Tom Cotton: Send In the Troops
The nation must restore order. The military stands ready.
By
Mr. Cotton, a Republican, is a United States senator from Arkansas.
Editors’ Note, June 5, 2020:
After
publication, this essay met strong criticism from many readers (and
many Times colleagues), prompting editors to review the piece and the
editing process. Based on that review, we have concluded that the essay
fell short of our standards and should not have been published.
The
basic arguments advanced by Senator Cotton — however objectionable
people may find them — represent a newsworthy part of the current
debate. But given the life-and-death importance of the topic, the
senator’s influential position and the gravity of the steps he
advocates, the essay should have undergone the highest level of
scrutiny. Instead, the editing process was rushed and flawed, and senior
editors were not sufficiently involved. While Senator Cotton and his
staff cooperated fully in our editing process, the Op-Ed should have
been subject to further substantial revisions — as is frequently the
case with such essays — or rejected.
For
example, the published piece presents as facts assertions about the
role of “cadres of left-wing radicals like antifa”; in fact, those
allegations have not been substantiated and have been widely questioned.
Editors should have sought further corroboration of those assertions,
or removed them from the piece. The assertion that police officers “bore
the brunt” of the violence is an overstatement that should have been
challenged. The essay also includes a reference to a “constitutional
duty” that was intended as a paraphrase; it should not have been
rendered as a quotation.
Beyond
those factual questions, the tone of the essay in places is needlessly
harsh and falls short of the thoughtful approach that advances useful
debate. Editors should have offered suggestions to address those
problems. The headline — which was written by The Times, not Senator
Cotton — was incendiary and should not have been used.
Finally,
we failed to offer appropriate additional context — either in the text
or the presentation — that could have helped readers place Senator
Cotton’s views within a larger framework of debate.
This week, rioters have plunged many American cities into anarchy, recalling the widespread violence of the 1960s.
New York City suffered the worst of the riots Monday night, as Mayor Bill de Blasio stood by
while Midtown Manhattan descended into lawlessness. Bands of looters
roved the streets, smashing and emptying hundreds of businesses. Some
even drove exotic cars; the riots were carnivals for the thrill-seeking rich as well as other criminal elements.
Outnumbered
police officers, encumbered by feckless politicians, bore the brunt of
the violence. In New York State, rioters ran over officers with cars on
at least three occasions. In Las Vegas, an officer is in “grave”
condition after being shot in the head by a rioter. In St. Louis, four police officers were shot
as they attempted to disperse a mob throwing bricks and dumping
gasoline; in a separate incident, a 77-year-old retired police captain
was shot to death as he tried to stop looters from ransacking a pawnshop. This is “somebody’s granddaddy,” a bystander screamed at the scene.
Some elites have excused this orgy of violence in the spirit of radical chic,
calling it an understandable response to the wrongful death of George
Floyd. Those excuses are built on a revolting moral equivalence of
rioters and looters to peaceful, law-abiding protesters. A majority who
seek to protest peacefully shouldn’t be confused with bands of
miscreants.
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