Reporter Kills Himself For Falsely Reporting On Spec Ops in N. Korea

David Axe's "Regret over General Tolley's Firing" can be read here: http://www.warisboring.com/2012/06/02/my-regret-over-neil-tolleys-apparent-firing/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WarIsBoring+%28War+Is+Boring%29

O.K. first, full disclosure. I have no personal or professional relationship with anyone on SOFREP, I do not represent SOFREP in any formal or even informal way. I am simply a guest here. I have no personal or professional connection to anyone involved in the news story we are talking about. After Brandon announced that he had spoken to Axe and was going to meet with him I send Brandon an email thru the "Comms" page. I told him that I took notice his remarks but that I still had something to say on this subject. I told him that my comments would not serve to smooth things over as he appeared to be inclined to do. I wrote that I would withhold these remarks, which I briefly outlined, if he thought they would do damage to that effort. This offer was made out of respect for Chief Webb and my desire to be a good guest here on SOFREP.com, which I joined in the prelease days being a reader of "Kit Up" on Military.com. Brandon most graciously replied that if my points were on topic and fairly made I was at liberty to express them. I've spent the couple of days since that time looking at the comments on this thread and on the web looking at Axe's writings on this subject and other reporting that has appeared. Mr. Axe will not like what I have to say here but if he takes a moment to reflect on my remarks he might actually learn something about the way his profession influences the attitudes of the public when it comes to journalism and its duty to the publc trust that it presumes itself to be serving. I now believe that what David Axe did was unintentional. I think it was an example of what sloppy journalism can do to effect international affairs in an adverse way. Mr. Axe has protested that Korea is not his beat or area of interest, perhaps he will refrain in the future from reporting authoritatively on things that are not his area of interest. For the sake of world peace? There was accurate reporting being done at that conference. Eric Beidel from National Defense Magazine was there and missed the part about parachuting Special Forces into North Korea when relating Gen. Tolley's remarks. http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=800 Paul McCleary from Defense News was also there and reported on Gen. Tolley's remarks about intelligence gathering problems in North Korea. McCleary didn't mention Special Ops guys dropping into North Korea. http://blogs.defensenews.com/sofic/2012/05/23/head-of-special-operations-in-korea-wants-better-intel/ Mr. Axe claims on his blog that both he and McCleary used the same notes in preparing their respective stories and that the notes they used were in fact Axe's. Mr Axe seems totally mystified at the reaction to his story. What is more he seems unable to grasp his own role in creating this controversy. His ethical confusion is displayed here on his own blog; http://www.warisboring.com/2012/05/28/context-of-the-korea-special-forces-story/ He offers defenses for himself that he "quoted" Gen. Tolley correctly but declines to answer queries as to whether he quoted Gen. Tolley in context. I made such an inquiry myself several days ago without any reply from Mr. Axe on this thread. I could "accurately" quote Mr Axe as saying; "I just don't want my 80-year-old grandfather" and report that he is estranged from some of his relatives but I would not be quoting him in context. To a certain extend Mr. Axe is hoping that the readers of SOFREP.com will not know the difference between an accurate quote and a quote in context. Well, I submit that we do and we're not easily swayed by weasle-worded attempts to blur such distinctions or feigned hurt over what his 80 year old grand father might find on the internet if he searched for him on Google. We are also unimpressed with Mr. Axe's cheerleaders piling on this thread without disclosing their relationship to their pal. It doesn't make Mr. Axe's position here any stronger. Personally, I think Mr. Axe is wasting his energy(and that of his friends) by making his protests of innocense here. Apparently Gen. Tolley has been reassigned. Mr. Axe views this as a victory for him and a vindication of his actions.. I think Mr. Axe is a fool to express that view. He burned a Brig Gen in Special Operations. Gen. Tolley has friends above his grade and below it. Men and women who will promote up the ranks into positions of greater authority in the future. What Mr. Axe fails to grasp is that he now has a reputation and its an unfavorable one to a lot of people in that community. Brandons suicide satire has a grain of real truth in it. Mr Axe may have committed professional suicide with his ethical confusion about accurate quotes being the same thing as quoting in context. The public and the military have been burned(literally) by people like Mr. Axe before. In 2005 a Newsweek story by Michael Isikoff and John Barry reported that guards at GITMO were flushing Korans down toilets to tweak the terrorists imprisoned there. This story caused riots that left at least 16 people dead including US citizens and military personnel. Hundreds more were injured and the story was used to recruit terorrists. It turns out the story was completely false. In early 2012 another story appeared that said that the US was burning Korans in A-Stan and again, riots resulted in the deaths of about 50 people including 4 US service members. Only later did we find out that the burning of these Korans was accidental and not done with the purpose of desecrating their book, which is actually burned or buried by muslims, though not in a trash heap. Mr. Axe, reporting out of context remarks by Gen. Tolley could have sparked a war. It's not as if the North Koreans are rational actors when it comes to their relationship with the outside world. There still may be violence as a result of this. North Korea routinely uses the slightest pretext for aggression against the South and the US. Our attempt to trim some trees in the DMZ once resulted in an American officer being murdered with an axe by North Korean soldiers. If the North Koreans do decide to lob some shells into South Korea or kill some Americans, Mr. Axe can add that to his repution as well. He ought to be concerned about his 80 year old grandfather googling a story about that.

lol damn I LOVE this blog!!!  There is NO BETTER one out there!!!  keep up the great work Brandon & Crew~!!!

On My Mark, every one whip it out and face the wind.  And GO!!