A smut peddler and a patriot

Hustler is not exactly known for war reportage. If you were granted the access you want, who would you send and where would your reportage appear?

I would probably send my lead investigator on the impeachment proceedings and the trial in the Senate [of former President Clinton], Allan MacDonell. As far as people saying that we're not known for reporting on these activities, from 1995 on we've had several major pieces run [in Hustler], one on the movement of the Islamic fundamentalists, the heroin trafficking out of Afghanistan, the Holy Wars. We've got another piece coming up in February of next year. So it's not like we're not concerned with what's going on in that part of the world.

Of course, if we were granted access, future Afghanistan footage would appear in Hustler. But because of the three-month lead time, it wouldn't be the kind of coverage that's breaking news. However, I want to stress that I'm not doing this just for Hustler, but for all press, so everyone can have the news they need.

We are seeing some reports from Afghanistan, not necessarily with U.S. troops, but there are reporters in-country. Why would your reporter need to accompany the U.S. troops to get the story?

Well, when you turn on your TV, whether it be CNN, Fox or MSNBC, you see this map of Afghanistan and you see these various reporters in these isolated cities all reporting on the war. But in actuality, they're all in very remote locations, far from the front lines. We want the option, if the reporters want to go in, that the government allow a limited number of reporters to accompany troop operations on the ground. Hey, I'm not saying this is a slam dunk. I talked to a very important attorney last week who said, "Larry, it's a courageous thing to do. This suit needs to be filed. It's extremely important, but in cases of this nature, the courts tend to side with the administration. So don't get your hopes up."

But I think, for me not to do what I've always done all of my life, you know, going for the jugular if I believe in it, I'd really be copping out, really compromising. And compromise is just not in my vocabulary.

You've filed this suit, but have any other news organizations done likewise?

No, and it's the mainstream media that should be filing this suit, not me. They've got more money than I've got. The only reason why they're not is that they all want to be politically correct. Each of them are concerned about who's going to get the next interview with George and Laura Bush, rather than getting out there and fighting for the First Amendment and preserving it.

How would you grade the media's coverage of the war and the home front so far?

Writers and pundits are very quick to point out how the country has rallied around the president at this time of crisis. But I've got news for you, in the wake of 9/11, they would've rallied around Ronald McDonald. People have traditionally, always, supported their president in a time of war. Bush is awfully cocky now with this 90 percent approval rating and what he says is the gospel, but guess what? He's not always right, and nobody is always right. He's going to make a misstep somewhere and he's going to pay for it.

Another thing we're looking at possibly filing a suit on is this war tribunal thing. We're not challenging his authority to do this. After all, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, and Roosevelt permitted some Germans to be tried by war tribunal, but what we're questioning is Bush's right to have them tried in secret. I mean, it's bad enough that they're being tried by the military, and that it only takes a two-thirds vote to give them the death penalty, but they're also being tried in total secrecy. I just find that to be abhorrent. I don't believe that should be allowed to stand.

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