Seeker Blog

Lt. Tom Cotton writes this morning from Baghdad with a word for the New York Times:

Dear Messrs. Keller, Lichtblau & Risen:

Congratulations on disclosing our government’s highly classified anti-terrorist-financing program (June 23). I apologize for not writing sooner. But I am a lieutenant in the United States Army and I spent the last four days patrolling one of the more dangerous areas in Iraq. (Alas, operational security and common sense prevent me from even revealing this unclassified location in a private medium like email.)

Unfortunately, as I supervised my soldiers late one night, I heard a booming explosion several miles away. I learned a few hours later that a powerful roadside bomb killed one soldier and severely injured another from my 130-man company. I deeply hope that we can find and kill or capture the terrorists responsible for that bomb. But, of course, these terrorists do not spring from the soil like Plato’s guardians. No, they require financing to obtain mortars and artillery shells, priming explosives, wiring and circuitry, not to mention for training and payments to locals willing to emplace bombs in exchange for a few months’ salary. As your story states, the program was legal, briefed to Congress, supported in the government and financial industry, and very successful.

Not anymore. You may think you have done a public service, but you have gravely endangered the lives of my soldiers and all other soldiers and innocent Iraqis here. Next time I hear that familiar explosion — or next time I feel it — I will wonder whether we could have stopped that bomb had you not instructed terrorists how to evade our financial surveillance.

And, by the way, having graduated from Harvard Law and practiced with a federal appellate judge and two Washington law firms before becoming an infantry officer, I am well-versed in the espionage laws relevant to this story and others — laws you have plainly violated. I hope that my colleagues at the Department of Justice match the courage of my soldiers here and prosecute you and your newspaper to the fullest extent of the law. By the time we return home, maybe you will be in your rightful place: not at the Pulitzer announcements, but behind bars.

Very truly yours,

Tom Cotton
Baghdad, Iraq

Thanks to Scott Johnson at Powerline for the Lt. Cotton email. More from Scott today:

…Although Lt. Cotton has declined to respond to media inquiries, we have verified his identity and the authenticity of his message. Coincidentally, Lt. Cotton and I have several mutual friends. As we corresponded on the morning of June 26, Lt. Cotton mentioned them.

Lt. Cotton is a graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Law School. In 1997 Lt. Cotton was a Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. After graduating from law school in 2002, Lt. Cotton undertook the practice of law in Washington, D.C. A few years later he sought to join the Army infantry.

The Army naturally sought to turn Lt. Cotton’s professional training to use in law or administration. In January 2005, Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn wrote a glowing letter supporting Lt. Cotton’s requested assignment to the infantry, stating that “he hopes to be sent where there are enemies to fight.” Arnn added: “If you send him to fight I will pray for him, that he may be preserved to do all that he is able. That is very much.”

We understand that next week Lt. Cotton’s letter will be entered into the Congressional Record.