Robert Bateman (historian)

Robert Lake Bateman (born 1967) is an American military officer, historian, author, and web and newspaper columnist.

Role as educator

Bateman taught military history at the United States Military Academy and on an adjunct basis at George Mason University. He 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 for Concerned Journalists where he is known to be extremely critical of the New York Times [ [http://www.concernedjournalists.org/talking-journalism-robert-bateman Talking Journalism with Robert Bateman | Committee of Concerned Journalists ] ] . 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 [ [http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/authors/robert-bateman/ SWJ Blog ] ]

Works

His books include "Digital War, A View from the Front Lines" (1999) and "No Gun Ri, A Military History of the Korean War Incident" (2002). From Iraq he wrote weekly columns for the MSNBC.COM weblog "Altercation," hosted by left wing commentator Eric Alterman, and the conservative newspaper the Washington Examiner. He has published editorials in the right-leaning "New York Post", and various left-of-center publications. He has appeared on several National Public Radio programs, as well as those of the Public Broadcasting Service on programs such as those hosted by the right-of-center hosts Ben Wattenberg and also Tucker Carlson.

On No Gun Ri

Bateman's first major run-in with a major media establishment was during his archival research into the events which took place at No Gun Ri, Korea, in the summer of 1950. 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 was a complete fake, and probably two others who were not there as well. This information was widely repeated by the political Right. [ [http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/4/21/114529.shtml No Gun Ri: Journalism Versus History ] ] and the Skeptical Inquirer [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_5_26/ai_91236233 An historian debunks AP's Pulitzer prizewinning story; an expose. . - book review | Skeptical Inquirer | Find Articles at BNET ] ] He further contended that the AP's evidence was insufficient to support their apparent conclusions from a historical point of view, noting particularly the lack of bodies found in the aftermath. [ [http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2002/062002/06232002/643088 Fredericksburg.com - Book accuses AP journalists of sloppy journalism ] ] He informed the AP team of this error, but was not believed. The AP team won the Pulitzer Prize two weeks later. 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. [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/04/07/IN89398.DTL MEDIA / A War of Words on a Prize-Winning Story / No Gun Ri authors cross pens on First Amendment battlefield ] ] Ultimately the AP's fraudulent witness confessed. The fake witness was later convicted of fraud in federal court for falsely claiming veterans benefits for PTSD for more than a decade, making Bateman perhaps the only historian ever to have a hand in sending a man to prison. Bateman details these events in his book on the same topic. Bateman subsequently engaged liberal AP journalist Charles Hanley in print [ [http://hnn.us/articles/3626.html Did the Associated Press Misrepresent the Events that Happened at No Gun Ri? ] ] and in public appearances at historical venues [ [http://hnn.us/articles/7289.html The Face-Off: Bob Bateman Vs. the Associated Press ] ] .

On "Carnage and Culture"

In the Fall of 2007 Bateman took exception to neo-conservative classicist Victor Davis Hanson's book "Carnage and Culture" and the 2,500 year thesis therein. 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.” [ [http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200710220002#1 Media Matters - Bateman on Hanson: An Altercation Altercation ] ] He then attacked Hanson’s depiction of the battles of Cannae [ [http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200710290004#2 Media Matters - Bateman on Hanson, Round 1: Cannae, 2 August 216 B.C ] ] and Poitiers [ [http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200711050002#1 Media Matters - Bateman on Hanson, Round 2: Poitiers, 732 A.D., and beyond ] ] as being intellectually inconsistent or factually unsupported, while his conclusion focused upon an allegation that Hanson actually holds professional military members in low-esteem based upon Hanson’s description of modern paid soldiers as “mercenaries” in his book [ [http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200711140006#4 Media Matters - But the dawn is breakin', it's early morn ] ] . One of Bateman's major points was that Hanson essentially skips 1,700 years in the middle of his 2,500 year period, by failing to provide evidence during that stretch. The debate between the two was picked up by the influential historical site History News Network. [ [http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/44326.html History News Network ] ] On his own blog Hanson accused Bateman of being in the pay of liberal fundraiser George Soros and said that the professional military officer was mentally "unhinged" for making his critique and that Bateman's commentary had been a commissioned "hit piece" by the website Media Matters for America and that Bateman was a liberal mouthpiece. Hanson provided no evidence for these claims. [ [http://pajamasmedia.com/xpress/victordavishanson/2007/11/16/ Works and Days ] ] Bateman, appears to have initiated the series himself and has previously noted that he receives no monetary compensation for his essays. He did not respond to Hanson. Among other elements of the debate Bateman noted that Hanson is "widely known" among historians for being "notoriously thin skinned." Hanson wrote more than 16,000 words in response to Bateman's four short essays. Bateman has also published portions of the debate on the military-insider website Small Wars Journal, where he is also a contributor.

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 Galloway used an essay Bateman wrote about wounded soldiers visiting the Pentagon as his 2007 Memorial Day column. [ [http://www.mcclatchydc.com/galloway/story/16478.html McClatchy Washington Bureau | 06/20/2007 | A must-read for Memorial Day, 5/23/07 ] ] 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. [ [http://www.politicalmachine.com/article/172891/Fridays_at_the_Pentagon Fridays at the Pentagon.. - The Political Machine - Your Political Battleground! ] ]

References