Journalists' Attacks on Seymour Hersh Are Deceiving, Hypocritical and Unjustified

By Joseph Hickman, Reader Supported News

19 May 15

ast week, Seymour Hersh published an incredible article in the London Review of Books (LRB) titled “The Killing of Osama bin Laden.” In his article Hersh rebukes the US government for its official version of the events surrounding Osama bin Laden’s death and gives a completely different narration of what happened that day, and in the months leading up to the event. Since the release of his article, the government has adamantly denied Hersh’s claims, and he has come under a volley of attacks by many journalists and media outlets. Oddly, in most of these attacks it is Hersh’s credibility that is questioned, rather than the issues he laid out in his article. One can come to the conclusion that the only reason for such attacks against a legendary journalist like Seymour Hersh is that what he says in his article is plausible.

The journalists critical of Hersh’s story state that he uses too many anonymous sources, and they even question whether the sources exist. This not only amounts to misleading their own readers or viewers, but is extremely hypocritical. The journalists who are continually attempting to make an issue out of this know Hersh has the sources. They know because they are very familiar with the editorial process that goes on at reputable media outlets like the LRB. They know the editors at the LRB are made aware of who Hersh’s sources are, and those editors verify the statements from Hersh’s sources. It is ironic that the same journalists who are questioning Hersh’s use of anonymous sources constantly quote and rely on anonymous sources themselves in many of their own articles and books. These journalists also know for a fact that people in the intelligence community who are in sensitive positions almost always insist that journalists not use their names. So unless a journalist has documents or photographs to support his story when it deals with national security issues, he almost always relies on anonymous sources. Why is it okay for these journalists but not okay for Sy Hersh?

Many of Hersh’s critics also claim that a cover-up of the bin Laden raid would have required the involvement of hundreds of people. That is simply not true. US Intelligence works on a compartmentalized information basis. Meaning that even when someone has a top secret clearance and works for the CIA, FBI, or even the White House, information is passed specifically on a need-to-know basis. With that fact in mind, it is clear that the operation could have been conducted with far less than a few hundred people knowing the details. Even if it did take secrecy on the part of hundreds of people, the government has accomplished such things in the past. One example is the case of Pat Tillman: The government said he died in a blaze of glory fighting the enemy in Afghanistan. Later we learned it was a complete lie. Tillman was a victim of fratricide, and the government covered it up. That cover-up took, at the very least, a company of US Army Rangers (about 120 men), the battalion commander, the General of US Central Command and his staff, and the Secretary of Defense.

It seems Hersh’s critics also forget that after the raid, even though there were at least a dozen people in the room witnessing the operation as it was broadcast from a live satellite feed, government officials couldn’t get their stories straight, but were constantly contradicting themselves as to the events surrounding bin Laden’s death.

So the big question is: Why are so many journalists attacking Hersh in this way? More than likely it’s because they took the government’s official version of the events as factual without questioning it. Many of them have written several articles and books analyzing the government’s official version of the events. To call the official story into question, they may feel, jeopardizes their own reputations and credibility, and maybe it does.

While most journalists go with the flow, accepting and reporting on whatever government officials tell them, Seymour Hersh has made a living by questioning the authorities and exposing government corruption and cover-ups like the My Lai Massacre and Abu Ghraib.

In no way am I defending Sy Hersh – and knowing him, he wouldn’t want me to. His work defends itself. I am simply pointing out the current state of our government and the media.

Joseph Hickman is a former non-commissioned military officer and author of the book “Murder at Camp Delta.” He is an Adjunct Professor at Seton Hall University School of Law and a Senior Research Fellow for the Center for Policy and Research. You can follow him on twitter at @josephhickman0