"I think it's something that many of us are conflicted about, but we also feel like this is the right action to take," he noted, adding that there was a lot of consensus on the returning of the medals. "It is a sacrifice, but it's one that we feel is worth it."

Actually, it's a sacrifice worth about five bucks on ebay.

They're "giving back" something you can pick up in a surplus store. It would be something else entirely if the military actually purged their records of whatever qualified them for those medals - meaning what those medals actually represent. That would be an meaningful gesture. (And our heroes would scream bloody murder if it ever happened.)

I do have one meaningful question, however: Do these geniuses know they're protesting a summit meeting to plan the Afghan withdrawal?

(More/comment on facebook here. Happy to 'friend' you at your request.)

[Senator Feinstein] said the leak to AP "jeopardizes" the agent and that it could not have come from Congress since she and House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) had not been briefed on the operation.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said Obama did not "play [it] straight" with him. "They [did] not notify Congress, which is, by the way, law, under the National Security Act of 1947," he said on CBS's Face the Nation. "They're obligated to do it."

"I was briefed on this in April," Obama told ABC News in an interview aired Thursday. "At no point were American lives in danger or American aircraft in danger."

Mike Scheur, the former head of the CIA's Bin Laden unit, said the leaking about the nuts and bolts of British involvement was despicable and would make a repeat of the operation difficult. "MI6 should be as angry as hell. This is something that the prime minister should raise with the president, if he has the balls. This is really tragic," Scheur said.

He added: "Any information disclosed is too much information. This does seem to be a tawdry political thing."

He noted that the leak came on the heels of a series of disclosures over the last 10 days, beginning with a report that the CIA wanted to expand its drone attacks in Yemen, Barack Obama making a surprise trip to Afghanistan around the time of the Bin Laden anniversary and "then this inexplicable leak".

Robert Grenier, former head of the CIA counter-terrorism centre, said: "As for British Intelligence, I suppose, but do not know, that they must be very unhappy. They are often exasperated, quite reasonably, with their American friends, who are far more leak-prone than they.

"In their place, I would think two and three times before sharing with the Americans, and then only do it if I had to. The problem with that dynamic is that you don't know what you don't know, and what opportunities you might be missing when you decide not to share. The Americans are doing a very good job of undermining trust, and the problem starts at the top."

(On Facebook here.)

My good friend Robert Stokely sent an email update to this story from a few years ago:

"Now a 1st LT and on Friday, April 27, 2012 at 1300 hours, Elijah Carroll will graduate Ranger School at FT Benning. I hope to be there.... Mike would expect me to go."

Congratulations, Lt Carroll. And thank you, Robert, for all you've done and been through over the years, too. I'm more than proud to call you friend. Robert's 2008 story on Elijah Carroll follows - it can't be improved by any further introduction from me. (I will add: read the comments, too.)

From Robert Stokely:

Tonight, as we approach midnight EST the Moon over Yusufiyah (as I call it) is full and shining brightly. I am reminded of a midnight a little over three years ago on October 20, 2005. Members of E 108th CAV 48th Brigade Georgia National Guard were patrolling their sector in the "Fiyahs" that formed the northern part of the Triangle of Death - Yusufiyah and Mahmudiyah. One particular patrol near Mahmudiyah suddenly had its night shattered by a violent IED explosion. Chaos reigned for what seemed an eterinity as several sodliers in the Humvee were seriously injured, one hanging upside down his leg torn to shreds along with other injuries as he was pinned in. Fellow soldiers rushed to their aid as Medevacs were called in. It didn't look the good for Elijah Carroll as his fellow soldiers struggled to free him, as other fellow injured soldiers lay on the ground, unit medics working on them.

Soon the thump thump thump sounded nearby as the Medevacs got closer. A landing zone was set up even as Elijah Carroll remained pinned in. Then the unthinkable happened as the Medevac came in - the tail rotor clipped a nearby Humvee worse yet it clipped the fifty caliber machine gun setting off a spray of rounds including toward the men working on Elijah Carroll. Imagine seriously hurt but alive and then watching your Medevac crank into the ground as 50 CAL bullets spray all around you. Chaos just got more chaotic.

"But next week's visit is an official one as commander-in-chief..." sez "A White House official speaking on background..."

His Fort Stewart visit provides an opportunity for the president to try to shape news about his handling of the military in Afghanistan in light of recent events. His administration has been apologizing for the murder of 16 citizens there by an American soldier on a rampage, reports that copies of the Koran were burned and the recent revelation of 2-year-old photographs of soldiers posing with the maimed corpses of insurgents. Obama said this week he wants an investigation into the pictures.

His Republican rival Mitt Romney, the likely nominee, has been critical of the president's military leadership, saying he should be more involved with military leaders. A visit with troops and their top brass could help deflate Romney's attacks.

So now you know - it's official.

It does remind me of this "oopsy" from 2009, though:

The images and the sentiment of the president's five-hour trip to Delaware were intended by the White House to convey to the nation that Mr. Obama was not making his Afghanistan decision lightly or in haste.

Except that one appeared beneath a NY Times headline - "Obama visits returning war dead."

More / comment

These days they've found other reasons:

He said the photos point to a breakdown in leadership and discipline that he believed compromised the safety of the troops.

