-
Adieu, Adieu, Remember Me
March 25, 2011 | 38 comments
-
DeMint’s Defense of RomneyCare is Ignorant…And Dangerous
March 17, 2011 | 85 comments
-
McConnell Pushing Vote to Block the EPA from Regulating Carbon Emissions
March 17, 2011 | 9 comments
-
More Barbour on Afghanistan
March 16, 2011 | 8 comments
-
House Passes Three Week Spending Bill
March 15, 2011 | 8 comments
The Spectacle Blog
The Pakistani newspaper the Nation reports that:
Former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on the orders of the special death squad formed by former US vice-president Dick Cheney, which had already killed the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafique Al Hariri and the army chief of that country.”
The squad was headed by General Stanley McChrystal, the newly-appointed commander of US army in Afghanistan. It was disclosed by reputed US journalist Seymour Hersh while talking to an Arab TV in an interview.
Hersh said former US vice-president Cheney was the chief of the Joint Special Operation Command and he clear the way for the US by exterminating opponents through the unit and the CIA. General Stanley was the in-charge of the unit.
I guess we should expect a forthcoming New Yorker article featuring anonymous high-ranking officials who deliver quotes that fit perfectly into Hersh’s story. The problem is, while I can laugh at Hersh’s claims, when he makes them to an Arab audience where he is billed as a “reputed US journalist,” it can actually have a damaging effect and add fuel to anti-Americanism.
UPDATE: Seymour Hersh is denying he made this accusation:
LAHORE: US journalist Seymour Hersh on Monday contradicted news reports being published in South Asia that quote him as saying a “special death squad” made by former US vice president Dick Cheney had killed Benazir Bhutto. The award-winning journalist described as “complete madness” the reports that the squad headed by General Stanley McChrystal – the new commander of US army in Afghanistan – had also killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafique Al Hariri and a Lebanese army chief. “Vice president Cheney does not have a death squad. I have no idea who killed Mr Hariri or Mrs Bhutto,” Hersh said. “I have never said that I did have such information. I most certainly did not say anything remotely to that effect during an interview with an Arab media outlet.” He said Gen McChrystal had run a special forces unit that engaged in “high value target activity”, but “while I have been critical of some of that unit’s activities in the pages of the New Yorker and in interviews, I have never suggested that he was involved in political assassinations or death squads on behalf of Mr Cheney, as the published stories state.” He regretted that none of the publications had contacted him before carrying the report. “This is another example of blogs going bonkers with misleading and fabricated stories and professional journalists repeating such rumours without doing their job – and that is to verify such rumours.” staff report.
Though back in March, Keith Olberman ran a story that Hersh claimed Cheney was running a “covert executive assassination ring.”
UPDATE II: Transcript corroborates Hersh; the Pakistani report was erroneous.
View all comments (58) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Philip Klein
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/05/18/hersh-accuses-cheney-of-orderi
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
The Spectacle Blog
Democrat Dan Maffei Blames Budget Cuts for Girl’s Rape, Mother’s Murder
Robert Stacy McCain | 6.18.13
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Pingback| 5.18.09 @ 6:40PM
Hersh Accuses Cheney of Ordering the Hit on Bhutto | But As For Me links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Angel| 5.18.09 @ 7:00PM
Doesn't this clown have to offer some evidence to back up his incendiary accusations?
Marco| 5.18.09 @ 7:10PM
Olbermann's #1 story!!!
WilliamInWien@hotmail.com| 5.18.09 @ 7:33PM
When Hersh "writes" about an issue that you have a level of expertise in, you realize how little he truly knows about "facts". I have followed Hersh and his "stories" from the mid-80's and he knows just enought to write an article and influence too many gullible readers. At more than one seminar, Hersh left the podium without answering questions. Then again, if I was one of his "highly place sources", I would not want to be identified with the conclusions he reaches.
Steve Hynd | 5.18.09 @ 7:45PM
Hersh has denied the story:
I did not say Cheney killed Benazir: Hersh
LAHORE: US journalist Seymour Hersh on Monday contradicted news reports being published in South Asia that quote him as saying a “special death squad” made by former US vice president Dick Cheney had killed Benazir Bhutto. The award-winning journalist described as “complete madness” the reports that the squad headed by General Stanley McChrystal – the new commander of US army in Afghanistan – had also killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafique Al Hariri and a Lebanese army chief. “Vice president Cheney does not have a death squad. I have no idea who killed Mr Hariri or Mrs Bhutto,” Hersh said. “I have never said that I did have such information. I most certainly did not say anything remotely to that effect during an interview with an Arab media outlet.” He said Gen McChrystal had run a special forces unit that engaged in “high value target activity”, but “while I have been critical of some of that unit’s activities in the pages of the New Yorker and in interviews, I have never suggested that he was involved in political assassinations or death squads on behalf of Mr Cheney, as the published stories state.” He regretted that none of the publications had contacted him before carrying the report. “This is another example of blogs going bonkers with misleading and fabricated stories and professional journalists repeating such rumours without doing their job – and that is to verify such rumours.” staff report
Regards, Steve
Lum| 5.18.09 @ 7:45PM
"reputed US journalist Seymour Hersh"
Well, they got that part right. Hersh is reputed to be a journalist
Fred| 5.18.09 @ 8:07PM
Why would he need proof to back it up, it's the same thing Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats have been doing for years....
