Think Progress Continues its Spurious Reporting

It seems Think Progress can't break away from the style of shoddy reporting and pseudo-scoop smears against the McCain campaign that's tarnished its reputation in recent weeks.

The latest bit to that effect is its report on the Pentagon's "stop-loss" policy that's been blown out of context in recent antiwar debates:

On Sept. 14, 2001, President Bush issued Executive Order 13223, allowing the administration to implement a “stop-loss” policy. Under stop-loss, “military personnel can be prevented from leaving the armed forces upon completing their enlistment terms.” Stop-loss policies were created after the Vietnam War. However, the Bush administration has overstretched the military by extensively using these orders to make up for declines in re-enlistment as the Iraq war drags on.

Yesterday on PBS’s Newshour, ret. Lt. Col. Ralph Peters — who now advises Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign on national security affairs — called the dangers of stop-loss policies a “myth of the left.” “Stop-loss is old,” said Peters. “This is not a new thing. In time of crisis, soldiers can be extended. They know it.”

Peters was sharply rebutted by Bobby Muller, president of Veterans for America, who pointed out that many high-ranking military officials have also warned that the Bush administration’s policies are overstretching the armed forces...

Peters, a retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel, is a respected analyst of civil-military relations. The debate here looks, well, like a debate ... one in which the competing interpretations of stop-loss look less scandalous than Think Progress would have us believe.

Here's another interpretation on the stop-loss policy, from Urban Grounds:

My little brother and I enlisted in the US Army together in August of 1990.

The recruiter who signed us up went over our contract with us very thoroughly.

As the United States had just declared war on Iraq, he also explained the portion of our enlistment contract that detailed the Army’s Stop-Loss policy.

While I knew plenty of Soldiers who didn’t like the policy, I didn’t know any who didn’t know about it and that it was a part of their enlistment contract.

See also Gateway Pundit, "'Think Progress' Publishes Misleading Troop Withdrawal Post."