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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/30/1310516/-Blackwater-Story-Is-Exactly-Why-NYT-s-James-Risen-Must-Be-Shielded-from-DOJ-ProsecutionMON JUN 30, 2014 AT 05:20 AM PDT
Blackwater Story Is Exactly Why NYT's James Risen Must Be Shielded from DOJ Prosecution
by David Harris Gershon
Originally published in Tikkun Daily
James Risen of The New York Times, using recently disclosed State Department documents, has written a bombshell-of-a-story chronicling how Blackwater's top manager threatened to kill the U.S. government's chief investigator in 2007, thus thwarting an investigation into Blackwater's operations just weeks before the company's guards massacred 17 Iraqi civilians.
The story is characteristic Risen: unflinchingly and thoroughly reported. However, Risen may not be able to write such stories in a matter of months. Instead, he may be sitting in a jail cell as a result of a case being prosecuted against him by the Obama administration.
The case against Risen began in 2008. This is when his book, State of War, was published, which contained information on a secret, botched CIA operation in Iran. The Bush administration, furious at the revelations, subpoenaed Risen and demanded that he reveal his confidential source. Risen has steadfastly refused, and if the Obama administration proceeds this summer to prosecute Risen, the NYT journalist may soon be behind bars.
Here's Jonathan Mahler of the Times on the Risen case:
Though the courts decision looked like a major victory for the government, it has forced the Obama administration to confront a hard choice. Should it demand Mr. Risens testimony and be responsible for a reporters being sent to jail? Or reverse course and stand down, losing credibility with an intelligence community that has pushed for the aggressive prosecution of leaks?
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Crowquette
(88 posts)nt
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Shemp Howard
(889 posts)The 2014 Obama should be forced to sit down and watch videos of the 2008 Obama.
snot
(10,530 posts)msanthrope
(37,549 posts)to a crime, just like you or I.
xocet
(3,871 posts)msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Same circumstances.
xocet
(3,871 posts)Rather - so much for freedom of the press.
June 2, 2014
By Trevor Timm
The Supreme Court today rejected New York Times reporter James Risen's appeal of a 4th Circuit decision that ruled the government can compel him to reveal his source under oath. The case, one of the most important for reporter's privilege in decades, means that Risen has exhausted his appeals and must now either testify in the leak trial of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, or face jail time for being in contempt of court. Risen has admirably vowed to go to prison rather than comply.
This is the latest victory of the Obama administration in their crackdown on sources, and in turn, investigative journalism. As the New York Times again reminded us today, they have "pursued leaks aggressively, bringing criminal charges in eight cases, compared with three under all previous administrations combined."
Make no mistake, this case is a direct attack on the press. The Justice Department has recently tightened its "guidelines" for subpoenaing reporters (which have no enforcement mechanism) and the Obama administration claims it supports a tepid journalist shield law, but this was the case where they could have shown they meant what they said about protecting journalists' rights. Instead, they argued to the court that reporter's privilege does not exist all, even comparing journalists who invoke the privilege to criminals who have recieved drugs.
By going after Risen, the Obama administration has done more damage to reporter's privilege than any other case in forty years, including the Valerie Plame leak investigation that ensnared Judy Miller during the Bush administration. The Fourth Circuit is where many national security reporters live and work, and by eviscerating the privilege there, the government has made national security reporting that much harder in an age where there has already been an explosion in use of surveillance to root out sources of journalists.
...
https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/blog/2014/06/supreme-court-rejects-reporters-privilege-case-nyt-reporter-faces-jail-protecting-his
With a constitutional scholar like President Obama, who needs a Constitution?
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)are arguing that my 6th amendment rights should be further impinged. No dice.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)That Timm has had a vendetta against Obama for a while now, as evidenced by his screechy, hyperbolic interpretation of events...According to him, Obama is worse than goddamned Putin...
Risen can either take the easy way out and name the CIA source that everyone already knows, or he can do the short, symbolic stint in jail to protect his source's anonymity like countless journalists before him...Either way, Risen knew full well the risks and possible consequences he was getting into when he started down this road.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)Her lies about the WMDs in Iraq, and the plot to plant WMDs in Iraq, was well known here at the time. Some of us remember.
Judith Miller took the fifth to shield her criminal bosses, not to protect a source.
Shame on you.
Comparing Judith Miller with James Risen is grotesque.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)...Democracy and the Republic.
Thank you, James Risen and Hissyspit!
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)The war on journalism and our First Amendment needs to be SHAMED and STOPPED.
countryjake
(8,554 posts)Hissy, did you catch this article from the Nation a few years ago? It's never been just the Middle East where Blackwater allows the erasing of "American fingerprints". It's taxpayer-funded global corporate terrorism. How much of that 60 billion "war funding" that the White House requested from Congress last week goes to these covert operations?
Was James Risen's source for the revelation in his book a former Blackwater employee? If so, he most likely signed that "Bear Paw" oath that Risen spoke of in yesterday's NYTimes article. Does signing a nondisclosure agreement with Blackwater open its operatives up to charges of treason if they blow a whistle?
Blackwater's Black Ops
http://www.thenation.com/article/154739/blackwaters-black-ops#
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3524935
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2003/05/soldiers-good-fortune
http://www.salon.com/2004/05/11/private/
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/IraqCoverage/story?id=650816&page=1
(edit to add)
That Nation article gives a whole new perspective on "Agent Mike".
countryjake
(8,554 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Faryn Balyncd
(5,125 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,370 posts)Thanks for the thread, Hissyspit.