A review by idrees2022
Reporter: A Memoir by Seymour M. Hersh

2.0

This book is tragic more than anything else. The last chapter of the book ends with such a glaring lie that it casts a shadow of doubt over everything that Hersh said before. Hersh falsely claims that at a press conference General Mattis claimed that he didn't have evidence that Bashar al Assad was responsible for the April 2017 chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun. If true, this would support Hersh's theory about the incident. Except, Mattis said no such thing. Hersh is reproducing a claim by a conspiracy theorist named Ian Wilkie that was widely disseminated by Russian media. The report was false, since Mattis was speak about recent reports of chemical attack in 2018 for which he had no evidence. Many of Hersh's earlier claims also strain credulity. He did some good reporting in the past, but in between he also did some terrible reporting. He is extremely cynical about governments in Washington, but almost worshipful in his praise for Bashar al Assad and Hassan Nasrallah (and, in breach of journalistic ethics, or perhaps aware of his own complicity, he didn't reveal the fact that Bashar al Assad had used him as an alibi while Rafiq Hariri was being assassinated). Overall this is the story of a parvenu who, driven by ambition more than anything else, was capable of doing good reporting as long as there was an editor to fact-check his claims and strip the rumours.