|
Jihadis and Wiretaps and Moonbats! Oh, My! -- Part 11
(Click here for some earlier related posts.)
Needless to say, I won't be buying a copy of James al-Risen's new book, and I hope no one else will either. I can't think of any reason to put one penny in the treasonous S.O.B.'s pocket. (Truth be told, I wouldn't piss on him if his head was on fire.) Fortunately, and fittingly enough, I can count on the web to leak enough information about the book that there's no reason for anyone to need to buy it anyway.
If you don't mind the leftward bias, you might find Time's take on the book interesting. This part's not too bad:
Risen's reporting isn't bulletproof. Like most intelligence reporters, he relies heavily on anonymous sources, and several anecdotes in State of War are attributed to a lone leaker. That makes some of the book's claims difficult to verify, while leaving Risen open to charges that he is being used by partisan ax grinders. Risen, who is contesting a court order to reveal the identities of sources he quoted in a series of disputed articles about the nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee, admits that the book requires readers to make a "leap of faith" and accept the credibility of his sources. ...
... Despite the intelligence failures documented in the book, Risen concludes that as a result of the U.S.'s counterterrorist efforts, "al-Qaeda now seems to lack the power to conduct another 9/11." ...
Not surprisingly, it didn't take long for people to start spotting errors in al-Risen's book:
Several U.S. agents in Iran were rounded up after the CIA mistakenly revealed clues to their identities to a covert source who turned out to be a double agent, according to a book that hit shelves Tuesday
In "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration," author James Risen of The New York Times called the mistake an "espionage disaster."
But while confirming the mistake, knowledgeable current and former officials told CNN that the allegations that agents were lost as a result are not true.
[...]
CIA Director of Public Affairs Jennifer Millerwise Dyke issued this statement Tuesday about Risen's book:
"Readers deserve to know that every chapter of 'State of War' contains serious inaccuracies. The author's reliance on anonymous sources begs the reader to trust that these are knowledgeable people. As this book demonstrates, anonymous sources are often unreliable.
"It is most alarming that the author discloses information that he believes to be ongoing intelligence operations, including actions as critical as stopping dangerous nations from acquiring nuclear weapons. Setting aside whether what he wrote is accurate or inaccurate, it demonstrates an unfathomable and sad disregard for U.S. national security and those who take life-threatening risks to ensure it."
[Read the whole thing here.]
See also: Let the Shilling Begin
Book By NYT's Risen Seems Likely To Boost Bush Poll Numbers
About Your Sources, Mr. Risen
The Predictable Distinction Between Us and Them
|
