The truth is that good old-fashioned journalism is no longer possible in today's war zones, and especially in Afghanistan. Hence the rise of rooftop journalism, in which sharply dressed reporters address the camera from inside fortified compounds.
As a result, the most consequential war of our time is reported principally by "embeds", journalists embedded for short periods with army units. It is a trade-off for freedom for access. It has produced some vivid journalism, both in print and online, but is inevitably one-sided.
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson served in the U.S. military for 31 years and was Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell from August 2002 until January 2005, two months after Powell’s resignation, when he left the State Department. He is now the chairman of the New America Foundation’s US-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative.
The editor of the student newspaper that school administrators stopped from being printed earlier this week says her principal was trying to censor controversial but factual information about a new cafeteria services provider.
If one were searching for an individual to represent the public interest in promoting declassification of government records, the first name that came to mind would probably not be Michael V. Hayden, the former director of the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency. But improbable as it may seem, he is the latest appointee to the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB), an official body that advises the President on declassification policies, priorities and potential reforms.
The Sept. 11 attacks were both a tragedy and a call to arms for many of the soldiers at this sprawling military air base - although few would have guessed that eight years on, the war in Afghanistan would still be raging.
