About Me

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I was previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator and am now a journalist. I am the author of three New York Times bestselling books -- "How Would a Patriot Act" (a critique of Bush executive power theories), "Tragic Legacy" (documenting the Bush legacy), and With Liberty and Justice for Some (critiquing America's two-tiered justice system and the collapse of the rule of law for its political and financial elites). My fifth book - No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the US Surveillance State - will be released on April 29, 2014 by Holt/Metropolitan.

Friday, August 20, 2010

E-mail exchange with Jeffrey Goldberg

GG to JG

Hello again - Several people emailed me about your discussion today on On Point, in which you stated I had issued a "retraction" of the criticism I made of your Atlantic piece, specifically the contradiction I maintain you wrote about the 1981 Israeli strike.

I don't recall issuing any such retraction, and I'm pretty sure I'd recall it if I had done so. I'd like to write about this, so could you point me to my retraction? Thanks -

Glenn Greenwald

_____________________

JG to GG

You're right, I'm wrong. My apologies.

As I explained on my blog, I believe you are misreading one particular line in the Iran piece. The line, admittedly, isn't clear enough, but I think most people understood me to mean that the Israelis consider the Osirak raid to have been particularly effective since Saddam ultimately never fulfilled his nuclear ambitions. I should have added an extra line to explain that more clearly.

It does seem outlandish to think, doesn't it, that Jeffrey Goldberg, of all people, would believe that Saddam Hussein was defanged in 1981. I mean, I still think he's a threat, and he's dead. Or so they say, at least.

xxoo,
Jeff

* * * * * *

Jeffrey Goldberg, today: "I just noticed that Glenn Greenwald posted our private e-mail exchange, without asking me if that would be okay. Very nice."


Jeffrey Goldberg, June 25, 2010, threatening to publish emails from Journolist: "Nothing is really off-the-record. No conversation between more than two people is ever really off-the-record, and no e-mail is ever, ever off-the-record . . . . I've been leaked postings from JournoList before -- wonderfully charming things written about me, as you might have guessed -- and I haven't had the opportunity to use them, but would be happy to if the need arose".


Apparently, for some people, the prevailing ethical standards depend on whose emails are being published and who is doing the publishing. If any type of email is on-the-record and usable, it's one where someone writes and says: I plan on writing about X and would like your reaction.

posted by Glenn Greenwald | 5:03 AM