Information Vs. Intelligence

For Lex by AF Bro

New York newspapers have a long and ignominious record of printing information that is helpful to the enemies of our country. Information that is helpful to the enemy is, by definition, called “intelligence,” and those who knowingly provide such intelligence to the enemy during a time of war are, by definition, called “traitors.”

Private Robert Knox Sneden was an architect and engineer before enlisting to fight for the north during the Civil War. Despite his talent in two disciplines, he signed on as a private in E company of the 40th New York, but he never became a “grunt” in the infantry. He was initially assigned to the Quartermaster, but his talent for sketching scenes and drawing accurate maps got him detailed as General Sedgwick’s mapmaker. He was captured in the waning days of 1863 and spent the rest of the war in various prison camps, including the infamous Andersonville. His war diary, complete with sketches and maps, was published in 2000 (Eye of the Storm) and is a very interesting read. Private Sneden had this to say about reporters:

“The reporters of newspapers besiege headquarters of all the generals for military information and are a nuisance. They are forbidden to print many things, but they do it. The New York Herald prints war maps and diagrams with much accuracy. The enemy of course take the Herald and see it too.”

General Meade was preparing an assault from Culpepper Court House, VA in 1863. Private Sneden prepared maps for the assault, but all in vain. Meade called off the attack when he found out that a New York newspaper (the Herald) printed details of the plan the day before it was to begin.

Now we have the New York Times, and several other dailies, publishing the details of how our government is countering terrorists with financial information obtained form an international clearinghouse (SWIFT) of financial transactions. Despite the administrations pleas to keep secret this valuable tool in the fight against Islamo-Terrorist-Fascists, the NYT, and others, put the story on the front page. Recall that it was also the NYT that printed the story about another useful tool in the fight, that of mining international telecommunication data with known or suspected foreign terrorists. Now the enemy knows of both programs and will, undoubtedly, change their tactics. Now, as then, there is an outcry about the administration overstepping its authority, violating the constitution, invading our privacy, etc., when it is the NYT (and other MSM) who are knowingly providing intelligence to our enemy, i.e. committing acts of treason.

I don’t get it. The MSM flogs the administration for not connecting the dots; now they want to prevent the administration from even looking at the dots. Clearly, this is a schizophrenic approach to the war on terror. How can this be when the MSM is not mentally ill? The answer: They are not ill, just anti-Bush, anti-American, paper-sellin’ wonks with an agenda and a means to spread it. It goes without saying that the person(s) who “leak” intelligence to the press should be found and vigorously prosecuted. The media that publish these bits of intelligence should also be prosecuted. Yeah, yeah, yeah… freedom of the press. It’s past time that we sit down and define where freedom of the press ends and treason begins. Prosecuting the reporters, editors and owners of MSM outlets for treason will put the question of information vs. intelligence on the docket and, possibly, cause the MSM reporters, editors and owners to carefully reconsider their justifications for publishing intelligence that hurts our ability to fight ITF.

God forbid that the ITF are successful in their efforts to bring widespread catastrophe to America. In that event, you can kiss goodbye to freedom of the press along with many other freedoms we take for grated, and kiss hello to martial law, censorship and, possibly, internment camps. These draconian restrictions are all reminiscent of WW II, when we knew we were at war and fought like we were at war. As Lex said, we are at war today, but most people don’t know it- or act like it. We had better get our heads and hearts into the fight, or there will be dark days ahead for all of us.