Cris| 5.18.09 @ 9:34PM
I would think that if Mr. Hersh truly thought Dick Cheney actually held sway over a "death squad" that he would be afraid. Very afraid.
Smitty| 5.18.09 @ 9:35PM
Yeah, but Nazi Nancy got caught in her lies this time. Hope she pays for it.
west_rhino| 5.18.09 @ 9:55PM
The slander, er report was "disclosed" and the damage is done. Were Cheney as wrathful and powerful as intimated in that slander, I'd have to say that Herr Hersh could well be foisted as bait for an up and coming Al Queda leader to grab behead for Al Jazera's evening news.
One supposes the repeated denial of outside threats demands another 9/11 or another Pearl Harbour to jolt the sycophantic fifth column into behaving as responsible news reporters.
Barrett Brown| 5.18.09 @ 10:59PM
I can't remember the last time a conservative publication put so much stock in the reporting of an Islamic country's newspaper. It didn't strike you as odd that the article didn't even mention what television station Hersh was supposed to have told this to? And, nonetheless, you immediately accept it as fact and run with it? Also, Pakistanis don't constitute "an Arab audience," what with them not being Arabs and all. In conclusion, go to trade school.
bob whitford| 5.18.09 @ 11:05PM
Hersh didn't say that, and the real question has to be who planted the story he did, and why.
It doesn't take much thinking to come to a conclusion or two.
Basil Plumley| 5.18.09 @ 11:51PM
I would suspect the story originated out of Damascus or Tehran.
Supposedly, there are Syrian "fingerprints" on the Hariri assassination. I think I read the UN investigation is focusing on Damascus.
You have to admit, this "story" is a nice distraction/deflection.
Njuh| 5.19.09 @ 12:09AM
This is what Cheney should get hit with for being a restless grasshopper.Instead of staying away in his closet,he came out to bandy looks with Americans that are still losing young men in unpopular wars he and his master started.
Njuh| 5.19.09 @ 12:13AM
This is what Cheney should get hit with for being a restless grasshopper.Instead of staying away in his closet,he came out to bandy looks with Americans that are still losing young men in unpopular wars he and his master started.
Pingback| 5.19.09 @ 1:40AM
Hersh Accuses Cheney of Ordering the Hit on Bhutto UPDATE: Hersh Denies Report | But links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Daist| 5.19.09 @ 1:51AM
Damn, what a nutjob. I wonder how many freaks like you are wandering our streets, restless grasshopper. Gonna get me a BIG pepperspray.
Richard| 5.19.09 @ 3:09AM
We are talking about Dick Cheney here. Is a death squad story related to Cheney really that far fetched? This is a man who enjoyed micromanaging torture. This is a man who spent the last eight years and probably the last sixty lying through his teeth. You can argue whether Seymour Hersh has credibility. Richard Cheney has none. Richard Cheney was born for Washington, where prevaricating and selling out one's country is a daily affair, just ask the entire Republican and Democratic establishment.
Marie N| 5.19.09 @ 5:56AM
Its amazing the lengths journalists will go to engage an ignorant public. Ask yourself one question...What advantage would Cheney have if Benazir Bhutto were killed? None, absolutely none. She was pro-US relations.
May| 5.19.09 @ 6:02AM
Is this the Cheney who created the Iraq war so Halliburton can have business? I guess so.
Doc| 5.19.09 @ 6:30AM
Some one must have left the damper open last night. That would explain all of these squirrels running around in here.
Diakka| 5.19.09 @ 7:10AM
Well, the terrorists are always within, and personally, I am still waiting for someone to verify the bookburned history before assassinating what is left of the part of humanity which does not offend someones moral judgement from the dark ages.
Hasseem| 5.19.09 @ 7:37AM
Death to all infidels, heathens, barbarians, Crusaders, posuers, fakirs, and all who would take credit for Aksalam el-Arabiya assasssinations!!! allahu ahkbare!!
Henry Stone| 5.19.09 @ 7:42AM
Try to compare the accuracy of investigative reporting by Seymour Hersh to anyone in the business, and you will come up holding the short end of the stupid stick. In 1969 Seymour Hersh exposed the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, for which he received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. In 2004 he broke the report on the US military's mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison which gained worldwide attention.
