In an astonishing stroke of irony, the New York Times has outed the name of the CIA operative who interrogated 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, over the objections of CIA Director Michael V. Hayden and a lawyer representing the operative.

Agency officials and legal counsel told the Times that publishing the agent's name would "invade his privacy and put him at risk of retaliation from terrorists or harassment from critics of the agency."

In an Editor's Note linked from the story on KSM's interrogation, the Times defended its decision by stating that "other government employees" had been "named publicly in books and published articles" or had chosen to go public themselves, by explaining that its policy "is to withhold the name of a news subject only very rarely," and by arguing the operative's name "was necessary for the credibility and completeness of the article."

Times reporter Scott Shane describes his scoop as "the closest look to date beneath the blanket of secrecy that hides the program from terrorists and from critics who accuse the agency of torture."

I just caught part of the “Daily Show” for the first time in probably a year; now I remember why. Tonight Jon Stewart accused the news media of ignoring the Senate Intelligence Committee Phase II report. He specifically claimed their was no coverage at Foxnews.com and CNN.com. Here’s another link you’ll probably want to ignore, Jon.

Besides incorrectly making remarks about news coverage, Stewart also falsely charged that then-Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) and the Republicans intentionally delayed the report:

“Obviously, there were some holdups, some script delays, from Republicans who didn’t want this report released to the public.”

But as the Minority Views document makes clear, the report was deliberately held up by Democrats: