McClatchy reporter Jonathan Landay to speak to "peace group"

Break out the tie-dye shirts, bongs, and anti-war chants!

Jonathan Landay, a national security reporter in McClatchy's DC bureau, is scheduled to speak November 9 to the East Bay Citizens for Peace, a left-wing activist group based in Bristol, Rhode Island.

Below is an undated photograph of some of the aging hippies and potheads who belong to the group. (Photo via laonfsolidarity)

I'm guessing Landay's boss, DC bureau chief John Walcott -- who says he is honored to be compared to KGB agent I. F. Stone -- wasn't available to hang out with his fellow-travellers in Bristol.

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Leftist group gives award to McClatchy bureau chief who predicted the US would lose the Iraq war

One thing I noticed after I began closely following McClatchy and the elite media is how often they give each other awards and accolades. Usually the organizations handing out these awards are left-wing groups. And the recipients usually work for media outlets that are collapsing.

The latest example is McClatchy's DC bureau chief John Walcott. Walcott is the first recipient of the "I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence." Walcott is being recognized for "for leading his team of reporters in their probing, skeptical coverage of events during the run-up to the Iraq war at a time when most U.S. news organizations failed to question the motives and rationale for the invasion of Iraq."

Do you doubt this group (headquartered in Cambridge, Mass) is a group of lefties?

Walcott is a darling at PBS and the Huffington Post due to the anti-Iraq war articles produced at McClatchy.

Less well-known is Walcott's 2007 prediction that the US would lose the Iraq war.

Here are details about Walcott's prediction. Walcott delivered a speech in Hilton Head, South Carolina during February 2007. In the speech he predicted the US would not win the Iraq war. You can read Walcott's entire speech here. Check out this quote:

"But still we are not winning, and we cannot win."

And later in the same speech:

"But I think that we're in the mess we're in Iraq - can't win and can't afford to lose...."

Walcott was dead wrong about the ability of the US military to win, since the US has all but won. But it's not a positive sign that the media gives awards and accolades to defeatists like John Walcott. (Photo via McClatchy.)

Related:

• John Walcott predicts the US will not win the Iraq war
• Soulmates: Left-wing Huffington Post honors McClatchy reporters
• Left-wing journalists celebrate themselves

Soulmates: Left-wing Huffington Post honors McClatchy reporters

Founded by political activist Arianna Huffington, the Huffington Post is a liberal blog. Bloggers who contribute to Huffington Post include many well-known lefties, including Bill Maher, Alec Baldwin, Jim Wallis, Roseanne Barr, Bill Press, Tom Hayden, Andy Stern, and Cindy Sheehan. Democratic politicians often post on Huffington Post, too.

Earlier this week the Huffington Post printed a fawning interview of McClatchy's Warren Strobel, Jonathan Landay, and John Walcott. You can read the love fest here.

Looks like McClatchy has a serious diversity problem.
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And McClatchy still says it's a Civil War?

At what point will McClatchy and lefties admit Iraq is not in a civil war?  From the Multi-National Force - Iraq press desk:

Shia and Sunni religious leaders met in Najaf Tuesday to discuss peace and unity in Iraq. Grand Ayatollah Alial-Sistani, the top-ranking Shia cleric in Iraq, hosted the meeting, calling for an end to the sectarian violence that has plagued the country. Leading Sunni religious figures also attended, including Sheikh Khalid al Mullah of the Sunni Muslim Scholars Association.

McClatchy's David Westphal and John Walcott made public statements last year, insisting Iraq is in a Civil War.  My earlier posts on David Westphal are here and here, and my post on John Walcott is here.

Another 2006 McClatchy flashback: "Iraq is in a Civil War"

Mark Finkelstein has been on the case of NBC's bragging last November about their decision to start calling the conflict in Iraq a Civil War. Earlier today I blogged about David Westphal, McClatchy's Washington editor, and his emphatic statement in 2006 that Iraq is in a Civil War.

Turns out Westphal isn't the only McClatchy editor who made that claim. John Walcott is McClatchy's Washington Bureau Chief.  Last November, Walcott told a reporter McClatchy was already calling the conflict in Iraq a Civil War.  Walcott's quote:

"We began using it when that was clear that was going on, which was a number of months ago," said John Walcott , Washington bureau chief for the McClatchy chain. "When the Shi'a population is at war with the Sunni population and members of the Interior Ministry kidnap people from the Education Ministry, that sounds like a civil war."

Things have changed in Iraq.  If members of the Iraqi government have been kidnapping each other as Walcott says, McClatchy hasn't been doing those stories.

So when will McClatchy come clean and admit Iraq is not in a civil war?

McClatchy 2004 flashback: "Who needs to worry about the internet?"

From The Stalwart: in 2004, the smart people at McClatchy thought cost of newsprint was one of the biggest "risk factors" facing McClatchy. (Form 10-K from end of fiscal year 2004 here.) The internet barely gets a mention.

Instead of diversifying into new media, McClatchy invested in other newspapers. As a result, McClatchy has been in meltdown since 2005.

I think McClatchy's poor planning warrants a good investigation by Warren Strobel and John Walcott.

McClatchy moron predicts "US will not win in Iraq"

In a 2007 speech, John Walcott, McClatchy's hard-left Washington bureau chief, predicted the US would not win the Iraq war. Walcott gave the speech February 16, 2007 to the World Affairs Council of Hilton Head, South Carolina. You can read the speech here on Bill Moyer's PBS web site.

Check out this little gem in the speech:

"But still we are not winning, and we cannot win."

I emailed John Walcott and asked if he stood by his prediction. Walcott emailed me back, saying the quote was accurate as written, but he modified the statement when he delivered the speech. Walcott told me he told the audience the Iraqi people had to win, not the US military. He denied saying the US cannot win.

I have trouble believing Walcott's email denial. Scan farther down in Walcott's speech and you see he repeats the same prediction: "But I think that we're in the mess we're in Iraq - can't win and can't afford to lose...." If he really meant to say the Iraqi people, not the military, need to win, that's what he would have said.

With the benefit of a successful surge behind us, Walcott's prediction seems almost shocking because the US has routed Al Qaeda and the war's tide has turned. But it wasn't obvious at the time Walcott made the quote.

In fact, a lot of defeatists had already been saying the war was lost. Harry Reid: "The Iraq war is lost." Howard Dean: "US can't win Iraq war." In one poll, more than half of Americans had doubts the US would prevail. Even Henry Kissinger joined the Defeatist Chorus: "US can't win war in Iraq."

Thank God G. W. Bush ignored the Washington elites and know-it-alls like John Walcott.
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