Michelle Malkin makes stuff up about detained milblogger Michael Yon

Written by Eric Boehlert

Published

It's odd that since Christmas the right-wing media have been screaming about inadequate airline security. (Too soft!) But then when somebody they know and admire is momentarily detained at an airport for refusing to answer questions, the same right-wing screamers scream that airport officials are harassing the wrong people.

And so, as conservatives continue their never-ending quest for martyrs, real and imagined, we have the tale of conservative darling, and milblogger, Michael Yon was was recently stopped by TSA officials at the Seattle-Tacoma airport upon his return to the U.S.

Blogger Michelle Malkin did not approve [emphasis added]:

I've met Michael and have blogged about his enterprising war coverage as an embed in Iraq and Afghanistan for years. The idea of him being treated as a national security threat and handcuffed is as ridiculous as anything we've seen from Janet Clown-itano and her cadre.

Actually, according to Yon's own telling of the event, he was detained by TSA officials after he repeatedly refused to answer their questions while they randomly searched his luggage. (Apparently Yon decided which TSA questions were appropriate, and which ones were not.) But was he ever detained as a “national security threat,” as Malkin stressed? Not even Yon makes that claim.

Also, note that in Yon's original telling he claimed he was “arrested” at the airport, which is not accurate. As he later explained, the TSA never placed him under arrest and neither did local port authority police. Yon made the “arrested” claim because he was placed in handcuffs by airport officials, and that meant he'd been “arrested.” But that's just not true.

So to summarize, Yon claimed he was “arrested,” which was not true. And then Malkin claimed it was because Yon was targeted as a “national security threat,” which was also not true. But hey, other than that it makes for a great story.

UPDATED: Blogger Ed Morrissey might want to change his “Michael Yon arrested at Seattle airport” headline since, y'know, Yon was not arrested.

Just a thought.