U.S. Media Do the Terrorists' Bidding

FrontPage Magazine ^ | 11/19/04 | Michael Reagan

[WuzaDem]

Are the media on our side? If so, why are they doing the bidding of a bunch of murderous thugs who enjoy lopping off innocent peoples’ heads?

We are once again getting the answer loud and clear: To the media, U.S. troops in Iraq are always wrong, and the enemies is usually shown, not as a terrorists, but a victims of unwarranted U.S. aggression.

Consider the firestorm that erupted when a young U.S. Marine, wounded the day before, was videotaped in the act of shooting a so-called insurgent who may or may not have been armed or booby trapped, waiting for a chance to blow Marines and himself to kingdom come.

That videotape, filmed by an embedded NBC photographer whose photos are prominently featured on an anti-war German website, has now replaced the Abu Ghraib pictures as proof of American brutality even though the film doesn’t begin to explain the circumstances behind the incident.

But that hasn’t prevented the media from showing the film over and over again without telling the other side of the story – that the situation could well have been one of kill-or-be-killed – as happened time and again to Marines during the battle for Fallujah.

NBC, the photographer’s employer, led the pack, broadcasting the controversial footage four times an hour for two days. And the rest of the media jumped aboard. Not one of them has bothered to explain what lay behind the incident.

• As of this writing, 40 United States Marines have died while cleaning out the terrorist havens in Fallujah.

• In a single week, Marines and Army units killed as many as 1,200 of the enemy and captured 1,000 more and did this despite forfeiting the element of surprise, so civilians could escape, according to The Star newspaper.

• Along with the Marine who shot the insurgent, his comrades over more than eight days have had to endure what the Star described as "some of the toughest infantry duty imaginable, house-to-house urban fighting against an enemy that neither wears a uniform nor obeys any normal rules of war." The newspaper cited this report from The Times of London describing how the insurgents fight: "In the south of Fallujah yesterday, U.S. Marines found the armless, legless body of a blonde woman, her throat slashed and her entrails cut out. Benjamin Finnell, a hospital apprentice with the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, said that she had been dead for a while, but at that location for only a day or two. The woman was wearing a blue dress; her face had been disfigured. It was unclear if the remains were the body of the Irish-born aid worker Margaret Hassan, 59, or of Teresa Borcz, 54, a Pole abducted two weeks ago. Both were married to Iraqis and held Iraqi citizenship; both were kidnapped in Baghdad last month."

While zeroing in on this incident, the media has largely ignored the grisly discoveries of so-called "slaughter houses" where the insurgents committed atrocities unheard of since the barbarian invasions of the West in 400 & 500 A.D.

• On Monday, 12 male corpses were found in two homes - six in a living room and another half-dozen in a bedroom - their bodies tangled together, stacked on each other.

• One of the execution rooms unearthed by the Marines - dubbed "the slaughterhouse" - was believed to have been used by Zarqawi's terror group to behead foreign hostages, including American businessman Nicholas Berg, whose body was found in early May, Marine Lt. Col. Patrick Malay told the Star.

Yet few networks or newspapers bothered to show photos of the Fallujah slaughter pens which graphically revealed the true nature of the enemy – they were all too busy showcasing the photo of the Marine engaged in what any fair-minded person would see as a fully justifiable action.

Whose side is the media on? Not ours.

[WuzaDem]

Says it all.

[msnimje]

Ronald raised him RIGHT. Don't know what happened to Ronnie and Patty.

[Phyto Chems]

bttt

[Lijahsbubbe]

broadcasting the controversial footage four times an hour for two days

Traitors.

[Grampa Dave]

Excellent oped by MR.

[McGavin999]

OK, we keep talking about it, but what are we going to do about it. Boycotting doesn't bother them, writing letters doesn't bother them, I think we're eventually going to have to take on this enemy. I'm not sure how, but I do know that we're going to have to do something about it and FAST.

[Grampa Dave]

"Whose side is the media on? Not ours."

