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Post Held Off Afghan Story at DoD Request
Pentagon got one-day delay, and redacted McChrystal report
By Harry Kimball
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Posted Sep 23, 09 10:57 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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When Bob Woodward obtained Gen. Stanley McChrystal's classified report on Afghanistan, the Obama administration asked for and got a one-day delay in publication from the Washington Post, the paper reports. Woodward and the Post’s editor met with Pentagon officials Sunday and agreed to remove some sensitive information from the published document. Woodward says officials “did a wholesale declassification of 98%” of the report, and released it to the Post.
Woodward had already suggested not revealing information about future operations in Afghanistan, and administration officials were mainly concerned with information that “could endanger the lives of troops.” Woodward says he had intended to include the report in an upcoming book, but realized it was too timely to hide. He compares it to the Pentagon Papers which, “in 1971, came out eight years too late.”