Michael R. Gordon

Michael R. Gordon is the chief military correspondent with the New York Times. He has worked at the New York Times since 1985. 

Gordon Selling "Surge"
In late 2006, the consistent theme in Gordon's reports was the desirability of an escalation ("troop surge") in Iraq. Alexander Cockburn wrote that:


 * "On September 11, 2006, the Times ran a Gordon story under the headline, "Grim Outlook Seen in West Iraq Without More Troops and Aid". Gordon cited a senior officer in Iraq saying more American troops were necessary to stabilize Anbar. A story on October 22 emphasized that "the sectarian violence [in Baghdad] would be far worse if not for the American efforts."  There were of course plenty of Iraqis and some Americans Gordon could also have found, eager to say the exact opposite."

On two successive days in November, the New York Times gave Gordon its front page for selling the "surge". November 14: "Get Out Now? Not So Fast, Some Experts Say". November 15: "General Warns of Risks in Iraq if GIs Are Cut".On December 4, he tried to preempt the the Iraq Study Group report with another story: "Blurring Political Lines in the Military Debate". On December 7, he wrote another attack on the repot: "Will it Work on the Battlefield?"

On January 2, he co-authored with John Burns and David Sanger a piece attacking Gen. George Casey, the commander of US forces in Iraq, for espousing a defeatist plan of orderly withdrawal. 

Appearing on TV, he fully supported the escalation, saying "I think it's worth one last effort for sure to try to get this right, because my personal view is we've never really tried to win." 

Gordon on Iran
On February 10, 2007 the New York Times again carried a front page story by Gordon; the title this time was "Deadliest Bomb in Iraq is Made by Iran, U.S. Says". In it, he wrote that "an increasing body of evidence" suggesting "an Iranian role" in supplying the "deadliest weapon aimed at American troops in Iraq." 

While in its mea culpa the New York Times had faulted Gordon for citing "unidentified senior administration officials", it curiously puts Gordon's new story on the frontpage, despite the fact that all the sources cited in it, once again, remain unnamed. Editor & Publisher's Greg Mitchell wants readers to consider the source. The sources cited are "civilian and military officials from a broad range of government agencies," almost all anonymous. And the author of the piece is Michael R. Gordon, who "on his own, or with Judith Miller, wrote some of the key, and badly misleading or downright inaccurate, articles about Iraqi WMDs in the run-up to the 2003 invasion," including the infamous "aluminum tubes" story. 

In response to Gordon's article, Alexander Cockburn wrote:


 * "What Gordon fails to mention is that over 90 per sent of the IEDs used against US troops in Iraq have been detonated by the Sunni insurgents, who of course are not supplied by Iran. More generally, the prime point of interest of the intelligence briefings given to Gordon and other journalists is the timing. At any point in the past couple of years the US could have gone public with roughly the same accusations."

Published works

 * Michael R. Gordon and Lieutenant General Bernard E. Trainor, The Generals' War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf, Back Bay Books, November 1995. ISBN 0316321001 ISBN 978-0316321006
 * Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor, Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq, Random House, February 2007. ISBN 978-1-4000-7539-3

Articles by Michael R. Gordon

 * New York Times archive of articles by Michael R. Gordon
 * "Michael R. Gordon: Recent and archived news articles by Michael R. Gordon of The New York Times".
 * Michael R. Gordon, "Deadliest Bomb in Iraq Is Made by Iran, U.S. Says", New York Times, February 10, 2007.
 * Michael Gordon, "Hezbollah Trains Iraqis in Iran, Officials Say", New York Times, May 5, 2008.

Articles about Michael R. Gordon

 * Alexander Cockburn, Judy Miller's War, Counterpunch, August 18, 2003.
 * Alexander Cockburn, New York Times:"Maybe We Did Screw Up...a Little", Counterpunch, May 28, 2004
 * Amy Goodman and David Goodman, The Lies of Our Times, Counterpunch, May 27, 2004.
 * Amy Goodman interviews Michael Gordon, New York Times Chief Military Correspondent Michael Gordon Defends Pre-War Reporting on WMDs, Democracy Now, March 17, 2006.
 * Alexander Cockburn, The War and the New York Times, Counterpunch, January 6-7, 2007.
 * Glenn Greenwald, The NY Times returns to pre-Iraq-war "journalism", Salon, February 10, 2007
 * Glenn Greenwald, Michael Gordon trains his stenographer weapons on Iran, Salon.com, July 2, 2007.
 * Alexander Cockburn, Will They Nuke Iran?, Counterpunch, February 10, 2007.
 * Greg Mitchell, "'NYT' Reporter Who Got Iraqi WMDs Wrong Now Highlights Iran Claims", Editor & Publisher, February 10, 2007.
 * Craig Unger & John McArthur, New York Times Trumpets Pentagon's Claims Over Iran Sending Bombs to Iraq, Democracy Now, February 13, 2007.
 * "After Propagating False Iraq Intel, NYT’s Michael Gordon Now Echoing Bush Claims On Iran," Think Progress, August 8, 2007.
 * Greg Mitchell, "'NYT' vs McClatchy on Iran's Link to Iraqi Insurgents", Editor & Publisher, May 5, 2008.
 * John Stauber, Deja Vu: NYT, US Propaganda and War with Iran, PR Watch.org, May 5, 2008.