Posted on 11/17/2004 9:10:16 AM PST by demlosers
It is the Rodney King incident, Iraqi style. A piece of war taken totally out of context, for ratings and to make a reporter's career.
Kevin Sites, the embedded NBC reporter in Falluja has tried to pull a "Michael Moore," using an "innocent (sic)" insurgent terrorist lying dead on the floor or playing possum with the marines. One day before, an enemy body lay in a similar position with a hidden booby trap, wounding several Americans. Another group of soldiers had previously been seriously injured by an Islamic combatant, who seemingly arose from the dead with his AK-47 blazing. This is a tactic of suicide murderers who actually want to die.
A marine had to make a split second decision using recent events and experiences. This heroic warrior is now being made an example of, because Sites and the General Electric cameraman obviously understood the situation much better. Their training in the halls of 30 Rockefeller Plaza gave them superior insight into "the rules of engagement."
Sites broadcast makes him an accomplice to al Qaeda and Saddam, not an inquisitive reporter digging for a good story. Al Jazeera and the other Arab television stations have taken NBC's "Joseph Goebbels-like" footage and rebroadcast it hundreds of times across the Middle East, creating anger in the Arab/Muslim gutter.
This single act has done substantial damage to the military and morale (including back home). Thus, reporter Sites deserves to be shipped back to America in shackles and tried for treason. The media must learn that the battlefield is not a place for fighting fair like a boxing match. The Geneva Convention rules have virtually nothing to do with this incident, despite what the phony Human Rights Watch fools try to spin with their proper British accents.
The purpose of the military is to win. During battles "stuff happens," which is known as unfortunate or collateral damage. However, the brave marine who took control of the mosque in Falluja and destroyed the enemy should not be given a lawyer. He should be given the Congressional Medal of Honor, which President Bush as Commander in Chief should announce immediately. This would send a very strong message to our enemies across the globe.
Only foolish, pc America of the 21st century could allow agenda-driven reporters to file uncensored military stories to the world. War is not a football game, where you have instant replays showing a close call. There are sudden life and death judgments continuously being made, which impact the lives of troops.
NBC and Sites have provided our enemies with serious ammunition and weaponry to use against us, more deadly than bin Laden could ever acquire. It is the pr bomb and they are launching it throughout the world via satellite technology. "Women's underwear on the heads of nude Iraqi prisoners is not enough. Now, those Americans are shooting "unarmed, elderly" combatants who are lying face down." Those are the exaggerations and falsehoods being reported with NBC's important scoop.
Kevin Sites has followed in the tradition of other immor(t)al reporters like Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, Ted Koeppel and the rest of the overly compassionate (for the enemy) media elites. Putting a camera in the battlefield is akin to placing a camera in a family's home and then "investigating" the one fight between a husband and wife, or the shouting matches with those terrible teenagers. If we are not shown the lovely family dinner as well, it looks like a particularly nasty household.
Unless the American public boycotts all General Electric appliances, and lets Jeff Immelt (CEO) and Bob Wright (President NBC) know about their despicable practices, the big media conglomerates will continue to put us all in grave danger. Hey, perhaps the SEC should also investigate. After all, GE has done much more damage than Martha Stewart could ever have managed, even if she tried.
------ Irwin N. Graulich is a well known motivational speaker on morality, ethics, religion and politics. He is also President and CEO of a leading marketing, branding and communications company in New York City. He can be reached at irwin.graulich@verizon.net
BOYCOTT GE AND EVERY NBC ADVERTISER.
So in some ways, embedded in this unit, I begin to feel Ive betrayed the people that depend on me to be skeptical; to question the dominant powers and institutions of my nation and the actions it undertakes in the name of its citizens. I am not a military or American cheerleader, not a mouthpiece signed on to some institutional agenda whether I believe in it or not. I am here to ask the hard questions of the people who make the hardest decisions; ones that result in people dying or people being killed. I must remember as one journalist advised, write in your notepad every day I am not one of them.
More importantly, the embedded reporters should kicked out of the war zone as non-essential personnel.
I notice that they have already picked the YES for you. TO BAD the vote is now 86% = NO (or there abouts).
Move over, Michael Moore. You've been de-throned by another a$$hole.
Great, great commentary. Worth the time to read. Thanks for posting it.
I assume he means American.
Let Kevin Sites know how you feel.
kevin@kevinsites.net
This alone should disqualify this smacktard reporter from further contact with our troops.
Post support for marine here:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1281701/posts?q=1&&page=701
I wonder if the Marine unit that Mr. Sites is embedded with knows he holds these opinions? Maybe they would treat him with more circumspection if you email this quote to them.
Sign petition here.
Or even here:http://www.petitiononline.com/as123/petition.html
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