No Gun Ri: A Military History of the Korean War Incident

No Gun Ri: A Military History of the Korean War Incident is a 2002 book by United States military officer Robert Bateman about the events that took place at No Gun Ri in 1950 and the controversy that followed. Bateman contested the veracity of a Pulitzer prize winning account published earlier.^[1][2]

Background

The author's first major run-in with major media was during his archival research into the events which took place at No Gun Ri. During the research he established that the Associated Press team which had first publicized the story of No Gun Ri had relied upon false testimony from at least one veteran who had not been at the battle and had a record of deception, and probably two others who were not there as well. Conservative media was especially critical of the Pullitzer winning account based on Bateman's findings.^[3] and the Skeptical Inquirer ^[4][5] Bateman contended that the AP's evidence was insufficient to support their account, particularly the lack of bodies found in the aftermath.^[6]

Bateman presented his archival research materials to reporter Joe Galloway, then at US News and World Report. Galloway's subsequent articles on the issues and evidence led to a media-fight between the two institutions. The Associated Press then tried to have Bateman’s book stopped, but their efforts were publicized and the efforts aborted.^[7]

Ultimately the AP's fraudulent witness confessed.^{[citation needed]} The fake witness was later convicted of fraud in federal court for falsely claiming veterans benefits for PTSD for more than a decade.^{[citation needed]} Bateman details these events in his book on the same topic. Bateman subsequently engaged liberal AP journalist Charles Hanley in print^[8] and in public appearances at historical venues^[9] .

About the author

Bateman taught military history at the United States Military Academy and on an adjunct basis at George Mason University. Bateman is a United States Army Ranger, he was a commander in the 7th United States Cavalry, and served in Iraq from 2005 through 2006. He was once a "military fellow" at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is currently assigned to the Pentagon, and teaches in the Security Studies program at Georgetown University. Bateman also writes a bi-weekly column as a media critic/ethicist for the Committee of Concerned Journalists where he is known to be extremely critical of the New York Times^[10]. That site is sponsored by the Knight Foundation and the journalism program of the University of Missouri. He is also a regular columnist for the military-intellectual site Small Wars Journal^[11]

Bateman worked with B.G. Burkett on investigating accounts of the Korean events. Burkett is the author of Stolen Valor, about phony Vietnam war veterans and deceptive histories used for personal gain.^[12]

Bateman also wrote the book Digital War, A View from the Front Lines (1999)^[13]. From Iraq he wrote weekly columns for the MSNBC.COM weblog "Altercation," hosted by left wing commentator Eric Alterman, and the right wing newspaper the Washington Examiner. He has published editorials in the right-leaning New York Postand has appeared on several National Public Radio programs, as well as on Public Broadcasting Service programs hosted by the right wing hosts Ben Wattenberg and Tucker Carlson.

In the Fall of 2007 Bateman had a dispute with neo-conservative classicist Victor Davis Hanson over Hanson's book Carnage and Culture. Bateman claimed the book was factually challenged and historically unsupported and unsupportable during a four-part series on the blog of Eric Alterman. Bateman started with a general attack on Hanson’s lack of scholarship as a modern military historian, as Hanson was educated as a “classicist.”

On Blackwater, Inc.

In October 2007 Bateman published an Op-Ed in the Chicago Tribune entitled, "Blackwater and Me, A Love Story It Ain't." In the essay he presented unflattering first-person descriptions of Blackwater operatives in Iraq based upon his own observations in Iraq in 2005-2006.

Viral Essay

Bateman’s former roommate, journalist Joseph L. Galloway used an essay Bateman wrote about wounded soldiers visiting the Pentagon as his 2007 Memorial Day column.^[14] The article went viral, particularly on the Right but in many cases was reposted with an added two sentences at the end which Bateman did not write and which he publicly contends were added by an anonymous third party to buttress their own political point of view.^[15]

References

1. ^ Michael Dobbs [1] War and Remembrance; Truth and Other Casualties Of No Gun Ri May 21, 2000 page B.01 The Washington Post
2. ^ Michael Taylor A War of Words on a Prize-Winning Story;No Gun Ri authors cross pens on First Amendment battlefield April 7, 2002 San Francisco Chronicle
3. ^ No Gun Ri: Journalism Versus History
4. ^ An historian debunks AP's Pulitzer prizewinning story; an expose. . - book review | Skeptical Inquirer | Find Articles at BNET
5. ^ I love the smell of Pullitzer in the morning August 2006 American Thinker
6. ^ Fredericksburg.com - Book accuses AP journalists of sloppy journalism
7. ^ MEDIA / A War of Words on a Prize-Winning Story / No Gun Ri authors cross pens on First Amendment battlefield
8. ^ Did the Associated Press Misrepresent the Events that Happened at No Gun Ri?
9. ^ The Face-Off: Bob Bateman Vs. the Associated Press
10. ^ Talking Journalism with Robert Bateman | Committee of Concerned Journalists
11. ^ SWJ Blog
12. ^ Michael Taylor Unmasking Phony `Vietnam Vets'; Fakes big factor in negative image, Texas author finds August 13, 1999 San Francisco Chronicle
13. ^ Erik J. Dahl Digital War: A View from the Front Lines.(Review) September 22, 2000 Naval War College Review
14. ^ McClatchy Washington Bureau | 20 June 2007 | A must-read for Memorial Day, 5/23/07
15. ^ Fridays at the Pentagon.. - The Political Machine - Your Political Battleground!