Col. Steven Boylan is the Public Affairs Officer who works for General Petraeus in Iraq. Apparently he doesn’t like Glenn Greenwald much, as evidenced by this recent post by Glenn. I thought it might be helpful if all of us sent an email to the good Colonel seeking an interview with General Petraeus or with other military officers in Iraq (including the Colonel himself perhaps) regarding various topics. Feel free to craft your own email, but here is a draft of one that you could use as a template should you so wish.
To: steven.boylan@iraq.centcom.mil
From: [Your Email address here]
Re: Interview Request
Dear Colonel Boylan:
I read with interest the email message that was sent from your email address to Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com and his response. I too am a blogger who would like to conduct an interview with General Petraeus, General Bergner, or yourself for that matter, about the following topics:
1. I note that many Republican/conservative/right wing bloggers have contacted you by email and you have answered their questions regarding matters relevant to your duties in Iraq. I also note that exclusive interviews with General Petraeus have been granted to conservatives. To list just a few examples, I offer you the following:
An August 11, 2007 post at The Weekly Standard’s website which refers to your email response to Bill Roggio regarding Scott Thomas Beauchamp.
An August 3, 2007 post of Confederate Yankee which refers to your email response to him regarding Scott Thomas Beuchamp.
A July 18, 2007 interview of General Petraeus by Hugh Hewitt posted online at Townhall.com, a conservative website associated with the National Review Online.
There are others I could cite, but for brevity’s sake I will stop at these three as being representative examples. First, I would like to know whether you have responded in like manner to requests for information from bloggers who do not self-identify as conservatives or Republicans, but as Democrats, liberals or progressives who oppose the current war in Iraq, and if you can provide any information regarding those contacts.
Second, I also would like to know if General Petraeus would be willing to consent to an interview with a progressive/liberal blogger such as myself, or if I am not worthy of such consideration, how about bloggers such as Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, Glenn Greenwald, or even a Republican blogger who has been critical of our policies in Iraq, Larry Johnson, former CIA analyst of the blog No Quarter ? If blogs are not considered an appropriate venue for an interview with General Petraeus, would he consent to an interview with Paul Krugman or Frank Rich of The New York Times, or liberal talks show host Rachel Maddow of Air America [Ed. Note: feel free to recommend your own journalists or bloggers for interviews. Josh Marshall, Larry Johnson, Paul Krugman, Frank Rich and Rachel Maddow are just the names that came to me off the top of my head]. If the answer is yes as to me personally, please tell me the earliest date such such an interview could be scheduled. If the answer is yes to any of the other individuals mentioned above, please advise me who is acceptable to you so I may contact them personally.
(cont.)
2. Can you provide me with any information regarding the status of AP’s Pulitzer prize winning photo-journalist Bilal Hussein who was arrested/detained by the US military in April 2006? Is he still alive? If alive, what charges have been made against Mr. Hussein, or if no charges have been filed, why is he still being held in detention by the US military? Why has the US military refused to provide Mr. Hussein’s employer, the Associated Press with any information about his detention as a “security risk?” If Mr. Hussein is accused of crimes against the sovereign government of Iraq, why has he not been turned over to the Iraqi government for trial? If Mr. Hussein is alleged to have aided or abetted “terrorists” in Iraq why has he not been granted an enemy combatant status review in accord with the provisions of the Military Commissions Act?
3. The Politico’s Mike Allen (a real journalist by all accounts who has previously worked for the Washington Post) has claimed in an interview he gave to Hugh Hewitt ( the same journalist/blogger to whom General Petraeus gave an exclusive interview) which claimed that Steve Schmidt, a former Bush spokesperson and aide to the Vice President, had been sent to Iraq to observe the military’s “communications capabilities” and that he returned with a number of recommendations for how the military in Iraq could do a better job at its “war message management” as Mr. Allen described it. Do you categorically deny that Mr. Schmidt made a trip to Iraq for this purpose? Do you categorically deny that Mr. Schmidt’s recommendations had no influence on the actions of the military’s public affairs office in Iraq taken since those recommendations were issued?
4. Glenn Greenwald has acknowledged that he is gay. Do you categorically deny that Mr. Greenwald’s sexual orientation has anything to do with the tone of your email communications to him, and the denial of his interview request with General Petraeus? Do you have any personal animus towards or bias against gays, lesbians or transgendered individuals?
More generally, what is General Petraeus’ position (or yours for that matter) regarding the discharge of military linguists who speak Arabic because of their sexual orientation, which according to this news report in the International Herald Tribune continues to be the Pentagon’s practice as of May of this year. Does he believe that this policy makes sense in light of the limited number of Arab linguists currently serving in the military?
5. What evidence does General Petraeus or anyone under his command have in their possession which unequivocally confirms the statements made by General Bergner and other officials that Iran (allegedly through its elite Quds Force and with the express or implied authorization of Iran’s political leaders) is the primary source of explosively formed penetrators or EFP’s which are killing US soldiers? I ask this question in light of the continuing assertions by military spokespeople that Iran is supplying EFP’s to Iraqi insurgents and/or militias despite reports in the media that the Army in Iraq has uncovered a number of factories for producing EFP’s located in Iraq. Does General Petraeus, General Bergner or you for that matter still claim that Iran is directly supplying EFP’s used against US forces to Iraqis, whether Sunni or Shi’ite, and if so to which insurgent groups or militias? What evidence does then military have that Iran’s leadership is directly involved?
6. General Petraeus, in his testimony before Congress in September, said he could not say whether our efforts in Iraq are making the United States and its citizens safer or more secure from terrorist attacks. Specifically, in response to Senator Warner’s question: “Do it [the Iraq war] make America safer?” General Petraeus answered as follows: “I don’t know, actually.”
Why would he say that if, as he also testified, 1) Iraq is the “central front on the war on terror,” and 2) the “Surge” strategy in Iraq is working? If our efforts in Iraq are not making US citizens safer from terrorism what is the point of our continuing presence in Iraq, especially in light of the joint assessment by US intelligence agencies that the Iraq war is fueling recruitment for terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda and its affiliates?
7. Are any US forces, other government operatives or private contractors in the employ of the US government in Iraq currently using interrogation techniques on persons in their custody such as water boarding, putting prisoners in stress positions, sleep deprivation, placing prisoners in heated or cold cells for extended periods of time, withholding medical treatment, sexual or religious humiliation of prisoners, rape, physical beatings, threats against a prisoner’s family members or other methods generally considered by most observers to violate the Geneva Conventions (all of which have been reported to have occurred previously in Iraq by US forces and/or agents of the Us Government)? Does General Petraeus (or you) agree that such interrogation methods violate American and international law and constitute torture? If not, why not?
I think the above topics and questions would make a good start to our discussion, though I am open to including other issues related to Iraq which General Petraeus or you would like to discuss or address. I also expect that any answers provided might open up other avenues of interest not previously considered. Obviously, should General Petraeus or you agree to an interview with me, I would post his or your responses in full without any modification, amendment, redaction, deletion or abridgment of any kind. Please contact at the email address from which this message was received at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
[Name here]