It would be nice if Iraq arrested these pro terrorists, pretending to be journalists, and questioned them to see who pays them to put out their lies.

[highflight]

Love your tagline! I have George Soros' T-shirt front page National Review in my office with a note that says "American Voters are not for sale - but it can buy a pair of hose (to match the T-shirt).

Back to the media - don't read, don't watch and don't write. These people crave attention - deprive them.

[HiJinx]

How about legal action under the current incarnation of the early 20th C. Alien and Sedition Acts?

I'm pretty sure 18 USC has something in it to address treason.

[Ed_in_NJ]

I believe that boycotting DOES help -- that's why the ratings for Fox are impressive, and those of the corrupt old nutworks going in the tank.

We (the webbers - of all stripe) have to stay vigilant and correct them as needed. They will continue to be corrupt, but more people will learn that and put more stock in other means (web) -- eventually, some of the 'majors' may get it and that will be great, but they must never be allowed to return to having a monopoly on access to the public: they have proven that they can't be trusted with it.

[rj45mis]

"I think we're eventually going to have to take on this enemy."

M999, I've been adamant about this as well but, apart from civil disobedience, I don't know how to deal with it. These traitorous sissies hide behind their 1st amendment "rights" and the only way I know to stop them is to capture and hold them as enemy combatants. This is extreme but our court system has no legal means to stop this anti-american activity.

[PhiKapMom]

I agree with you -- we are going to have to confront the media with their bias and anti-American attitude. Fox News is not the answer. We need a real news organization that doesn't have Breaking News all day long hour after hour. Fox was better before they hired so many liberals like Greta and Geraldo.

[rightwinggoth]

Thanks to Michael Moore and reality TV showing us the merits of taking selective editing at face value, we are forever freed from ever having to fit any piece of sensationalist video into any kind of larger context beyond what the media tells us.

[trek]

Totally to the point. The media found nothing newsworthy in the Marine's victory in Fallujah until they thought they had a scandal. That warranted breathless wall to wall coverage. The MSM have become an insane pack of seditious jackals.

[Txsleuth]

You got that right about Fox. Ever since the Rep. National Convention in August, Fox has gotten squishier.

Yesterday and today, they keep showing Geraldo drooling over Clinton and today was reporting the Kerry line about why he lost the election. Hint: it wasn't his fault. Kerry has blamed everyone but himself. He even blamed Fox today, for its biased coverage.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the ping:

Background info:

________________________________________________________________________________

Unholy Alliance

by David Horowitz
Hardcover - (September 2004) - $27.95

In this tour de force on the most important issue of our time, David Horowitz, confronts the paradox of how so many Americans, including the leadership of the Democratic Party, could turn against the War on Terror. He finds an answer in a political Left that shares a view of America as the “Great Satan” with America’s radical Islamic enemies.

[Poohbah]

How about legal action under the current incarnation of the early 20th C. Alien and Sedition Acts?

Those acts were repealed. Nice try.

[ml1954]

Are the media on our side?

No.

[PLK]

I believe that boycotting DOES help -- that's why the ratings for Fox are impressive, and those of the corrupt old nutworks going in the tank.

Fox seems to drifting further left. They were one of the first networks broadcasting the tape. And worse, at the beginning they kept referring to the soldier's action as an "execution." It was awful.

[photodawg]

Truly, the USMC is not in need of media allies to market a war. The fact that the US Gov't allowed embedded journalists, is an unprecedented exercise of freedom. I think all we are asking for is complete, fair and accurate coverage. This seems to be something TV just cannot practice. If it leads it bleeds, always. Don't diffuse the issue with truth. Let the picture speak. no matter how strongly it distorts the facts. Keep the controversy alive to keep the interest (ratings)up.They have loyalty to nothing, not even the truth. They are totally in the entertainment business. Carnage and controversy is good for the ratings. The reason for such biased and unfair coverage is because they can hide behind the first amendment and get away with it. TV news is on the same level as the National Enquirer. Free speech does not mandate responsibility. They do what they can get away with.