For this Hersh received the 2004 George Polk Award for Magazine Reporting. This was his fifth George Polk Award. Incidentally, the Polk Award is the highest award that Billy O'Reilly has ever received. He received it once as part of a team effort while working for the tabloid TV show, Inside Edition. O'Reilly later incorrectly bragged repeatedly that he had received a "Peabody Award. " He never did.
The point of this is twofold. First, Philip Klein is a frequently dfiscredited, sensationalizing buffoon trying to legitimize the rumor that Seymour Hersh attributed Bhutto's murder to Cheney. Second, if Seymour Hersh ever does make that claim, you can take it to the bank as gold.
TheHoss| 5.19.09 @ 7:59AM
This is actually a good thing if our enemy thinks our government has the ability to pull off an operation like this. Everyone in the U.S. knows better.
JamesJ| 5.19.09 @ 8:03AM
Never underestimate the stupidity of your average liberal
Pingback| 5.19.09 @ 8:17AM
Blog Mobile Gmail Google | World News links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
kamk| 5.19.09 @ 8:19AM
so what
Pingback| 5.19.09 @ 8:31AM
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Hersh Accuses Cheney of … | Webmaster Tools links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 5.19.09 @ 8:31AM
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Hersh Accuses Cheney of … | Webmaster Tools links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
flyingeagel| 5.19.09 @ 9:50AM
It just amazes me how juvenile some of these comments are. Everyone is tired of the, "Be Scared, Very Scared!" speech. You have a better chance of dying in a Car Accident, The Flu, Lightning(?), etc . .etc . .etc. . Terrorism is real and we should be vigilant but to keep harping on it is sad at best. Get a life people and start using your energies to volunteer in your child's school or something else constructive. I volunteer 2 times a week at my little girl's school and I also help the other kids in her class as well. I am making this world a better place for the children of tomorrow and I am a Conservative!
jp| 5.19.09 @ 10:08AM
Lew Rockwell and those nuts also have made this claim, back in March.
http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2009/05/seymour-hersh-darling-of-left.html
jp| 5.19.09 @ 10:35AM
same thing was reported about Hersh at Raw Story in March
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Hersh_US_has_been_running_executive_0311.html
Pingback| 5.19.09 @ 11:51AM
Twitter Facebook Data Users | World News links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
edword| 5.19.09 @ 11:54AM
Seymour Hersch is also the one who said that Bush and Cheney would invade Iran before their term ended. How is that one working out?
JPousson| 5.19.09 @ 12:32PM
Sy Hersh is a lying sack of garbage. He has always been a lying sack of garbage, and yes, ladies and gentlemen, he will always BE a lying sack of garbage. He is a pro-Democrat hack who pretends at national security analysis who could not even identify the proper end of a rifle barrel from which the round issues forth.
The problem is, when he lies, and the idiots in the "Arab [and, by extension, the "Muslim"]World" lap it up, he not only undermines American foreign policy, he gets American men and women murdered. So, now, he spouts off at the new commander in Afghanistan, General McChrystal, at a critical time in both Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, and turns some folks in those countries, who would have been of immense help, against us. Furthermore, he slanders a man, Dick Cheney, whose used toilet paper he is not worthy to hold, and his sladers don't even make freaking SENSE.
WHY in the world would VP Cheney even want to see Hariri killed, or even further, Bhutto? Hariri was an ENEMY of the Syrian conquest of Lebanon, and Benazir Bhutto was no threat to American interests, which Cheney has ALWAYS championed, and which Hersh has ALWAYS attempted to undermine. In fact, had there even been a secret hit quad targeting American (or even Cheney's supposed) enemies, the VP would have pointed them instead in the direction of Nasrallah and other Syrian stooges in Lebanon, and in Pakistan, they would have been aimed at radical leaders like the rabid mullah in the Red Mosque instead of the pro-Western Bhutto.
Seymour Hersh, I call you out right now, in the naitonal press: You, Sir, are a liar, a cad, and absolute anti-American vermin. I accuse you directly of lying in an attempt to undermine the efforts of our troops in the field in time of war, to stir up sentiment against a field commander of US troops in time of war, and fabricate attacks by the former second-in-line to the presidency to whip up anti-American sentiment in time of war.
Seymour Hersh has committed treason, as defined by the United States Constitution, and should be tried and EXECUTED as a traitor to this nation and an enemy of the United States.
Sunflower| 5.19.09 @ 12:47PM
Angel| 5.18.09 @ 7:00PM
Doesn't this clown have to offer some evidence to back up his incendiary accusations?
Not to the crazy leftist nutroots bloggers who go giddy with every crazy nutty thing Hersh says.
JPousson| 5.19.09 @ 12:47PM
"Richard" (I would prefer the diminuitive when addressing you, actually), you are the same one who was posting your inane pooh-poohing of the Iranian nuclear threat to Israel on the Jerusalem Post in response to Caroline Glick's reporting on the Iranina penetration of the Western Hemisphere. Your pronouncements are as worthy of scorn as Seymour Hersh's paranoid delusions.
