thedrifter
02-12-05, 09:01 AM
02-10-2005
From the Editor:
The Military Education of Joshua Greene
By Ed Offley
It’s been a rough month for Joshua Greene, Cleveland cabbie and earnest “military reporter” for the left-wing tabloid *Cleveland Free Times.
Ever since our young journalist on Jan. 5 posted his 3,300-word profile of soldier “Babe,” a former U.S. Army paratrooper allegedly unwillingly forced back on active duty to serve in Iraq, Greene has been inundated with emails from genuine former paratroopers, soldiers, Marines and other veterans accusing him of smoking his socks. (For the original Greene article, see “Back to Iraq: A Cleveland Soldier Returns to the Persian Gulf to Fight a Second Bush War.”)
After all, Greene trustingly took dictation as soldier “Babe” over the course of four weeks described himself as a high school dropout later sent to college by the Army; a veteran paratrooper who had amassed 4,426 jumps with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault); a behind-the-lines commando in battles still cloaked in secrecy; shot seven times and court-martialed multiple times (but always acquitted), etc. – that is, a walking tripped-off bull**** alarm.
Alas, the reporter discovered to his dismay, there are far too many people who (a) are informed about the details and nuances of Army service, (b) read newspaper articles, including his, (c) know when what they are reading is blatantly absurd, and (d) are disinclined to allow such reporters to get away with sloppy fiction disguised as serious journalism. Unlike Joshua Greene, they believe in the *facts.
The consensus among dozens of readers who responded to the Free Times or to my own column on the matter (“The Hunt for ‘Soldier Babe,’ ” DefenseWatch, Jan. 22, 2005), was that a naďve young reporter got taken for a ride by a barroom braggart. Unsurprisingly, that has been Greene’s defense as well.
“I didn’t do nothing intentional, I followed this fellow as he packed his **** and headed off to war,” Greene replied to one Army soldier who challenged the tale (and later forwarded the email exchange to me). “Trust me, if I’d known he was lying I’d have stopped this **** a long time ago ... cause after a month or so it gets old, and the emails are only just beginning .… ”
Poor Joshua wrote back in response to my own email challenging his account: “I’m inexperienced with writing about the military and the idea that a man’s life can be verified is a new one to me.” (Woodward and Bernstein, call your office.)
Greene confirmed that ignorance anew when responding to one soldier who accused him of “not knowing the difference between an M-16 and an F-16”:
“I assure you I don’t know much about shooting an F-16, I’ve held an
M-16 in my hands but can only imagine the F to be slightly heavier.”
(Note to Joshua Greene: The F-16 Falcon multirole fighter has a maximum takeoff weight of 37,500 pounds.)
Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Brendan Rome, serving near Fallujah, Iraq, used some of his precious spare time to write Greene after reading the soldier “Babe” saga:
“I do not know if you are aware, but as a journalist, you have a responsibility to report the truth to the best of your ability. In your position, you have a lot of power to influence people who read what you print. With that power comes great responsibility. Do not abuse your power or neglect your responsibilities.”
“If this story is legit, I would appreciate if you could email me the documentation that proves ‘Babe’s’ claims of being shot 7 times, making over 4,000 [parachute] jumps, being in Iraq in 97, the court-martials and any of the other interesting things that ‘Babe’ claims to have accomplished.”
Greene’s agonized response to the Marine officer, which declined to reveal “Babe’s” identity, was telling:
“The intent was to portray a soldier packing up and heading to war. I asked him permission to tag along for the month previous to his departure. I’d met him in a cab I drive night shifts and over the course of a year got to know him a little. I was honored that he would allow me into his life at that very private time. Perhaps it was my excitement for the story that kept me from being skeptical. I don’t know. … ”
“He showed me some scars and some I didn’t ask to see but I had no reason to doubt him. I understand your point about not trusting people to tell the truth and I’ll certainly take that into consideration but to be honest, I don’t think I'm going to change. I don’t have it in me to take a guy heading to war, when it could be me, and then call him a liar. … I understand that at this juncture I’ve been burned. … ”
“Honestly I can’t imagine why he would have lied. I did call to verify a story of his and when it came up not true he explained it away and I let it go. … Maybe he was scared about Iraq and felt the need to make himself grand. I don’t know, don’t care.”
In response to my email, Greene wrote:
“I assure you I had good intentions, and despite the requirements of my job, I will continue to place my trust in those in service to our country. I don’t know what more you’ve asked for other than that.”
Actually, I had asked Greene for one specific fact: The actual identity of his barroom commando, for the purpose of unmasking him as a hoaxer whose lies tarnish the reputation of every man and woman serving honorably in uniform.
