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.