NYT Reporter Murdered on DC Street
David E. Rosenbaum, a longtime New York Times reporter, was attacked on a street in one of the best parts of the nation's capital Friday night and died Sunday evening after two days in critical condition.
Mr. Rosenbaum, who also had editing responsibilities in the Times' Washington bureau, was found in a comatose state by a neighbor.
It must be stressed that the area between Wisconsin and Connecticut Avenues in the upper Northwest quadrant of the city is quite affluent and almost never sees violent crime.
There is unpublished speculation that the attack on the journalist may have something to do with the involvement of the New York Times in the NSA spying scandal.
Update: Mr. Rosenbaum died Sunday evening. This post was re-edited to reflect this development.
Mr. Rosenbaum, who also had editing responsibilities in the Times' Washington bureau, was found in a comatose state by a neighbor.
It must be stressed that the area between Wisconsin and Connecticut Avenues in the upper Northwest quadrant of the city is quite affluent and almost never sees violent crime.
There is unpublished speculation that the attack on the journalist may have something to do with the involvement of the New York Times in the NSA spying scandal.
Update: Mr. Rosenbaum died Sunday evening. This post was re-edited to reflect this development.
posted by Effwit at 11:14 AM
5 Comments:
You certainly would know the DC area better than I. What do you think about this attack? I mean, violent crime can happen pretty much anywhere, anytime. But the general timing does make it a bit suspicious, and the fact that it was a NYT reporter is an interesting coincidence. Of course, the attacker would have to know in advance that he was "going to take a walk". Unless Rosenbaum thought he was going to meet with an informant of some type, although it sounds like he was pretty much winding down his career.
Strange. I guess one never knows what's going to happen in Washington these days. There seems to be intrigue around every corner.
Drew L:
The idea that this incident was some kind of hit is by no means a mainstream meme.
I, however, have no trouble believing that it is too sinister to be a coincidence.
The logistics for it to be a "job-related" mishap would not be too much of a stretch.
The perps would know about any habits that Rosenbaum may have, like taking an evening walk.
Also, the fact someone may have tried to use his credit card(s) would not necessarily rule out official involvement. I have heard of cases where the assailant has intentionally lost a victim's credit cards in a marginal part of town, betting that the cards would be quickly monetized, and thus creating a patsy to be blamed for the original attack.
Who knows?
Rosenbaum died tonight.
His last bylined stories were about Alito, but he may have been involved as an editor(one of his gigs)in the NSA story, which was definitely handled by the NYT Washington bureau.
That's awful. Keep us posted as you learn more about the case.
I wonder if James Risen or anyone else at the NYT will have anything to say about this. He's refused to talk much about the Times' holding the story for a year. I wonder if anyone involved voiced any threats if the Times published the story. I also wonder if the CIA could have had some issues with Risen's new book about the CIA. Paybacks, perhaps?
Who knows?
Drew L:
Phil Taubman, who is the NYT Washington bureau chief, and Rosenbaum's brother Marcus were interviewed separately last night on late local news.
Both expressed shock that a street robbery would have been accompanied by such unwarranted violence.
Taubman in particular seemed to be hinting that he suspects that there is more to the story than meets the eye.
I'm sure that the Times has received threats, at least after publishing the story. Any pre-publication threats would be a horse of a different color.
I would bet against any CIA involvement. They are not really thrilled with Bush.
There are enough people around here who would kill to support the administration that "the company", per se, is not a credible suspect.
All IMO.
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