New York Times Not Respecting Bush’s Ah-thor-i-tay

Brian Zick

In a post at The Washington Note, headlined with the name Flynt Leverett, Steve Clemons says For those up at 3 am when the morning newspapers are uploaded to the web, rush to the Washington Post and the New York Times. Unless lawyers or other news get in the way, some very important pieces will be up. The first in the New York Times will be a very cool op-ed that I can't say more about right now. Clemons then proceeds to discuss a Robin Wright story in WaPo, about palace intrigues at the House of Saud. The only other reference to Leverett is when Steve writes: Representative Louise Slaughter has written to the President to ask why specifically Flynt Leverett's oped for the New York Times was censored. Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker spells it out a bit less cryptically: Over at the Washington Note, we see that the New York Times is set to reject a White House-led effort to block publication of an essay critical of its foreign policy. Last week the paper was set to publish an op-ed piece by Flynt Leverett, a former Bush Administration official who worked at the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of State, and on the National Security Council, which criticized the White House for its disastrous diplomatic approach towards Iran. The CIA reviewed the article and cleared it for publication, but the White House put the brakes on it, saying it contained classified information that the CIA missed. Leverett cried foul: "All of my publications on Iran -- and, indeed, on any other policy matter on which I have written since leaving government -- were cleared beforehand by the CIA's Publication Review Board to confirm that I would not be disclosing classified information."

Please consider supporting our work.

I hope you found this article important. Before you leave, I want to ask you to consider supporting our work with a donation. In These Times needs readers like you to help sustain our mission. We don’t depend on—or want—corporate advertising or deep-pocketed billionaires to fund our journalism. We’re supported by you, the reader, so we can focus on covering the issues that matter most to the progressive movement without fear or compromise.

Our work isn’t hidden behind a paywall because of people like you who support our journalism. We want to keep it that way. If you value the work we do and the movements we cover, please consider donating to In These Times.

Illustrated cover of Gaza issue. Illustration shows an illustrated representation of Gaza, sohwing crowded buildings surrounded by a wall on three sides. Above the buildings is the sun, with light shining down. Above the sun is a white bird. Text below the city says: All Eyes on Gaza
Get 10 issues for $19.95

Subscribe to the print magazine.