As I watched the local news last night (KTVU Channel 2 in San Francisco) I was shocked to see an extended story on Seymour Hersh's New Yorker expose, which details the Bush Administration's designs on Iran and some of covert operations already under way, and the DOD's aggressive denial.
I said to myself, self I said, why does the DOD give a damn about what Hersh writes? They didn't give a damn when he wrote about the false "yellowcake" claims, they didn't respond when he wrote about Abu Grahib, at least not until the pics came out. So why this?
It really makes no sense. It's not their style. With this administration, nothing is worth responding to until it's on TV. And, make no mistake, it was the Pentagon's response that actually landed the story on TV. Wierd.
I mean, with quotes like this, referring to an article written by America's greatest living investigative journalist, there could be no other outcome than to cause a major stir in the corporate noise machine:
"Mr. Hersh's article is so riddled with errors of fundamental fact that the credibility of his entire piece is destroyed," said Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita in a statement.
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/272492p-233147c.html
--The story on the local news (a Fox affiliate), amazingly, included several "experts" who talked about the Iranian situation and explaining Hersh's claims. Meanwhile, Pentagon spokespeople came on and denied the allegations. It was a major story. Getting multiple voices on both sides is a fairly major undertaking, a lot of legwork (in one day) to get a comprehensive story on the air locally.
--Here's what I think: I think the Pentagon is using this Hersh article -- as well as their denial -- to get the debate into the cable news arena. This way, they can deny Hersh's claims, while at the same time, trot out their experts to talk about the "Iranian threat" in general terms. Get the argument into the public domain and begin the "framing" process. Otherwise, no one in their right mind trashes Hersh, who's work is virtually beyond repute. The story is undoubtedly true. Or at least its substantive claims are true.
--We better get into the framing business on this Iran deal in a hurry. I'd start with some "here comes the draft" talk.