NY Times writer Thom Shanker to sign new book “Counterstrike” Sunday and Tuesday in his native Oklahoma City
Thom Shanker
Oklahoma City native and New York Times correspondent Thom Shanker will sign copies of his new book “Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America’s Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda” at two different events next week in his hometown.
Shanker will participate in a book signing at 2 p.m. Sunday at Full Circle Bookstore in 50 Penn Place. For more information, go to www.fullcirclebooks.com.
He also will be at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday for a book signing and conversation. He will share his insights about terrorist threats facing America today. For more information, go to www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org.
The book, which Shanker co-authored with fellow New Times correspondent Eric Schmitt, has eared critical praise since its August release. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Rick Atkinson calls it “a remarkable detective story by two of the nation’s best reporters.”
Shanker and Schmitt dig into the United States’ nuanced efforts to combat the worldwide terrorist network of Al Qaeda. Drawing on their many sources, the correspondents take readers deep into the realm of the military, spy agencies and law enforcement.
“Al Qaeda surprised itself on 9/11,” Shanker told The Oklahoman‘s Ken Raymond in a recent phone interview. “I think they had no idea they could actually bring down the two towers and hit the Pentagon. They were surprised at what they did. They were also surprised by the ferocity of the American response. I don’t think they thought that the U.S. would invade Afghanistan, bring down the Taliban, et cetera.”
“Counterstrike” also includes a chapter with dramatic new details surrounding the May 2011 operation that killed Osama bin Laden.
As Shanker and Schmitt note, however, bin Laden’s death doesn’t end the war on terrorism. “Terrorism inspired by Al Qaeda cannot be defeated as it is defined today,” they write.
To read more of Ken’s interesting interview with Shanker, click here.
-BAM
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Shanker & Schmitt praised Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s counterterrorism legacy: “Across the military and intelligence community, General McChrystal was credited with commanding missions that captured and killed more of America’s adversaries than any other living officer. But his legacy in shifting the culture of handling intelligence is just as important.” McChrystal told the authors that “the secret to his counterterrorism efforts had been to break down walls that had divided the military and intelligence communities.”
However, the authors didn’t dwell on the role of torture in the secret campaign against Al Qaeda. They only briefly allude to its use (e.g. Camp Nama) by JSOC special forces under Gen. McChrystal’s command. Apparently, the authors didn’t believe torture had contributed much to the success against Al Qaeda: “The process of “massing intelligence” on an individual has proven to be a more valuable tool than harsh interrogation techniques…”
Gen. McChrystal’s counterterrorism legacy was also tarnished by his central role (e.g. he supervised the writing of Pat Tillman’s false Silver Star citation with altered witness statements, his legal officers hid info. from the medical examiner) in the government’s cover-up of Pat Tillman’s 2004 friendly-fire death in Afghanistan.
On May 25th 2009, the New York Times published Thom Shanker’s whitewash, “Nomination of U.S. Afghan Commander Revives Questions on Tillman Case,” that supposedly “exonerated” General McChrystal of all wrong-doing in the Tillman case. However, Shanker ignored clear evidence that McChrystal was actually at the center of the Army’s cover-up of Pat Tillman’s friendly-fire death.
During the week before Gen. McChrystal’s June 2, 2009 Senate confirmation hearing, I corresponded several times with Shanker and sent him material which described how the Democratic Congress whitewashed McChrystal’s key role in the cover-up. However, Shanker’s subsequent articles continued to parrot the government’s official line (interestingly, the NYT’s editors disappeared his June 2nd article from their website within a few hours after it was published). On June 10th, the Senate confirmed Gen. McChrystal’s promotion. McChrystal was handed his fourth star, while the Tillman family were left with a tarnished Silver Star.
Note: If you’re interested in more details, see, “Lies Borne Out by Facts, If Not the Truth,” the abridged version in “The [Untold] Tillman Story”, “The Emperor’s General,” or the Introduction to “Jon Krakauer’s Credibility Problem” posted at http://www.feralfirefighter.blogspot.com
Afterwards, Thom Shanker enjoyed exceptionally good “access” to General McChrystal. For example, Shanker wrote: “On the day [June 10, 2009] in the summer of 2009 that a Senate vote confirmed General McChrystal and elevated him to his new command and he deployed to Afghanistan, he took two reporters from the New York Times [Shanker & Schmitt] on a tour of his new “rear headquarters” in a sealed corridor of the Pentagon basement …”
And, it appears that Shanker’s whitewash opened doors for him at the Washington think tank Center for a New American Security (CNAS): “CNAS in Washington allowed each of us to spend 90 days [Fall 2009] as a “writer in residence” to work on Counterstrike …” It’s worth noting that CNAS spearheaded the push for the 2009 Afghan War ”surge” and worked closely with Gen. David Petreaus and Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
Isn’t “access” grand? As Shanker wrote, “A book like this simply is not possible without the cooperation and trust of a large number of government officials and military officers.” I’m sure the Shanker’s NYT’s whitewash of McChrystal helped to gain the “trust” of McChrystal and others.
I didn’t come away from my personal experience with Thom Shanker with much confidence in our “watchdog” media.