The article which appeared at this URL was originally published by Atomic Reporters, but was pulled a few days later. Antiwar.com had linked to it as our spotlight on Monday, Nov. 17. When the article was taken down early morning on that day (Nov. 17), Antiwar.com posted it on our site. Atomic Reporters has now made a formal request that we remove our unauthorized reposting of the article. We regret removing the post, but we recognize the ownership of the article rights of Atomic Reporters.

What follows is the explanation on the Atomic Reporters site:

Atomic Reporters is in business to help journalists bring a little more authority to covering nuclear issues by providing training and encouraging discussion. Among the schools of science, nuclear is a Cinderella yet it is pivotal to global security and safety.

To achieve its goals Atomic Reporters links journalists with experts as it seeks to broaden understanding, a two way street indeed. It also offers comment on the hazards journalists may face in providing evidence based reporting for their readers and viewers because of the wide range of views being expressed.

Last week we posted an Ombudsman Column called Curveballs, Sliders and the Little Pitches that Start Big Wars. Because it drew on a wide community of experts and journalists it was bylined  Atomic Reporters.

This tongue-in-cheek effort seeking to illuminate some of the very real disagreements about matters of fact swirling around the Iran nuclear file was deemed too harsh and caused offence and upset to people named in the report, for which we express regret.

We are a newly minted organization unique in our commitment to supporting journalists covering this challenging file. We try to get it right but dont always succeed. When style detracts from the serious content we are trying to address clearly weve not succeeded and we will strive to do better.

Thanks for your support: Peter Rickwood, Atomic Reporters founder & director