Steven A. Boylan

Steven Arthur Boylan (born September 30, 1965), a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad for General David Petraeus in the prosecution of the Iraq War troop surge of 2007.

Personal

Boylan is the son of Lou and Barbara Boylan.

Boylan is a 1980 graduate of Pompano Beach High School in Pompano Beach, Florida. The Broward County school is the "Home of the Golden Tornadoes."

Boylan is a graduate of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. He received a BA in communication, and an MA in management.

Boylan's residence is in Wisconsin. His wife is named Michelle. In September, 2004, Michelle Boylan wrote a letter to the editor of the Kansas City Star demanding that Congress apologize to General Petraeus for the treatment he received during testimony. Michelle Boylan and the three Boylan children were also active in the 2004 presidential race, the four of them manning a Bush-Cheney phone bank in Wisconsin.

Career

Army

Boylan joined the Army after serving in Army ROTC at Mercer University.

Boylan is a colonel in the United States Army.

Positions

• Public Affairs Officer, 8th U.S. Army, August, 2002-July, 2004.
• Spokesperson, U.S. Military in Iraq, 2004–2005.
• Director of the Combined Press Information Center (CPIC), August, 2004-December, 2005.

Controversies

2002 stabbing

Boylan was attacked on the night of December 15, 2002 outside Seoul, South Korea's Yongsan Garrison, the headquarters of the United States Forces Korea. According to his statement to police, he was attacked by three Korean men in their twenties, who cursed at him in English, pushed him from behind, and stabbed him with a 5-inch blade. He received a cut on his left side, below the ribcage, for which he was treated at a base hospital; he did not require stitches. Boylan had come to public attention in South Korea for his role as the Army spokesman regarding the June 13, 2002 roadside accident in which a U.S. Army armored vehicle struck and killed two South Korean girls.

Reporting Death Toll in Iraq

In October 2005, Michelle Malkin reported on what she considered to be the harm done by reporters reporting on Iraq military death totals, quoting Boylan as saying:

"The 2,000 service members killed in Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom is not a milestone. It is an artificial mark on the wall set by individuals or groups with specific agendas and ulterior motives."

Greenwald Emails

In late October 2007, Boylan became embroiled in a dispute with Glenn Greenwald of Salon Magazine over articles by Greenwald related to the prosecution of the Iraq War by the George W. Bush presidency and a series of emails. Boylan has stated that he did not send the email in question, claiming that it was sent by an imposter. By placing information that is in dispute, Wikipedia is rendered useless -- it might as well be a bathroom wall.

Memberships and Awards

• Member, Alpha Alpha Chapter, Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, Mercer University, initiated April 15, 1981. He was the chapter's 257th initiate.
• St. Michael Medal, bronze, 1999. (Members of the Order of St. Michael are selected via a nomination process by the Army Aviation Association of America.)

Links

• Large image of Boylan and dramatic statue of Saddam Hussein
• Large image of Boylan and Condoleezza Rice, Leavenworth, Kansas, November 24, 2005
• Web page for participants in Ethics In America conference, with Boylan biography
• Gray Beverley, "Mercer Grad Working With Media To Share Iraq Story," Georgia News Service/Macon Telegraph, September 12, 2005