The media ran Abu Ghraib as a headliner on the front page for almost a solid month. The pictures were endlessly thrown in front of everybody's face the world round. The primary motivation was to try and pin this one on Bush, but the effect was to blow this way out of proportion. Sy Hersch promised pictures of torture and rape by US soldiers. They never materialized, but he never retracted.
Yes, the media was handed a story, but they turned it into a circus, and one which hurt America and endangered Americans. How you can hold them blameless in this matter is beyond my understanding.
Even today, the 'media' drags up Abu Ghraib at the drop of a hat. Anytime the terrorists commit an atrocity, you will find some antiwar nitwit remind us of Abu Ghraib and implying it is all our fault. There have been multiple trial balloons in the past month over Abu Ghraib, trying to get it on the front page again. This story has legs for one reason -- the antiwar left wants to discredit the Iraq War. To blame that all on Graner, dispicable though he may be, is shortsighted and lack basic fairness.
It's easy. I assume no more good will or fairness out of the media than I would a pack of starving wolves. It as natural for the media to distort as it is for hungry animals to kill. I'm beyond wanting them to be fair. It won't happen. Now, all I care about is for us to stop feeding them meat like Abu Ghraib, in hopes of starving them out.
Even today, the 'media' drags up Abu Ghraib at the drop of a hat. ... This story has legs for one reason -- the antiwar left wants to discredit the Iraq War.
This is all true. They don't play fair.
To blame that all on Graner, dispicable though he may be, is shortsighted and lack basic fairness.
To blame all of what? Graner broke the law, and is being punished. You can ascribe all kinds of other injustices to his particular case, but the fact of the matter is that he did wrong, and will face military justice.