Posted on 12/22/2004 5:58:12 AM PST by LS
Watching Charlie Gibson this morning, as he feigned his somber mood to report the rocket attack in Mosul, one could almost see him hiding the glee that he really felt at this incident. The fact is, the Mainstream Media loves high-casualty attacks like this, because they can (as Charlie did) drag on relatives of those involved in the attack and (if possible) relatives of the killed or wounded.
Side note: relatives of these soldiers need to get a clue that when ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN or any of the other MSMs call, the relatives are aiding and abetting the enemy by agreeing to an interview, regardless of what appears to be the "motivation" of the interviewers.
So Charlie soberly reports the horrific scene inside the mess tent and dutifully noted the heroic actions of some to rescue the wounded. What's missing, of course, as it always is with the MSM, is the context. Repeat with me, in a loud voice: THIS IS A WAR.
The MSM has run a steady campaign of trying to make Americans think that a war zone should be a peace zone---that Iraq is really a "normal" country that we happen to be "occupying" and thus "causing" the "insurgents" to attack average people. It is akin to some reporter in the Pacific in World War II trying to portray Manila as a "peace zone" that just happened to be "invaded" by Americans, "forcing" the Japanese to pour gasoline over hospital patients before torching them. Had Americans not been there . . . well, you can see the logic.
This all is a natural but terribly damaging result of instantaneous news coverage and the lack of censorship. I don't know if World War II-type censorship would even be possible here, but after doing a brilliant job of embedding the reporters during the high-level combat phase, the Pentagon must now come up with a different strategy of controlling the "news" during the "insurgent" phase.
There are realities that no one in the MSM even wants to acknowledge, let alone explain:
1) In eleven previous "insurgencies,"/guerilla movements/communist insurrections, the government or established power won seven. One of those losses, Vietnam, was clearly facilitated by an active anti-war press.
2) The majority of the government "wins" took a minimum of five years, and often eight to ten years. Two of the most successful (in that there has never been a revival of the initial opposition), Malaya in the 1950s and the Filipino Rebellion of the early 1900s took ten years of hard fighting.
3) This "insurrection" is not unique: several have been sponsored by outside forces and most of them defeated. It is nothing new to have outsiders coming in, or supplying weapons to those on the inside. What is somewhat different is the "suicide bomber," but even the number of those incidents has been greatly decreased in the past year, with the attack-of-choice now being the mortar or the IED.
The MSM desperately wants more Mosuls, because it allows them to "frame" the debate as a "quagmire." World War II (and any war) had more than its share of serious setbacks. Had reporters been free to report on Anzio, or some of the difficulties with the early bombing missions over France and Germany, or on the deadliness of the kamikazes, winning the Second World War would have been difficult if not impossible.
We are at war here, and not just with radical Islamofascist states, but with our own media elites who see their grip on public discourse disappearing by the day. This is their Tet. They will fight to the last reporter over this war.
Let's make it their Yorktown, where, bunkered up and besieged, they must ingloriously surrender to the patriot's who refuse to be bullied.
You have more fortitude than I do - I haven't watched any MSM shows in years. They are scum - no better that the filth that attacked our troops.
Wrong. According to Bush yesterday, these men were on a "mission of peace."
The MSM will be beating that drum as long as it sells to the stupid and then some.
On CSI they can resolve 3 separate murder cases in a mere episode. To think that war takes longer is just fodder for fools. /sarcasm
Really, this is the problem - besides the short attention spans, a media that works with the enemy, and lack of resolve. People sit down and watch movies with Will Smith and see that we avoid total distruction by aliens in less than 2.5 hours. That is if they stay focused and actually make it to the end of the movie. Perspectives are skewed.
LS, I agree with your assessment and I, like Poster #2, avoid MSM at all costs.
You are a sick man. Your words are disgsuting, to accuse the family of fighting men of aiding and abetting the enemy because you don't like what they say says a lot about you as an American.
Included in their belief system is the perverted idea that freedom includes pointing out any tragedy and exploiting it for profit.
BINGO!
And Uncle Walter didn't report the truth about Tet back then either
So Bush never calls it a war, huh? Only every other day. What a lie. Btw, Hiroshima was a mission of peace by Truman.
It would be more accurate to have said, "the relatives are being used by the MSM to aid......"
LS meant the right thing but used the wrong words.
He picked those words very carefully, it is a well written piece. He is calling the families of soldiers traitors because he thinks speaking out is bad for the war? That is sad.
LS is absolutely right. Words from relatives are easily twisted into propoganda used to aid and abet the enemy. That is a simple fact of war, and one of the most often used forms of propoganda. Unfortunately, our media usually does the enemy's work for it by twisting the heartfelt sorrow of family members to damage our war effort. LS is not sick. What is sick are members of our media who stakeout the homes of family members of fallen heroes, often times before the names of the fallen have been officially released. THAT is sick.
You are a lot sicker, for using spin & distortion against good FReeper LS. I agree totally they are being used by our enemies. That is said against their judgement in cooperating with the Lib Media, not about their good intentions.
They are working together to undermine troop morale and support for the war at home.
The GOP needs to step up its attacks on the MSM and take them to task for their treachery.
It doesn't fit his MO. But I'll let him defend his words, I was just giving my take on how I read it based on who wrote it.
1. We CANNOT do the fighting for someone else, whether they are French, or South Koreans, or Israeli's or Vietnamese without suffering major complications down the road.
2.An army in a war zone MUST ACT like an army! This means sandbags, field rations, loaded weapons and constant vigilance!
I was royally flamed on this board when I dared to suggest air-conditioned "sleep tents" would lower the combat readiness of the troops as well as create a magnificent target of opportunity for any available terrorist who passed by.
Six months ago some Washington backwater knuckleheads mustered a battalion of Seabees in an OPEN COMPOUND in BROAD DAYLIGHT and SURPRISE!- six of them were killed when a mortar round came flying over the barbed wire. If the attack had occurred a few minutes later there was a real possibility the first Admiral since WWII would have been killed or injured.
Yes, this is war and you must behave in a warlike manner.
It will be uncomfortable, it will be stressful and it will upend all preconceived notions about what is necessary and proper.
There is no room for warm and fuzzy mess tents that are not protected from attack Best regards,
The libs just live for this kind of horrific event. They rub their hands with glee! They make me SICK!
1. We CANNOT do the fighting for someone else, whether they are French, or South Koreans, or Israeli's or Vietnamese without suffering major complications down the road.
2.An army in a war zone MUST ACT like an army! This means sandbags, field rations, loaded weapons and constant vigilance!
I was royally flamed on this board when I dared to suggest air-conditioned "sleep tents" would lower the combat readiness of the troops as well as create a magnificent target of opportunity for any available terrorist who passed by.
Six months ago some Washington backwater knuckleheads mustered a battalion of Seabees in an OPEN COMPOUND in BROAD DAYLIGHT and SURPRISE!- six of them were killed when a mortar round came flying over the barbed wire. If the attack had occurred a few minutes later there was a real possibility the first Admiral since WWII would have been killed or injured.
Yes, this is war and you must behave in a warlike manner.
It will be uncomfortable, it will be stressful and it will upend all preconceived notions about what is necessary and proper.
There is no room for warm and fuzzy mess tents that are not protected from attack Best regards,
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