SeyÂmour Hersh almost seems out of place in our era of soft pedÂal jourÂnalÂism. LookÂing at his track record, he knows one way to approach a stoÂry, and that is with intenÂsiÂty and no punchÂes pulled. In 1969, he broke the stoÂry on My Lai, revealÂing how US troops masÂsaÂcred over 500 peoÂple — most of them women, chilÂdren and old men — in a small VietÂnamese town. It was an affair that the milÂiÂtary had iniÂtialÂly tried to covÂer up. Next, durÂing the 1970s, as a New York Times reporter, Hersh reportÂed first on the secret bombÂings in CamÂboÂdia and the US-led coup in Chile. Then, fast forÂward anothÂer 25 years, and you find Hersh, now workÂing for The New YorkÂer, writÂing hard stoÂries on Iraq, mostÂly durÂing a moment when his felÂlow jourÂnalÂists were refusÂing to take a hard look at what we were doing there. These writÂings have since formed the basis of his recent book, Chain of ComÂmand: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib.
ThroughÂout the war, Hersh was out ahead on many stoÂries. But, he’ll be rememÂbered priÂmarÂiÂly for breakÂing the stoÂry on Abu Ghraib. In the spring of 2003, Hersh and CBS’s 60 MinÂutes II both got ahold of the famous phoÂtos revealÂing the torÂture and abuse of Iraqi prisÂonÂers. But while CBS decidÂed to heed the PenÂtagon’s request not to pubÂlish the phoÂtos, Hersh and David RemÂnick, the ediÂtor of The New YorkÂer, immeÂdiÂateÂly decidÂed to take the stoÂry pubÂlic. And, with that, the comÂplexÂion of the war effort began to change. LookÂing back, it’s clear that this was the first of a series of revÂeÂlaÂtions that caused the AmerÂiÂcan pubÂlic to lose conÂfiÂdence in the Bush adminÂisÂtraÂtion, and the RepubÂliÂcans to lose this week’s nationÂal elecÂtion and DonÂald RumsÂfeld, his job. When the definÂiÂtive hisÂtoÂry of the Iraq War gets writÂten, it’s almost a cerÂtainÂty that the revÂeÂlaÂtion of Abu Ghraib will be conÂsidÂered an imporÂtant turnÂing point.
These days, Hersh has been turnÂing his attenÂtion to Iran and also hitÂting the lecÂture cirÂcuit. ArrivÂing on the StanÂford UniÂverÂsiÂty camÂpus just a couÂple weeks ago, Hersh gave the keynote speech for a conÂferÂence called ThinkÂing HumanÂiÂty after Abu Ghraib (which I will be writÂing more about latÂer), and his speech has now been made digÂiÂtalÂly availÂable. (If you have iTunes, you can access the audio here.) To be clear, it’s not your usuÂal uniÂverÂsiÂty talk. It’s stream of conÂsciousÂness all the way, and it has a surÂprisÂing, but welÂcome, kind of frankÂness to it. Things get parÂticÂuÂlarÂly interÂestÂing when (toward the end of his talk) Hersh gets to speakÂing in speÂcifÂic detail about how he cracked the Abu Ghraib stoÂry. Here you get an insidÂer’s look at how an invesÂtigaÂtive jourÂnalÂist doggedÂly folÂlows a chain of leads, which can take him to both banal and danÂgerÂous places, until he puts the full stoÂry togethÂer. It’s capÂtiÂvatÂing … as is his brief sugÂgesÂtion that he’ll soon be writÂing more about how senior AmerÂiÂcan offiÂcials knew much more about what was hapÂpenÂing at Abu Ghraib and then covÂered it up. The insinÂuÂaÂtion is stay tuned for Abu Ghraib II.
To learn more about My Lai, check out this part of PBS’s site, The VietÂnam ExpeÂriÂence.
Many of HerÂsh’s post 9/11 and Iraq writÂings can be found in the The New YorkÂer “Iraq Archive.”
The phoÂtos docÂuÂmentÂing the abusÂes at Abu Ghraib can be found in this Salon.com colÂlecÂtion.
FinalÂly, if you want to watch SeyÂmour Hersh speak, you’ll want to check out this UC BerkeÂley video. Please note that Hersh starts speakÂing exactÂly at 40:00, so you may want to move the slidÂing time bar ahead to that time.
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