sy Hersh is getting old, and he probably shouldn't be going on about the Knights of Malta. But most of the "crazy stuff" cited by Hounshell is verifyably true, or most likely true. Not much has changed under Obama. And Cheney and Addington and the others clearly did hijack US foreign policy.
No one -- certainly not Hounshell, but no one else either -- has the right to mock Sy Hersh without even attempting to challenge any of the facts he is presenting. You are a whiny loser, Hounshell, and I will never click anything with your name on it again.
This article is bad journalism about a great journalist. Hounshell telegraphs his distaste and cynicism in his opening paragraph, and from that point on you wonder why he bothered. It's a hatchet job, without any genuine evidence to support its criticisms. Hersh has dug out the truth when most other journalists were burying their heads. That he puts forth conspiracies is not cause for mocking the man -- he has been uncovering genuine conspiracies for possibly longer than Hounshell has been writing. And if this is typical of what Hounshell writes, then he should study everything Hersh has ever written before being permitted to publish again. I'm surprised that it showed up in this usually more professional website.
Hersh might be getting a little long in the tooth but few of his assertions are unverifiable. Hounshell is lost.
Hounshell writes:
"Moving to Pakistan, where Hersh noted he had been friendly with Benazir Bhutto, the journalist told of a dinner meeting with Asif Ali Zardari, the late prime minister’s husband, in which Hersh said the Pakistani president was brutally disdainful of his own people."
Have you ever paid the slightest attention to what is happening in Pakistan? Please, do us all a favour and do a little research. Zardari is mostly loathed by his own citizens. They're reflecting his own contempt for the people he leads.
http://afghancentral.blogspot.com/2010/12/average-of-333-civilians-killed-by.html
The first paragraph is all you really need to read but since you are a lazy neocon apologist, here it is straight from his own niece, Fatima Bhutto:
"According to Bob Woodward’s latest bestseller Obama’s Wars, when Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari, an obsequiously dangerous man, was notified that the CIA would be launching missile strikes from drones over his country’s sovereign territory, he replied, "Kill the seniors. Collateral damage worries you Americans. It doesn’t worry me."
Hersh is confused?
Some excerpts from an old Covert Action Quarterly article at
http://www.mosquitonet.com/~prewett/caqsmom25.1.html
"...Representing initially the most powerful and reactionary segments of the European aristocracy, for nearly a thousand years beginning with the early crusades of the Twelfth Century, it has organized, funded, and led military operations against states and ideas deemed threatening to its power. It is probably safe to say that the several thousand Knights of SMOM, principally in Europe, North, Central, and South America, comprise the largest most consistently powerful and reactionary membership of any organization in the world today....
Although an exclusively [Roman] Catholic organization, in this century it has collaborated with, and given high awards to non-Catholic extremists in its current crusade against progressive forces in the West, the national liberation movements, and the socialist countries...
...SMOM's influence in Germany survived World War II intact. On November 17, 1948 SMOM awarded one of its highest honors, the Grand Cross of Merit, to Reinhard Gehlen, the Nazi chief of intelligence on the Soviet front. He was subsequently installed by the Americans as the first chief of West Germany's equivalent of the CIA, the Bundesnachtrichtdienst (BND: federal secret service), under West German Chancellor Adenauer, a devout Catholic who had received the Magistral Grand Cross personally from SMOM Grand Master Prince Chigi...
...In addition to Casey, and James Buckley, its current members, or Knights, after the feudal fashion, include Lee Iacocca, John McCone, William Buckley, Alexander Haig, Alexandre de Marenches (the chief of French Intelligence under Giscard d'Estaing, himself a Knight of SMOM), Otto von Hapsburg, and various leaders of the fascist P-2 Masonic lodge in Italy. While its organizational funding is relatively modest, its leverage is maximized by the presence of its Knights in key positions in other private and governmental structures throughout the world...
...After the appointment of Knight of Malta William Casey as head of the Central Intelligence Agency, and another Knight, James Buckley, as head ot U.S. propaganda against Eastern Europe at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, several historians noted with interest President Reagan's call during the summer of 1982 for a "crusade" against the "Evil Empire" in Eastern Europe...
...The President of the American Eastern Association of SMOM is J. Peter Grace, President of W.R. Grace Company, who was a key figure in Operation Paperclip, which brought Nazi scientists to the U.S. "
"...he was writing a book on what he called the "Cheney-Bush years" and saw little difference between that period and the Obama administration."
And neither do I.
We're still fighting these 'Wars for Wall Street and Israel,' plus the Federal Reserve and those "Too Big to JAIL" Wall Street Bankster Gangsters are still robbing the American public of their life's savings.
The WH is still kissing corporate arse, as they want to completely eliminate the corporate tax rate and replace that lost income by stealing Grandma's Social Security money.
And it seems you have forgotten the story about bible verses being stamped on American assault rifles.
Mr. Hounshell, I suggest you visit a proctologist and see if he can remove your cranium from the lower part of your alimentary canal.
I find it scary that you think a good journalist should stay "leashed".
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