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| A word from Lt. Cotton |
| 2006-06-29 |
| Lt. Tom Cotton writes this morning from Baghdad with a word for the New York Times: Dear Messrs. Keller, Lichtblau & Risen: Congratulations on disclosing our government's highly classified anti-terrorist-financing program (June 23). I apologize for not writing sooner. But I am a lieutenant in the United States Army and I spent the last four days patrolling one of the more dangerous areas in Iraq. (Alas, operational security and common sense prevent me from even revealing this unclassified location in a private medium like email.) Unfortunately, as I supervised my soldiers late one night, I heard a booming explosion several miles away. I learned a few hours later that a powerful roadside bomb killed one soldier and severely injured another from my 130-man company. I deeply hope that we can find and kill or capture the terrorists responsible for that bomb. But, of course, these terrorists do not spring from the soil like Plato's guardians. No, they require financing to obtain mortars and artillery shells, priming explosives, wiring and circuitry, not to mention for training and payments to locals willing to emplace bombs in exchange for a few months' salary. As your story states, the program was legal, briefed to Congress, supported in the government and financial industry, and very successful. Not anymore. You may think you have done a public service, but you have gravely endangered the lives of my soldiers and all other soldiers and innocent Iraqis here. Next time I hear that familiar explosion -- or next time I feel it -- I will wonder whether we could have stopped that bomb had you not instructed terrorists how to evade our financial surveillance. And, by the way, having graduated from Harvard Law and practiced with a federal appellate judge and two Washington law firms before becoming an infantry officer, I am well-versed in the espionage laws relevant to this story and others -- laws you have plainly violated. I hope that my colleagues at the Department of Justice match the courage of my soldiers here and prosecute you and your newspaper to the fullest extent of the law. By the time we return home, maybe you will be in your rightful place: not at the Pulitzer announcements, but behind bars. Very truly yours, Tom Cotton Baghdad, Iraq |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #4 they were a not the best and brightest of the Arab world. I wouldn't be too certain of that. It's a pretty low standard. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-06-29 14:37 |
| #3 What the MSM and the west really don’t understand is that the basic Arab/Muslim Jihadi wannabe aint that smart or sophisticated. Yes some are college educated, but most are very plain-vanilla that have undergone some whack-job religious experience. Examine the 9/11 job, they left a trail of clues and even their applications for Visa’s were full of errors. They were on the FBIs radar screen only we didn’t realize what they were up to until it was too late. We can pretty much guarantee that they can’t pull that off again, but they were a not the best and brightest of the Arab world. Programs like the phone and bank monitoring programs are successful because our enemy is really naïve enough to think that nobody can listen to their conversations or track their bank actions. The capture of Al Qaida’s #2 9and others) guy show you just how susceptible these guys are to a good surveillance program. The NYT didn’t do anybody any favors by showing just how good those programs. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-06-29 13:55 |
| #2 Dead on target, Lt. This letter should be an Op-Ed in a major newspaper - to begin getting the opposing message to the crowd that swills the major paper Kool Aid. I doubt that many of them have the first clue that there is opposition. Let's see if a major paper will step forward. LOL, just kidding! Never happen. Thank you PowerLine / Besoeker. |
| Posted by: Unavising Tholugum6632 2006-06-29 11:58 |
| #1 I am well-versed in the espionage laws relevant to this story and others -- laws you have plainly violated. I hope that my colleagues at the Department of Justice match the courage of my soldiers here and prosecute you and your newspaper to the fullest extent of the law... I also hope the DOJ grows a set and prosecutes the NYTs. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2006-06-29 11:29 |