He expressed the hope that publication would help ensure that alleged security shortcomings at two U.S. bases in Afghanistan in 2010 were not repeated.

The bigger reason for those (or any other examples through the years) is that snuff porn = money, baby - but at least the earlier excuse was honest, too.

Prologue:

On a recent morning in Boston, at the Old North Church...

The governor's entourage pulled up around nine... Fifteen or twenty media people materialized seconds after. The first to greet the Governor was Dino DiFronzo of Parziale's Bakery, who encouraged the governor to stop by for coffee and pastry after her visit to Old North.

So says the Vicar, who then proceeded to give Sarah Palin a tour of the building from which - on the evening of the 18th of April in '75 - two lanterns were displayed. The story of that day over two centuries ago is one every American should know, but during the tour he imparted some of the more obscure details that make visits to such historic sites worthwhile.

Afterward she went to that bakery. Edited video of what happened there is now more familiar to many Americans than the true story of Paul Revere's ride. "What have you seen so far today?" She was asked (apparently - no full video of the moment has surfaced) by one of those reporters who'd been along for the ride. "And what have you taken from your visit?"

"We saw where Paul Revere hung out as a teenager, which was something new to learn. He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells and making sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free and we were going to be armed."

The 20 or so reporters present doubtless knew everything there was to know about (yawn) Paul Revere (old dead white male - what else is there?) before they (ick) set foot in some old church. That's unfortunate. Had they been paying attention to the vicar during their tour a teachable moment could have followed.

They weren't. It didn't. (End of prologue.)

He now offers this thought on animals:

"If these animals I was leading had ever found out about Bambi -- as much affection as I had for it -- they'd have ridden me out on a rail."

I'm sure he meant many things to many people, but when I hear his name I'm reminded first of this panel discussion on ethics, from 1987 - in which Wallace dresses down fellow newsman Peter Jennings for declaring he would do what he could to save American soldiers from an enemy ambush rather than simply "get the story."

Moderator: So if you made that decision you would then film the enemy unit shooting the American unit?

Jennings: (Long pause - thinking) No - I guess I wouldn't. I'll tell you now what I'm feeling rather than the hypothesis I drew for myself. If I were with the enemy I would do what I could to warn the Americans.

Moderator: Even if it means not getting the live coverage?

Jennings: I don't have much doubt it would mean my life. I'm glad this is hypothetical. I don't think I could bring myself to participate in that fashion, by not warning the Americans. Some other reporters may feel otherwise.

Wallace: Some other reporters would feel otherwise. I would regard it simply as another story I was there to tell.

Moderator: Enemy soldiers shooting and killing American soldiers? Could you imagine how you would report that to the American people?

Wallace: Yes, I can. (Talking down to Jennings) Frankly, I'm astonished to hear Peter say that. You are a reporter. Granted you are an American. But you are a reporter covering combat. And I'm at a loss to understand why, because you are an American; you would not cover that story.

Moderator: Don't you have a higher duty as an American citizen to do all you can to save the lives of American soldiers rather than this journalistic ethic of reporting the fact?

Wallace: No. You don't have the higher duty. You are a reporter. Your job is to cover what is going on in that war. I would be calling Peter to say, "What do you mean you're not going to cover the story."

Jennings: I think he's right. I chickened out. I agree with Mike intellectually. I really do. And I wish at the time, I'd made another decision. I would like to have made his decision.

I could almost see Wallace's point - but a commenter on that post asked a followup question, one I'd have liked to have heard Wallace address. "So, if he were covering a school picnic, and two little girls were in the road, and he saw a big truck about to run them down, he should start reporting immediately. He is of course there to cover the story, not save little lives. Now I understand."

Two years before that panel session, Wallace had settled a lawsuit with General William Westmoreland.

A far bigger case followed when Wallace interviewed General William Westmoreland for the CBS Reports documentary The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception (1982). When TV Guide and CBS' own in-house investigation charged that the producers had violated standards of fairness, Westmoreland sued the network. The charges Wallace aired--conspiracy to cover-up the size of Viet Cong troop strength--were substantiated by trial evidence, but CBS' editorial tactics proved suspect. Early in 1985, just before Wallace was to testify, CBS issued an apology and Westmoreland dropped the suit.

But depression consumed him. Wallace described his rock bottom point, when he attempted suicide. "'I have to get out of here,' so I took a bunch of sleeping pills, wrote a note and ate them, and as a result, I fell asleep," he said.

Mary found him unconscious in bed around 3 a.m. Doctors were able to pump his stomach and revive the journalist before undergoing psychological treatment.

I'd forgotten the lawsuit story back when I first wrote about that panel discussion; now I have to wonder if those experiences didn't help guide Wallace in developing his personal ethical beliefs. Oddly enough, Westmoreland was also a participant in that panel discussion - but I'll give the last word here to another participant, Colonel George M. Connell, United States Marine Corps.

Colonel Connell: I feel utter contempt. Two days later they (Jennings and Wallace) are both walking off my hilltop and they get ambushed and they're lying there wounded. And they're going to expect I'm going to send Marines up there to get them. They're just journalists. They're not Americans. Is that a fair reaction? You can't have it both ways. But I'll do it. And that's what makes me so contemptuous of them. Marines will die going to get a couple of journalists.