Posted on 10/26/2006 1:50:25 PM PDT by tobyhill
Thursday's Howard Kurtz profile of NBC Baghdad correspondent Richard Engel in the Washington Post has a real clash of perspectives. First, NBC anchor Brian Williams claimed Engel "is the most agenda-less person I've met in our business." Then Engel declared "I think war should be illegal...I'm basically a pacifist." The story included no critics of Engel's reporting, but praise from Williams and CBS colleague Lara Logan, and Engel's mother.
Williams asserted that Engel's reporting was fearless against annoying media critics: "In an era of instant media criticism, he calls balls and strikes in the middle of a war zone," says NBC anchor Brian Williams. "He is completely unbothered by any Web site that may have problems with his reporting while he's over in Iraq dodging bullets....He is the most agenda-less person I've met in our business, I think, in the past 20 years."
Does it sound a little like Williams is saying Internet media critics should shut up and go fight in Iraq before they can have an authoritative opinion? It's certainly easy for Engel to seem unbothered by critics in a Post story that never asks a media critic of any stripe for an opinion. Here's the context for Engel's declaration of pacifism:
Why does he stay? When NBC made Engel its Middle East bureau chief over the summer, he agreed to a new contract and moved to the relative calm of Beirut. Days later he found himself covering a fierce war between Israel and Hezbollah -- and was suddenly reenergized. This, for better or worse, is what he does. Not that Engel necessarily approves of military conflict.
"I think war should be illegal," he says. "I'm basically a pacifist."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
Kill him, he is in the way.
When you figure out how to enforce that one without breaking the same law then I'm right there with ya buddy...really.
War should be illegal. OK smart guy. If someone breaks the law your stupid ass wants, what do you do? Crawl away? Go cry to mommy? Wage war on them? Submoron.
We nicknamed him Pretty Chicken during the invasion ....we seem to have picked the right one.
We can then assume he would have allowed the Axis to rampage unfettered during WW2, yes?
Take the them to the International Courts and let them die of old age.
I'M a pacifist. Mr. Engel is a 'surrenderist'.
Talk about bias! NBC should move him out of there yesterday.
Anyone who has seen the horror of tripping and falling as I have would know that it is time to end the madness.
Naaaaahhhhhh, he'da hauled their butts into court!
Sometimes this World is stranger than I think it strange.
All joking aside, that sentence is a contender for "Stupidest Statement In The History Of The World".
"I think war should be illegal"
OK...you surrender first.
Yep.
"He was always such a clever little boy, perfect in every way..."
OK, Bin Laddie called it all,,,,didn't he????????
Exactly how would he enforce this law?
After someone surrenders first then the media should get to determine who really won and honor the winning side with an Oscar.
"Kill him, he is in the way."
I like your style.
Or, he would have stood in front of the German tanks and shouted "now, you go back where you came from, you bad boys."
Or, more probably, he would have talked Hitler out of it with his superior intellect and charm.
WOW!!(slapping forehead) Why didn't I think of that?? We simply pass a law saying war is against the law and shazam, no more war! This guy is a genius, right?
If the democrats win on Nov. 7th, they will claim that Americans have chosen to agree with this reporter
Should he be kidnapped, let's see who he gets to help him--Peace Now or the US Marines...
And money should be free...
War should be outlawed, but he travels with "private, armed guards". Of course YOUR "private, armed guards" would be called "mercenaries" by this Media POS.
I'm sure *we* won't. We'll just provide the umbrella of security that allows him to exist in his warm, moist pacifist bubble.
Make's a guy want to start drinkin', don't it?
Fool.
How does he intend to enforce the law?
Yeah, real agenda-less. If war should be illegal, I'll bet he thinks those who wage it are criminals. Like President Bush, perhaps? Agenda-less, my eye!
I have been thinking about this fairly intensively lately, mostly because I am sick of hearing people make the assumption that if you support the War on Terror, that you are pro-war. (That, and I am reading "Flag of our Fathers"...)
I think every reasonable, thoughtful person is anti-war.
Anyone who dwells on it can realize that it is something to be avoided, and after all, we would all like to see our young men and women working in a peacetime military. I would visualize the discussion with this guy as something like this:
LIBERAL:
I am anti-war. I am a pacifist and I think war should be outlawed.
ME:
I am anti-war as well. The difference between you and me is that you do not think there is anything that is ALWAYS worth fighting for. You see complete submission in any conceivable case to the demands of others as being a viable option. I do not. I can forsee situations where I would be willing to fight, as distasteful and horrible as warfare is.
I have respect for people who are legitimate Conscientious Objectors. I think there are other ways to serve your country if you are. But the people who are anti-war and want to obstruct my ability to defend myself and my loved ones, well, they are the enemy, as far as I am concerned.
LOL ping.
That's why they get all spruced up...fancy clothes, stylish hairdos...even a bias for young blondes ever since Diane Sawyer first elicted the phrase "Wow! The news never looked so good."
They truly believe that you're watching them, with only a tertiary interest in the information they're reading off the teleprompter. Of course, that's why if they must choose between information that is true OR titillating, they'll invariably choose the titillating...because it really doesn't matter.
You're watching the marvelous visage of them!
I'd like to see just one Network try an experiment using computer-animated Talking Characters to vocalize the words previsiously composed by writers behind the scenes! Or, use the Bears at Disneyland, or some other animated character(s). Think of the money the Network would save if it turned out that Viewers-Like-You-and-Me were actually watching to catch the 'information' rather than those titillating half-truths, biases or outright lies uttered by self-absorbed (and highly-paid) Talking Head actors!
"And I for one, welcome our new Muslim overlords."
Fearless? Dodging bullets? LoL!
This guy preened and pruned himself on a Baghdad hotel balcony before going on the air where he queried his producer on what happened over the night so he'd know what to report. He's a candy @$$.
He basically belongs covering cooking shows, or fashion shows.
Yes.... Engel, what has war ever solved, but an End to Slavery, an End to Nazism, Facism, communism and terrorism.
Not to mention the war between the United States and England ...The American Revolution, which gives you the right to act like a Chicken with your head in the sand.
NBC anchor Brian Williams: "…He is the most agenda-less person I've met in our business, I think, in the past 20 years."
It would be interesting to read Engel’s opinion pieces on Clinton’s military adventures. I’ll bet that his position that all wars should be illegal didn’t become public at that time.
He's basically an idiot.
Hey Dick, why not present your beliefs to the Islamic Terrorists and let us know their response?
Exactly what I was thinking.
"It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way."
Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian
Wow, Joe 6-pack. You're sandbagging everyone. You need to change your moniker to Joe Shakespeare. That's one great quote in this context.
What's NBC?
Just when one thought the MSM couldn't get any dumber they go out and redeem themselves.
Wrong. I think stupidity should be illegal.
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