Bear in mind that, whatever tensions may exist between the political and military, that the Pentagon and the White House work as a coordinated disinformation team. The party line is set by the Executive Branch misfeasors, and the military dances to the tune-- or else the music stops and whoever's not in step is without a chair.

So it wouldn't surprise me if Boylan and the brass are huddling, and after an interval of non-responsiveness will fire off a Big Lie like a dazzling flare to explain away this contretemps.

For instance, Boylan could, I suppose, admit to sending the e-mails, but claim that he had reason to think that Glenn was an impostor or hacker, and only responded to string Glenn along-- the way cop shows try to keep the villains talking so the tech team can trace the call. Or even claim that some IT investigator wrote them from Boylan's machine, etc. That would explain the apparent nonchalance of "Boylan" regarding the security concerns Glenn expressed.

Yeah, it's a reach, and sounds stupid. But there are abundant examples of political and military authorities concocting preposterous explanations at variance with known facts-- e.g. the rationalizations for the aggressive invasion of Iraq-- and presenting them with a straight face. The White House Press Secretary alone dispenses more truthless gibberish in a day than our resident wingnut trolls give in a month. And that's saying a lot!

So, unless there is an as-yet undiscovered rational explanation for Boylan's correspondence that unambiguously absolves Boylan and the military, I expect them to blow off the matter with some implausible cloud of squid ink that will satisfy the incurious masses and delight the wingnuts. (Took Frick and Frack long enough to show up here today, I notice.)

Otherwise, the military will have to admit that Boylan is a Bernie Kerik-class rogue, the highest-ranking Bad Apple yet. Or a Good Apple inhabited by one too many worms. And I believe that, like Colonel Cathcart of old, Petraeus would rather risk suborning disinformation and deceit than suffer a Black Eye.

Maybe you are the door-gunner I never knew what happened too...

A round caught him in the neck when he dropped me off the whirly bird on a hot combat assault. We sloshed in a foot or less of water and troops were dropping, blood turned red.

Great.

The blood that the damn door gunner squirted all over me...thanks Owen.

I needed a bath.

Owen, the moon will rise again.

O, sing, "We will stop blogging' one day if it is the last thing we ever do.

Thanks...

hell Glenn!!

It's not just a minor thing that someone is pretending to be a colonel. I am not sure what the penalty is for doing such a thing, but this would seem to be a serious violation of the law worth serious investigation and even, god forbid, the attention of our serious media.

I know this is the wrong branch of service, but, whatever the origin of the email, Col. Boylan's rank should be changed to Chief Petty Officer. And, yes, I believe the email was a communication directly from Boylan or one of his underlings, or perhaps enemy communications-jamming (or mind-gaming) - Glenn-style, as these are the kinds of things that politicized institutions do. And, yes, the email was abject use of miliary position and standing to bully civilians, which should make clear to anyone how quickly mere politization can morph into tyranny.

We had a several comments of a similar attack-dog nature from a self-described 15-year Army Captain named johnrohan in Glenn's post earlier in the week, political attacks that I would bet dollars to donuts were sent on U.S. taxpayers' time based on the time-stamps of the comments. I would not be surprised if his comments and Boylan’s email are related somehow, if not episodically, then as parts of an ongoing program to disseminate pro-right-wing propaganda and do battle with critics. A brief search revealed that our friendly military visitor is quite the burgeoning right-wing blogger, who, in addition to running his own site, also has found time to leave comments all over the blogosphere, and just had his first couple of featured posts at Redstate. Most of these postings seem to take place during normal working hours, and he seems to like flashing his military credentials at every opportunity.

The mystery email is not that much different in tone and is further evidence of how our tax money is being diverted directly to right-wing political propaganda. It’s one thing to post partisan comments at political blogs on one’s own time under one’s own name as one chooses, but it’s quite another to do it in the name our military on taxpayers’ time or especially for it to be part or all of your military job description, whether you are on a fast track one promotion away from Brigadier General like Boylan or in a career dead-end like our friendly military visitor.

Hallmarks of deeply politicized institutions are paranoia and intolerance of criticism, and the comments from the military right-wingers this week are steeped in both. That any military officer finds it necessary to respond in such a rambling, dissembling, and bullying manner while never once addressing Glenn’s points (and Glenn’s ever-present factual support thereof) about politicization of the military should be especially alarming to those of us who think the military should spend their time and our tax dollars on defending and securing our national interests, and not fighting its own citizens. This should lay to rest the notion that this administration is going to accede to their lame-duckedness in the last year and a quarter, and Congress needs to investigate this blatant fraud on the taxpayers as well as the intimidation tactics.

It is almost pointless to respond to Boylan’s, or whomever’s, lies and misstatements individually as the whole of the email is obviously a smokescreen, but it is notable that the invitation for Glenn to come to Iraq is not about Glenn being provided access to officials and information in equal measure to that of Fox News and similarly sympathetic outlets, it’s about being thrown in with the “other reporters.” If I was Glenn, I would ask Boylan or his ghostwriter, “Is what I don’t have for choosing not to come to your dog-and-pony show the same as what your superiors lack for choosing to cut-and-run from open, objective analysis of their policies and actions?”

Using sympathetic news outlets is the MO of these extremists. Scott Horton, who has a piece to which Glenn linked and who has referred to Glenn as his Doppelgänger (http://harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000439), has scores of posts on his research and investigation of the prosecution of former Alabama governor Siegelman. Horton’s series (http://harpers.org/subjects/DonSiegelman/SubjectOf/BlogEntry), which is nothing less than spellbinding, exposes the involvement of most of the basic elements of the right-wing machine in just this one case. Horton's work further reveals an unmistakable pattern of those involved in the prosecution of Siegelman joining forces with two of Alabama's major newspapers, Birmingham News and Montgomery Advertiser, to obfuscate their own actions and those of others. As is true with the military, they are using the media this not only to catapult the propaganda and the lies, but to legitimize them.

The mystery email comments are a sure indication that our military is well on the way to the weakened and degraded, if not outright destructive, path of the many other institutions politicized by Bush/Cheney. The mystery emailer and our friendly military visitor from earlier in the week both amply demonstrate one of the more deleterious effects of politicization: the blurring of boundaries between the government function and the political, which leads to the eventual inability to distinguish criticism of policy from criticism of the institution. We have seen time-and-time again how such distortions have impacted Bush/Cheney decision-making as it has this week with our military visitors.

As I noted on Glenn’s previous thread on this subject, I am happy to pay my share of tax dollars for goods and services that (roughly) benefit my country and its citizens, but I strongly resent those dollars going to those who espouse personal and party ideologies, and especially those whose job descriptions apparently now require them to do so. I'm also not too thrilled when my tax dollars are used to bully or fight fellow citizens who happen to be critical of government policies.