And as for that mighty metropolitan newspaper, the *Cleveland Free Times? Its editors posted this statement in response to the large number of complaints about the “Babe” saga:
“Editor’s Note: We received a large number of responses to Joshua Greene’s January 5 profile of ‘Babe,’ the Army soldier who was preparing to return for a second tour of duty in Iraq. Many of the responses came from military personnel, who pointed out a number of questionable claims made by the subject of the article. … ”
“Every news organization struggles with issues of accuracy and credibility (witness the recent highly publicized ethics controversies at CBS News and The New York Times). However, there is no legitimate excuse for failures in fact-checking, and we deeply regret any false or misleading information that may have escaped our attention. We are continuing to investigate the matter.”
Note that unlike The New York Times (which fired a reporter found to have plagiarized stories and forced the resignations of its top two editors) and CBS News (which fired a “60 Minutes” producer, sought the resignations of several other executives and instigated the early retirement of anchor Dan Rather over a failure of the organization’s standards of fairness and objectivity), the *Cleveland Free Times and reporter Joshua Greene have, essentially, done nothing.
This is what I wrote Greene (and this is why I risk belaboring the point here): A legion of soldier “Babes” who appeared in the 1970s and 1980s – fake soldiers, phony POWs, false heroes one and all – did much to destroy the reputation of an entire generation of U.S. military veterans. “An ironclad presumption of American society,” I wrote the young man, “the deranged, homeless, drug-addicted Vietnam veteran – was largely a myth created by a legion of street bums and ex-cons who invented themselves a nice new role as societal victims, aided and abetted by reporters and Hollywood scriptwriters who didn’t know the difference.”
Thus, far from an amusing instance of journalistic naiveté, Greene’s essay is actually a very serious and troubling thing. Either by inadvertent sloppiness or malicious intent, Greene and the *Cleveland Free Times were partaking in the same character-assassination process as in decades past that tarnished military people through the lies and prevarications self-invented military victims.
And for that reason, I cannot forgive Joshua Greene for his ignorance of the military and his self-confessed incompetence. There is something else at play: His basic anti-war and anti-military screed starring soldier “Babe” was based on a willful and reckless disregard for the facts and indifference to the truth.
A U.S. Army soldier serving in Iraq put it far more eloquently than I could. In an email to Joshua Greene, he said: “You suck.”
Meanwhile, I’m still on the hunt for soldier “Babe,” and call on the veterans’ community in Cleveland to track him down and help expose him for what he is.
Ed Offley is Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at dweditor@yahoo.com. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com. © 2005 Ed Offley.
Ellie
From the Editor:
The Military Education of Joshua Greene
By Ed Offley
It’s been a rough month for Joshua Greene, Cleveland cabbie and earnest “military reporter” for the left-wing tabloid *Cleveland Free Times.
Ever since our young journalist on Jan. 5 posted his 3,300-word profile of soldier “Babe,” a former U.S. Army paratrooper allegedly unwillingly forced back on active duty to serve in Iraq, Greene has been inundated with emails from genuine former paratroopers, soldiers, Marines and other veterans accusing him of smoking his socks. (For the original Greene article, see “Back to Iraq: A Cleveland Soldier Returns to the Persian Gulf to Fight a Second Bush War.”)
After all, Greene trustingly took dictation as soldier “Babe” over the course of four weeks described himself as a high school dropout later sent to college by the Army; a veteran paratrooper who had amassed 4,426 jumps with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault); a behind-the-lines commando in battles still cloaked in secrecy; shot seven times and court-martialed multiple times (but always acquitted), etc. – that is, a walking tripped-off bull**** alarm.
Alas, the reporter discovered to his dismay, there are far too many people who (a) are informed about the details and nuances of Army service, (b) read newspaper articles, including his, (c) know when what they are reading is blatantly absurd, and (d) are disinclined to allow such reporters to get away with sloppy fiction disguised as serious journalism. Unlike Joshua Greene, they believe in the *facts.
The consensus among dozens of readers who responded to the Free Times or to my own column on the matter (“The Hunt for ‘Soldier Babe,’ ” DefenseWatch, Jan. 22, 2005), was that a naďve young reporter got taken for a ride by a barroom braggart. Unsurprisingly, that has been Greene’s defense as well.
“I didn’t do nothing intentional, I followed this fellow as he packed his **** and headed off to war,” Greene replied to one Army soldier who challenged the tale (and later forwarded the email exchange to me). “Trust me, if I’d known he was lying I’d have stopped this **** a long time ago ... cause after a month or so it gets old, and the emails are only just beginning .… ”
Poor Joshua wrote back in response to my own email challenging his account: “I’m inexperienced with writing about the military and the idea that a man’s life can be verified is a new one to me.” (Woodward and Bernstein, call your office.)
Greene confirmed that ignorance anew when responding to one soldier who accused him of “not knowing the difference between an M-16 and an F-16”:
“I assure you I don’t know much about shooting an F-16, I’ve held an
M-16 in my hands but can only imagine the F to be slightly heavier.”
