MARK STEYN UNLEASHED -- Don't Count On Koppel For Whole War Story!

http://www.iconoclast.ca/NewPage11.asp ^ | MARK STEYN

[clintonbaiter]

At two seconds per name, to read out the combat deaths of the War of 1812 he'd [Koppel] have to persuade ABC to extend the show to an hour and a quarter. To read out the combat deaths of the Korean War, he'd need a 19-hour show. For World War II, he'd have to get ABC to let him read out names of the dead 24/7 for an entire week. If he wants to, I'd be happy to fly him to London so he can go on the BBC and read out the names of the 3,097,392 British combat deaths in World War I, which would take him the best part of three months, without taking bathroom breaks, or indeed pausing for breath.

As Stalin said, one death is a tragedy, 1 million is a statistic. The fact that America's dead in Iraq are not yet statistics, that they're still small enough in number to be individual tragedies Ted can milk for his show tells you the real cost of this war. In Afghanistan, the numbers are even lower, which is why ''Nightline'' hasn't bothered pulling this stunt with America's other war.

The [real] cost of war is the cost of losing it measured against the cost of winning it. We can reach our own conclusions about which the coalition's dead would opt for.....

[clintonbaiter]

Is Ted Koppel a traitor?

[knighthawk]

Ping

[.cnI redruM]

Yes, and so are the corporations that sponsor this soporific Lord Haw Haw.

[MizSterious]

Chris Wallace, on Fox News Sunday, announced that next week FNS would air something of a rebuttal--they plan to show the listing of all the good we have done in Iraq. I wonder if the rest of the media will be as supportive of this show as they were of Koppel's.

[nuconvert]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn02.html

[Captain Kirk]

Did you complain when all the names of the WTC attack were read?

[.cnI redruM]

No, but Koppel left out the names of those who died in Afghanistan and that was a studied decision on his part.

[tioga]

It's about perspective, Koppel wishes to USE them to his advantage. That is sad.

[MainFrame65]

- "Is Ted Koppel a traitor?" -

No, he is an opportunist and an exploiter. I suppose that is better, in the way that some might consider a cockroach less verminous that a rat.

[whereasandsoforth]

I read Mark's article. It was terrific as usual. But one point bothers me, as it keeps getting repeated by those that should know better.

We did not "lose" the war in Viet Nam. We wlked away from it before victory. No one in their right mind could believe that if the might of the USA was allowed to be used at time, the USA would have lost that war.

It's a technecality, I suppose. But to keep the myth alive that we lost that war, as if we were defeated by our enemy in battle, is not the truth. We were defeated from within by our domestic enemies, and walked away. It was a moral loss, not a military defeat.

[Tall_Texan]

Last week, watching John Kerry explain that he threw away his medals/his ribbons/some other guys' medals because ribbons are the same as medals/he didn't have his medals with him/his medals are personal to him/and anyway what about Bush's National Guard service, I began to resent the senator for miring this election campaign in a three-decade old quagmire. It's like an oldies station with only one record.

It's just UNFAIR to excerpt Mark Steyn! That's like giving us just the opening riffs of a Beatles song. It's like showing us only the first inning of a baseball game. We are going to need a "Mark Steyn exception" to the excerpting policy. Maybe somebody could get his permission.

[Republican Red]

The names of the 9/11 victims were read on the anniversary of their murder.

Koppel chose NOT Memorial Day, Not the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad but rather the beginning of tv ratings "sweeps" period and the 1 year anniversary of President Bush declaring combat over.

IMO, Koppel is either using these brave souls for a ratings stunt or a political statement.

[stop_fascism]

The people in WTC were victims of a sneak attack. Out soldiers are not victims, no matter how much people like Ted Koppel want to make them into victims. Our soldiers are fighting for our way of life and Western Civilization. It's just silly (I'm being generous since it's Sunday) to compare the two groups.

[Tall_Texan]

Is reminding people of the ''cost of war'' really the most important thing a journalist can do? Costs don't exist in a vacuum, but relative to their benefits. For example, the cost of Ted Koppel to ABC is said to be $6 million per year. That sounds a lot when you consider that Skip, the busboy at Denny's, would be happy to do it for $28,000, but cost alone doesn't factor in the benefits of Ted's distinctive portentousness.

Hmmmm. Now that would be an interesting show. Read the serial numbers of each dollar bill paid to Koppel, or Rather or Jennings on an annual basis. Numbing serial number after serial number. Maybe creating a digital stack of dollars as a visual until it overflows the screen. Might just lead to the impression that someone is immensely overpaid.

Here's an even better idea. Let's get Al Franken to do this sort of stunt about Rush Limbaugh's salary. That would kill off Err America (or what's left of it).

[Doctor Raoul]

IMO, Koppel is either using these brave souls for a ratings stunt or a political statement.

Both, the little twerp.

[jpl]

We did not "lose" the war in Viet Nam. We walked away from it before victory. No one in their right mind could believe that if the might of the USA was allowed to be used at time, the USA would have lost that war.

Well said. I'd like to add that our craven act of walking away from our responsibilities in Vietnam directly led to the slaughter of about two million Cambodians. I wonder if the aging far leftists in this country ever lose any sleep at night about this.

If we were to make the same tragic error in Iraq who knows how many casualties might come about as a result?

[Doctor Raoul]

Did you complain when all the names of the WTC attack were read?

If we showed pictures of the planes hitting the towers, people jumping in absolute desperation, flaming liberals like Ted Koppell and Leroy Sievers would be having a hissy fit.

[atomicpossum]

Is Ted Koppel a traitor?

To ABC, the Democratic Party, John Kerry, the Left, the forces of evil, Muslim extremism, the enemies of America, no. He's being quite loyal.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Is Ted Koppel a traitor?

Almost.

Koppel's a Walter Croncite wannabe.

[narby]

We did not "lose" the war in Viet Nam. We wlked away from it before victory.

It's worse than that. We "lost" in Vietnam AFTER we won it.

In '73, we signed a peace agreement with the north on our terms, not their's. The north would stay in their borders and not bother the south, and we would continue to support the south.

But when the north attacked in '75, we weren't even on the field of battle. The '75 attack itself wasn't as fierce as the previous attack in '73, that the south had fought and won on its own, with US air support and weapons. But in '75, the left managed to force Pres Ford to stay out of the war altogether, and the south panicked and lost.

Did that mean that "the US lost"? I don't think so. But the term is useful for the left to demoralize us. It is useful in their endless effort to destroy this country.