MORE ON CNN: Reader Sage McLaughlin sends this, which echoes a lot of other email I’ve gotten:

You say that we really ought to give Jordan credit for his honesty at this point, now that the danger is passed. Maybe so. But that’s what he really, really wants you to do. That’s what he is, in fact, begging you to do, with a huge assist from the editorial staff of the NYT.

My opinion: Today’s piece was the most shamelessly transparent piece of corporate ass-covering I have ever seen in my life. The point of the article was to plead for understanding, to make the case that CNN had no choice, to hold the organization up as a heroic defender of the rights of its staffers, and to otherwise deflect what he knows is going to be widespread and damning criticism, now that the truth can no longer be concealed.

The really moral thing to do, obviously, would have been to pull out of Iraq years ago, instead of allowing Iraqis on CNN’s payroll to be tortured so that they could maintain the status symbol of “access” to the regime. This is nothing more than an attempt to preempt the likely damage to CNN’s reputation caused by the (accurate) perception that they have been complicit in Hussein’s enslavement of the Iraqi people since at least 1991.

And judging by the presumption of good faith you’re somehow able to lend him, it’s working beautifully.

You know, I think this is right.