Eason Jordan - "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire"

The Eason Jordan brouhaha. No, make that debacle, and a bad one at that. The simple fact boils down to this; Eason Jordan made a serious charge. It was not simply a "belief" or an "opinion" but an out and out extremely serious charge nonetheless. A charge that American troops were deliberately targeting journalists. This was Eason's charge and it was witnessed by Democratic Congressman Barney Frank who told Michelle Malkin that after Jordan made the statements, which was a charge, he was so troubled that he tried to get specific examples from Jordan. But Jordan refused to provide an ounce of proof to support his outrageous charge.

You see folks, it's ludicrous to say that people should back off of Eason Jordan's "belief" or "opinion" who have been saying that American forces were *deliberately* targeting journalists for assassination. And if somebody professes that "belief" or "opinion" then he or she should back up that proof. Eason has not done so and have begun to backtrack, or let other Liberal weenies try and cover him (but not for long). The blogosphere is really nailing him, and the MSM such as Joe Scarborough of MSNBC (saying CNN should fire Eason) are starting to pick this story up not wanting to be left out like they did with the Rathergate episode. Ratings and integrity are everything. So is honesty and truth (Scarborough's words). Certainly the MSM would not want to look too weasel-like and have a "CNN-like" stigma stuck onto them. Nobody want to be the Commie News Network who ranks the lowest on viewership.

Democrats have a quandry here. You can either call Eason Jordan a liar who is CNN's most powerful news executives when he told a group of world leaders overseas that American soldiers had targeted reporters for assassination without an ounce of proof. This is the same charge as calling somebody a murderer without proof but just an "opinion." Not to be taken lightly, and certainly not within the realm of simply as an "opinion." If you don't call Eason a liar then you are calling Democrat Congressperson Barney Frank and Democrat Senator Chriss Dodd liars when they both heard Eason Jordan make those same charges on the Davos panel.

Yet this is a very, very serious charge made by Eason Jordan who never provided any proof or specific examples.

After the panel was over and he returned to the U.S., Rep. Frank said he called Jordan and expressed willingness to pursue specific cases if there was any credible evidence that any American troops targeted journalists. "Give me specifics," Rep. Frank said he told Jordan. Rep. Frank has not yet heard back from Jordan.

Now, Jordan's the man who admitted last spring that CNN withheld news out of Baghdad to maintain access to Saddam Hussein's regime. He was quoted last fall telling a Portuguese forum that he believed journalists had been arrested and tortured by American forces (a charge he maintains today). In the fall of 2002, he reportedly accused the Israeli military of deliberately targeting CNN personnel "on numerous occasions." He was in the middle of the infamous Tailwind scandal, in which CNN was forced to retract a Peter Arnett report that the American military used sarin gas against its own troops in Laos. And in 1999, Jordan declared: "We are a global network, and we take global interest[s] first, not U.S. interests first." (Thanks, Malkin)

As Jim Geraghty says,

Davos authorities can settle this dispute by releasing the videotape: Help us learn who’s telling the truth. And everybody else in the media – blogs, mainstream, left, right, big, small – can help add to the pressure by politely but firmly calling on the World Economic Forum to release the tape.

I agree. Eason Jordan need to put up, or shut up. Just a Jordan's simple opinion? Please, people, don't be an idiot. It's a serious, serious charge. It's even more serious if there's no proof to back up that statement made by Eason Jordan.