The First Scalp of Tarnak?

*cross-posted from Assoluta Tranquillita*

War on Terror News continues a thorough, fact-based examination of the events surrounding the Tarnak Bridge:

02/09/2011

The First Scalp of Tarnak?

So, we saw that an irritating attack on the Bridge Over the River Tarnak led to the crusade of an American Journalist to campaign against an allied General, when that General's political masters struck out on a policy the Journalist didn't like. But did he succeed in getting that General fired? Or were his later claims as empty as his early allegations?

Long ago, when I was sitting on a cot in the middle of a hot desert, bored out of my mind, a colleague gave me a book. That book inspired a look into the minds of serial killers, and I crawled inside, reading, analyzing, and learning the things that make a deviant segment of society tick. I am by no means a "profiler," but I've practiced learning what makes segments do what they do, those that think differently than do I, and others whom I wish to think more like. I've studied serial killers, terrorists, islamists, drug kingpins, communist propagandists, rapists, the rich, the employed, and now Yon. This series is the result of crawling into the head of one Journalist, of trying to understand why he says the things he says.

His own words are the key to that, though I will not express my broader conclusions. I will tell you that I don't believe his hype of his greatness. I believe he was mad that Canadian politicians, who had decided that Canada had done her part, and he took it out on a Canadian General, who had nothing to do with the politicians, and nothing to do with the bridge. I think he tries to be the first with the story, even if he has to quote those that were ahead of him, to prove he was first. I don't think he has any special access, or ever has, even if he was able to convince some to conduct an interview because he was a Journalist and at one time was well read by those who were craving what no one else was providing.

But the question here is: Did he take down General Menard? Did he collect his first scalp?

No. He didn't, not even by his own words at the time. It's not that he didn't want to, nor that he wasn't willing to say anything to do so, but in the end, General Menard lost his command for things Michael Yon didn't know about, didn't care about, and didn't alert the world to.

Notice in the first
screen shot that he claims that he broke every story regarding Menard, but that he believes the ND (negligent discharge) and inappropriate relationship were trivial. Earlier, he had challenged a reader to find false allegations he had made about the General. Curiously, he warns others of going off without evidence, while the entire affair demonstrates that he has done precisely that. The Bridge story has already demonstrated his shooting from the hip with rumors that didn't match reality, as well as the fact that he didn't break the story, instead linking to MSM stories for a week....

Yes, there is more, and as previously, this is a MUST READ for a complete and full analysis. Go to WOTN HERE to read the rest of this installment.

[You can also find Part 1 here, and Part 2 here]