It isn't a "trivial" matter to spoof the headers of an e-mail to the sophisticated level displayed in the Boylan e-mails. This is a serious breach of military communications. Hundreds of thousands of military families have come to depend upon military-to-civilian Internet e-mail communications. If these lines cannot be trusted, at the very least these families should be made aware of the security breach.

Of course the bigger issue is the policitalization of the military.

But... It's infuriating that Boylan can be so stupid and "inartful" at this, yet he and all the others KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT.

You mean when you take a break from inspecting SCHIP families' countertops?

Look, folks, it's either one or the other:

A Some covert person or group has engaged in a sophisticated effort to subvert the security of military communications.

or

B The "Public Affairs Officer and official Spokesman for the Supreme Commanding General in the Iraq War" is blatantly lying to the American public and, not incidently, falsely and needlessly putting into question the security of our military's communications systems.

Either way, it demands immediate investigation.

The more I read about the Iraq occupation, the more I wonder when this whole debacle is going to find its own Joseph Heller to satirize it. Or has this already happened? Have any satirical novels been written about the current Iraq war? If anyone knows of any, I'd be interested to hear.

I don't really know. If anyone did, they'd of course be flayed alive by the RW blogosphere.

But that leaves aside the larger point that this maladministration is almost impossible to satirize. When the actual target is so bumbling as to be a colossal (albeit sanguinary and horrific) joke, how can you go "one better"? We've seen here that it's close to impossible to tell the spoof "RW foamers" from the real ones; even with the Iron-O-Meter™ sensitivity tuned up to high squelch, we're still getting "cross-talk"....

We'll need unemployment compensation for TDS scriptwriters, because all Jon Stewart has to do is play the clips and roll his eyes afterwards.....

Cheers,

If you don't have the time or expertise to do your taxes, you hire an accountant.

If you don't have the time or expertise to talk to the media, you hire a press flack.

If your tax return under reports your income, you get in trouble.

If your press flack lies then you have lied.

I know in modern politics the media has somehow swallowed the idea that a press flack doesn't really speak for their boss. Oh sure, the flacks are given a microphone only because they speak for their boss, but the bosses are never held accountable for their flack's actions.

Tony Snow said so and so. NO!! George Bush said so and so.

Press flacks are now just considered freelance opinion writers by the media. It is the worst of both worlds. The media gives away the microphone, but won't do any follow up because "Petraeus didn't say it, Boylan did."

BULLSHIT!!

Let the whiners whine. Keep the updates coming.

Good job as usual Glen.

Venturing a guess... my bet is that Boylan has a staffer whose job is is to troll left-wing blogs and compose pushy emails in the style of the Colonel. Thus, he says he did not 'send' you the first email - a parsing to be sure - but one he feels no need to clear up, and in fact encourages for the simple reason he enjoys controling the information theatre. That IS his job, anyway. He thinks he's performing some sort of psy-ops mind-fuck, and could care less if you waste time conjecturing on the abilty of anyone to hack his office.

I followed this entire situation on Sunday afternoon and almost couldn't believe what I was reading. I say "almost" because this corrupt administration has taught me that dishonorable behavior on the part of our government has become the norm. Still, the idea that Gen. Petraeus' spokesman comports himself in such a disgraceful manner is appalling.

I was hoping that you would pursue this and not let it drop. Our country is in such trouble now because too many people just let the questionable behavior continue and did nothing about it. Our President, the Congress, the Democrats since the election of '06, the MSM.....the only voice left for truth and courage and our civil rights is here.....on the liberal blogosphere with people like you, Glenn Greenwald. You are our Washington and Jefferson and Franklin, so scream loudly and clearly and, for God's sake, speak up for the American people!

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=11582&archive=true

A U.S. Army officer was attacked at knifepoint by three Korean males Sunday night outside Yongsan Garrison in Seoul and sustained a minor stab wound.

U.S. military authorities declined to release the officer’s name, but Stars and Stripes has learned he is Army Lt. Col. Steven Boylan, chief spokesman for 8th U.S. Army.

You were the first to alert us to Glenn being on the Randi Rhodes show on this or the other thread and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Hopefully this visibility will result in more visibility in the M$M and the further expose the politicization of our military.

When he was attacked, Boylan was wearing blue jeans, a button-front shirt and casual jacket.

That’s from the article linked to by our latest anonymous who, for the purpose of accuracy, I’ll just call “Col. Steve.”

Steve,

It’s time to put the cap on the Jack Daniels and pull away from your computer. Yes, you’ve made an ass out of yourself by your rambling, incoherent e-mail to Glenn, but you really need to get a grip, you’re just making things worse with these anonymous posts.

Nobody here thinks that what happened to you in 2002 has any relevance at all to what you’re doing to the military in 2007. We will not be distracted by this story – it has nothing, absolutely nothing – to do with the issue of our politicized military.

Just stop. Really, you’re just making things worse for yourself.

Sincerely,

Zack