You, sir, attack Dick Cheney, accusing him ogf lying (he has not lied ONCE in his DECADES of dedicated government service in more positions of trust that you can shake your tiny unmentionables at), deluding yourself that somehow we who actually READ the American Spectator would believe the lying filth that you leftist scum have spread about this wonderful man.
Vice President Dick Cheney was probably one of the most COMPETENT and TRUSTED Vice Presidents in American history. His recent prouncements on the dismantling of national security under the Kenyan Muslim Fraud have been a wake-up call to a nation that had been lulled into your Bush Derangement Syndrome mesmerization that for the previous eight years, the nation had actually been PROTECTED by men who cared less for their image charicatured in the slanted, anti-American mass media than they did for the safety of each and every American man, woman, and child (YOUR sorry rear end included, "Richard").
You have also been called out, as has been Hersh, as a liar and a prevaricator. You are a paid Democrat HACK who is tasked with coming onto conservative forums and spread your misinformation and your revisionist history, and conservatives and like-minded independents see through you and your smokescreen without a moment's distraction by your hate-filled glamour.
THANK YOU, Vice-President Dick Cheney, for eight years of calm, responsible leadership and for your level demeanor, clear-headed thinking and dedication to public service and national security.
I only wish that President Bush had listened to you, Secretaries Rusmfeld and Wolfowitz and Ambassador Bolton instead of nimwits like Nicholas Burns, Colon Powell, Admiral Mullen and Robert Gates.
Smitty| 5.19.09 @ 1:11PM
Thank God for VP Cheney; the only Conservative to step up and fill the leadership void in the Republican party.
Richard| 5.19.09 @ 11:23PM
JPouss y, it must be a misnomer? Clearly the beltway wars have gotten the better of you. It seems as if you are searching for Richards or should I say Dicks everywhere! The Jerusalem Post is a good place to start. There are plenty of them there. Based on your appellation, I am certain you must be acquainted with many of them. I wish I was a Democratic hack. I could use the money. Paulson, Geithner its all the same, no? Fortunately, I am a Libertarian. You know a real conservative. Not to be confused with the small chest thumping, draft dodging, fiscally irresponsible, fascist, neocon, "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service" coward. Unlike Mr. Cheney, Wolfowitz, Bolton and their ilk in the Republican and Democratic parties, I did not have a choice about my military service. How about you? Defending Washington from inside the beltway? How brave. How name appropriate.
Nazi Pelosi| 5.20.09 @ 12:26AM
You may not be a demo hack but you are a liberal whore, Richard. Crawl back under your stinkin' rock, traitor. Dick Cheney is a hero!
Richard| 5.20.09 @ 3:18AM
My dear N. Pelosi, no argument, just invective. So much for the current state of education in the US. Dick Cheney, like Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid, is a traitor to the Constitution, a traitor to the bill of rights, and a traitor to America. "Just a piece of paper", as his boss once so proudly boasted. Dick Cheney is a hero only to those individuals who prefer false security over true liberty. He is a hero to those who lust for intervention and empire. He is a scoundrel, a liar, a coward, an oaf, a lousy shot and a criminal opportunist, who has enriched himself on the public purse. No bid contracts, total secrecy, kickbacks. Daddy knows best to keep you little children safe. He is vile, repulsive and reflects everything that is corrupt and twisted in Washington. He is an embarrassment to the sons of Wyoming. He is a train wreck to the values of conservatism and everything out country has stood for until now. He is an insider. He is a fraud who regularly hides his INTERNATIONALIST credentials from the honest folk of this land. If you think he is a hero, then I pray that America will forgive you. In her time of need you have turned your back on her. Run, run, run to Mr. Cheney, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Clinton, Mr. Bush and Obama, they will deliver you to the wilderness, where you belong.
Nasty Nazi Pelosi| 5.20.09 @ 4:30AM
Richard, you are a tedious turd. Poopers like you whine, bitch and moan yet never ever offer solutions. Your rubber room awaits you. Weirdo.
Daisy| 5.20.09 @ 4:55AM
You rock, JPousson!
Pingback| 5.20.09 @ 6:09AM
Hersh did not say Cheney ordered Bhutto assassination « Dandelion Salad links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
biniki| 9.1.09 @ 9:55PM
bikini
bikini swimwear
face | 1.11.10 @ 1:21AM
"Richard" (I would prefer the diminuitive when addressing you, actually), you are the same one who was posting your inane pooh-poohing of the Iranian nuclear threat to Israel on the Jerusalem Post in response to Caroline Glick's reporting on the Inike outletranina penetration of the Western Hemisphere. Your pronouncements are as worthy of scorn as Seymour Heradidas outletsh's paranoid delusions.