(Note to Joshua Greene: The F-16 Falcon multirole fighter has a maximum takeoff weight of 37,500 pounds.)
Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Brendan Rome, serving near Fallujah, Iraq, used some of his precious spare time to write Greene after reading the soldier “Babe” saga:
“I do not know if you are aware, but as a journalist, you have a responsibility to report the truth to the best of your ability. In your position, you have a lot of power to influence people who read what you print. With that power comes great responsibility. Do not abuse your power or neglect your responsibilities.”
“If this story is legit, I would appreciate if you could email me the documentation that proves ‘Babe’s’ claims of being shot 7 times, making over 4,000 [parachute] jumps, being in Iraq in 97, the court-martials and any of the other interesting things that ‘Babe’ claims to have accomplished.”
Greene’s agonized response to the Marine officer, which declined to reveal “Babe’s” identity, was telling:
“The intent was to portray a soldier packing up and heading to war. I asked him permission to tag along for the month previous to his departure. I’d met him in a cab I drive night shifts and over the course of a year got to know him a little. I was honored that he would allow me into his life at that very private time. Perhaps it was my excitement for the story that kept me from being skeptical. I don’t know. … ”
“He showed me some scars and some I didn’t ask to see but I had no reason to doubt him. I understand your point about not trusting people to tell the truth and I’ll certainly take that into consideration but to be honest, I don’t think I'm going to change. I don’t have it in me to take a guy heading to war, when it could be me, and then call him a liar. … I understand that at this juncture I’ve been burned. … ”
“Honestly I can’t imagine why he would have lied. I did call to verify a story of his and when it came up not true he explained it away and I let it go. … Maybe he was scared about Iraq and felt the need to make himself grand. I don’t know, don’t care.”
In response to my email, Greene wrote:
“I assure you I had good intentions, and despite the requirements of my job, I will continue to place my trust in those in service to our country. I don’t know what more you’ve asked for other than that.”
Actually, I had asked Greene for one specific fact: The actual identity of his barroom commando, for the purpose of unmasking him as a hoaxer whose lies tarnish the reputation of every man and woman serving honorably in uniform.
And as for that mighty metropolitan newspaper, the *Cleveland Free Times? Its editors posted this statement in response to the large number of complaints about the “Babe” saga:
“Editor’s Note: We received a large number of responses to Joshua Greene’s January 5 profile of ‘Babe,’ the Army soldier who was preparing to return for a second tour of duty in Iraq. Many of the responses came from military personnel, who pointed out a number of questionable claims made by the subject of the article. … ”
“Every news organization struggles with issues of accuracy and credibility (witness the recent highly publicized ethics controversies at CBS News and The New York Times). However, there is no legitimate excuse for failures in fact-checking, and we deeply regret any false or misleading information that may have escaped our attention. We are continuing to investigate the matter.”
Note that unlike The New York Times (which fired a reporter found to have plagiarized stories and forced the resignations of its top two editors) and CBS News (which fired a “60 Minutes” producer, sought the resignations of several other executives and instigated the early retirement of anchor Dan Rather over a failure of the organization’s standards of fairness and objectivity), the *Cleveland Free Times and reporter Joshua Greene have, essentially, done nothing.
This is what I wrote Greene (and this is why I risk belaboring the point here): A legion of soldier “Babes” who appeared in the 1970s and 1980s – fake soldiers, phony POWs, false heroes one and all – did much to destroy the reputation of an entire generation of U.S. military veterans. “An ironclad presumption of American society,” I wrote the young man, “the deranged, homeless, drug-addicted Vietnam veteran – was largely a myth created by a legion of street bums and ex-cons who invented themselves a nice new role as societal victims, aided and abetted by reporters and Hollywood scriptwriters who didn’t know the difference.”
Thus, far from an amusing instance of journalistic naiveté, Greene’s essay is actually a very serious and troubling thing. Either by inadvertent sloppiness or malicious intent, Greene and the *Cleveland Free Times were partaking in the same character-assassination process as in decades past that tarnished military people through the lies and prevarications self-invented military victims.
And for that reason, I cannot forgive Joshua Greene for his ignorance of the military and his self-confessed incompetence. There is something else at play: His basic anti-war and anti-military screed starring soldier “Babe” was based on a willful and reckless disregard for the facts and indifference to the truth.
A U.S. Army soldier serving in Iraq put it far more eloquently than I could. In an email to Joshua Greene, he said: “You suck.”
Meanwhile, I’m still on the hunt for soldier “Babe,” and call on the veterans’ community in Cleveland to track him down and help expose him for what he is.
Ed Offley is Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at dweditor@yahoo.com. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com. © 2005 Ed Offley.
Ellie