Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is The Washington Times

The Washington Times has published an extended essay by its editorial page editor Tony Blankley. Blankley argues for World War II-style censorship of the press.

What makes this funny is that The Washington Times was itself party to an intelligence disclosure that immeasurably helped Osama Bin Laden and other high-level Al Qaeda figures.

In 1998, the Clinton administration was accused of attacking suspected terrorist sites in Sudan and Afghanistan in order to divert attention from the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Someone in the government leaked — and the Washington Times promptly published — information that Osama Bin Laden regularly used satellite phones and that the U.S. was able to monitor those conversations as well as pinpoint Bin Laden’s location (hence, the attack on Afghanistan had a reasonable chance of killing Bin Laden).

Bin Laden reportedly stopped using satellite phones shortly after that revelation.

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