Tag Archives: jennifer loven

Time Wrings Hands Over Question, ‘Can a Child Be Tried for Jihadist Crimes?’

With his August 12 post, “Can a Child be Tried for Jihadist Crimes?” , Time magazine’s Tim McGirk hit the Obama administration from the left on the military tribunal prosecution of jihadist Omar Khadr. Khadr was captured on a battlefield in Afghanistan in 2002, when he was just 15 years old. He’s charged with the murder of a U.S. soldier, a crime he’s already confessed to, although he now claims his confession was coerced. Although 15-year-olds in the United States are frequently tried as adults for murder and although Khadr is in 23 years old now, McGirk presented the case as the potential first conviction of a “child” for war crimes since World War II. What’s more, McGirk presented the case as a potential travesty of justice in an ill-conceived war on terror, a term he dismissively used in quote marks: Khadr’s trial got underway just as another military tribunal sentenced Osama Bin Laden’s former chef and driver, Ibrahim a-Qosi, to 14 years in prison. The first prosecution of a Gitmo prisoner since Obama took office promising to close down an offshore prison that had become a symbol of the Bush Administration’s riding roughshod over the rule of law in the course of its “war on terror”. Have we no decency! Putting poor cooks, chauffeurs, and children in prison and throwing away the key! At no point did McGirk indict al Qaeda terrorists, particularly Khadr’s late father Ahmed Said —  “an imposing, grey-bearded patriarch” who was “a close friend” of bin Laden’s — as monsters for allowing teenagers to join in suicidal jihad against the world’s most advanced military, even as he closed with this familiar critique of U.S. anti-terrorism policy (emphasis mine): Jury selection for Khadr’s trial is supposed to end on Wednesday and the trial will begin immediately afterwards. It is expected to run until mid September. But r egardless of its finding, the trial is unlikely to reflect positively on the Obama Administration in the eyes of many of its allies in the fight against al-Qaeda. Photo of Omar Khadr via Time magazine .

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Time Wrings Hands Over Question, ‘Can a Child Be Tried for Jihadist Crimes?’

AP White House Reporter Loven Jumps to Liberal Democratic Political PR/Lobbying Shop

Jennifer Loven, an 18-year AP veteran and the wire service’s chief White House correspondent, has decided to put her communications talents to work for The Glover Park Group , a “strategic communications firm” founded in 2001 by a bunch of Clinton and Gore staffers, most prominently Joe Lockhart, who found themselves unemployed after the 2000 election. She’ll be “Managing Director in its Public Affairs practice,” a Thursday press release from the Glover Park Group, plugged by Politico’s Mike Allen , announced. She’s the second President in a row of the White House Correspondents’ Association to leave journalism for a left-wing, or at least left-leaning, lobbying outfit. In June, Bloomberg’s White House reporter, Ed Chen, formerly of the Los Angeles Times, jumped to the Natural Resources Defense Council as Federal Communications Director. (My complete Obama-journalism revolving door list .) Loven held the WHCA position for 2008-2009 and was succeeded by Chen. Amongst the clients touted on the Glover Park Group’s Web site: American Civil Liberties Union, Alliance for Climate Protection, Campaign for Women’s Lives, Better World Campaign and the Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty. They also list some corporate clients, but no conservative activist groups. The firm’s leaders include a who’s who of ex-Clinton and Gore operatives, such as “Founding Partner and Managing Director” Joe Lockhart , “the former chief spokesman and senior adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1998-2000” who “served as Senior Advisor to Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 presidential bid.” Earlier, he toiled as “Deputy Press Secretary for the 1988 Dukakis-Bentsen campaign, and Assistant Press Secretary for the 1984 Mondale-Ferraro campaign.” In between all that, he put in stints as “Assignment Editor at ABC News and Deputy Assignment Manager for CNN in Washington.” Another “Founding Partner and Managing Director,” Carter Eskew , “was Chief Strategist for the Gore 2000 presidential campaign, leading the message and creative team that helped Vice President Gore win every primary and caucus, secure the nomination, then make up a 20 point deficit in the polls to a victory in the popular vote.” Susan Brophy , “Managing Director,” from 1993-1998 was “Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs, where she developed, implemented and directed legislative strategy with the White House, administration and Congress in support of President Clinton’s policy priorities.” Loven’s husband, by the way, is a liberal environmental activist. A 2009 National Review “Media Blog” post provided an excerpt from this bio for him: Roger Ballentine is the President of Green Strategies Inc., where he advises and represents businesses, associations, government agencies and non-profit entities on domestic and international public policy issues and business strategies, focusing on energy, conservation and environmental matters. Roger is also a Senior Fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington D.C. where he works to develop cutting edge, third way approaches to public policy challenges in the areas of energy and the environment. He also served as Senior Advisor to the Kerry-Edwards Campaign on energy and environmental matters. Roger previously was a senior member of the White House staff, serving President Bill Clinton as Chairman of the White House Climate Change Task Force and Deputy Assistant to the President for Environmental Initiatives. Prior to being named Deputy Assistant to the President, Mr. Ballentine was Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, where he focused on energy and environment issues. … He and his wife, journalist Jennifer Loven, reside in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

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AP White House Reporter Loven Jumps to Liberal Democratic Political PR/Lobbying Shop