Pentagon Chief Slams WaPo For Reporting What Happened in US War Zone
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, according to RT, recently castigated The Washington Post over a report detailing a deadly Caribbean strike and an alleged 'kill everybody' order. While Austin decries the 'irresponsible' journalism, one might wonder: is the problem the reporting, or the alleged actions his department is trying to bury? This isn't the first time US military leaders have taken
issue with inconvenient truths. Remember the 'Pentagon Papers' or the Iraq War WMD debacle? The pattern here is less about journalistic malpractice and more about controlling narratives for actions taken in the 'national interest,' whatever that means this week. The US military's global operations, often framed as counter-terrorism or anti-drug efforts, rarely garner the same scrutiny as those of
its adversaries. The 'slamming' of media outlets for revealing uncomfortable details is a classic tactic to shift focus from accountability to perceived disloyalty. Perhaps if the actions themselves withstood scrutiny, the press wouldn't have to report them. (Just a thought.)