Like clockwork, the administration's most stalwart surge supporter/journalist -- the New York Times' Michael Gordon -- has a lengthy article today bolstering the administration's war-justifying accusations against Iran. It claims in the lead sentence that "militants from the Lebanese group Hezbollah have been training Iraqi militia fighters at a camp near Tehran," and that "the training, the Americans say, is carried out at several camps near Tehran that are overseen by the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Command, and the instruction is carried out by militants from Hezbollah, which has long been supported by the Quds Force."

... at secret installations like Salman Pak, and in the area around Bam and Tehran and east, west, south and north somewhat.

"At long last, sir, have you no shame?"

Cheers,

Who are those NYT editors, and what ate their email addresses? They should not be allowed to hide behind the cloak of anonymity, either.

Who made the assignment? How far up the Times hierarchy do these stories and assignments originate?

Gordon doesn't "print" anything. He is not a free agent. He is an employee of the New York Times (and??? ... perhaps some other agency or institution also employs him?) He's doing a job. Every word he writes that makes it into print, every assignment he is sent on is the result of direction by his employer(s). His job is (among other things) to get the propaganda "out there" -- and he does it.

Who are his editors? Who makes the assignments? Who places his stories on the front page? Who decides the timing? Where do the stories and assignments originate?

As for Gordon's being a "good reporter," he can be. He's a very skilled journalistic writer -- which is no doubt why he is considered so valuable for these propagandistic purposes. He knows his craft and he does it well. Better, by far, than his former colleague, Judith Miller, who -- it turns out -- was expendable.

Who are his editors? Who makes the assignments? Who places the stories?

These questions have to be asked over and over again. It's just pure makebelieve to think that Gordon operates as a free agent, "printing" whatever he wants when he wants to.

Gordon is infamous for suggesting Amy Goodman (among others) "doesn't know how journalism works." But people who believe that Gordon is a free agent, printing up whatever propaganda he is fed whenever he wants to REALLY don't know how this kind of "journalism" works. He has editors. He is given assignments. His stories run when someone else decides they will, in a form THEY, not he, decides.

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

I do think he provides much valuable analysis. But this bit is frankly delusional and spoils much of his credibility:

Any actual expert on the region, or any sincere person with even passing familiarity with it would know that genuine peace has always been easy to achieve, it requires Israel to abandon all its settlements and occupied territories, allow for the return of the refugees and compensate them for their dispossession. It also means granting equal rights to the Palestinian citizens of Israel. The so called "peace process," nothing of the sort, is merely a way to enshrine the dispossession of the Palestinians using unpopular but pliant and hand chosen collaborators like Mahmud Abbas.

Yeah, genuine peace is simple - all it requires is that the Israeli Jews commit suicide.

Yeah, genuine peace is simple - all it requires is that the Israeli Jews commit suicide.

Have you and David Sugarman met?

Yet another glaring example of the need for the progressive blogosphere, and advocacy organizations, to come together for a concerted, widespread boycott, denouncement, and ad campaign demanding that the media cease parroting right-wing talking points while filling Americans' heads with speciousness and nonsense.

I don't know how many blogs I've seen decrying all these media abuses, again and again. Seems to me that they could all get together, with organizations like MoveOn, and actually do something concrete about it.

Enough money for NYT and WaPo ad buys could be raised in mere days. A single, uniform message could be agreed upon, put into the ads, and placed on the most prominent progressive blogs. The right is famous for its borg-like ability to press a point in a unified fashion like this, and thus create a "story" out of its own advocacy.

No reason whatsoever why we shouldn't (or can't) do the same in the progressive/sane discourse community. Isolated efforts are plainly not enough anymore if we're going to mount a genuine challenge to Drudge-ruled establishment media dysfunction.

Why Hezbollah??
Assuming that Iran actually is training "terrorists" to go into Iraq, why would Iran need to import Hezbollah people from Lebanon to do the training? Aren't the Iranians supposed to be good enough at this themselves?
It seems plausible that the allegation of Hezbollah involvement is intended to justify a wider offensive against people Israel does not like before the Bushies leave office -- texasbob

Damned good question. Long-standing ties between Hezbollah and Iran have been described in the past; there is a relationship between the 2 Shi'ite entities. Typically in the past however, western news sources have reported that "Iranian government operative/Revolutionary Guard" types were training Hezbollah men. Why would Iran now need to import talent -- at a time when Hezbollah is still short of experienced fighters? Hezbollah personnel might be involved in these kinds of guerilla training camps -- but, it seems as though the word "Hezbollah" is invoked for emotional effect in this article.

As discussed in this article (link below), a number of people/news organizations have been smelling 'Iranian airstrike smoke' on the wind of late. In a way, Gordon's articles are useful, in that they may provide a nice indicator of admin. intentions. Kind of like the Swallows returning to Capistrano, a Gordon "Parrot" piece may be a good indicator of coming events/trends.

Former UN weapons inspector says attack on Iran 'virtual guarantee'

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Former_UN_weapons_inspector_says_attack_0505.html