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Rumsfeld says terrorists manipulate media
Associated Press ^ | ROBERT BURNS

Posted on 08/28/2006 6:28:04 PM PDT by Dubya

FALLON NAVAL AIR STATION, Nev. - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Monday he is deeply troubled by the success of terrorist groups in "manipulating the media" to influence Westerners.

"That's the thing that keeps me up at night," he said during a question-and-answer session with about 200 naval aviators and other Navy personnel at this flight training base for Navy and Marine pilots.

Rumsfeld was asked whether the criticism he draws as Pentagon chief and a leading advocate of the war in Iraq is an impediment to performing his job. He said it was not and he knows from history that wars are normally unpopular with many Americans. "I expect that," he said. "I understand that."

"What bothers me the most is how clever the enemy is," he continued, launching an extensive broadside at Islamic extremist groups which he said are trying to undermine Western support for the war on terror.

"They are actively manipulating the media in this country" by, for example, falsely blaming U.S. troops for civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

"They can lie with impunity," he said, while U.S. troops are held to a high standard of conduct.

Later, in remarks prepared for delivery at a Reno, Nev., convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Rumsfeld made similar points.

"The enemy lies constantly - almost totally without consequence," he told the veterans group, which was presenting him with the Dwight D. Eisenhower Distinguished Service Award. "They portray our cause as a war on Islam when in fact the overwhelming majority of victims of their terrorism have been thousands and thousands of innocent Muslims - men, women and children - they have killed."

In his prepared remarks at Reno he also said, "While some argue for tossing in the towel, the enemy is waiting and hoping for us to do just that."

Rumsfeld often complains about what he calls the terrorists' success in persuading Westerners that the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are part of a crusade against Islam. In his remarks at Fallon he did not offer any new examples of media manipulation; he put unusual emphasis, however, on the negative impact it is having on Americans in an era of 24-hour news.

"The enemy is so much better at communicating," he added. "I wish we were better at countering that because the constant drumbeat of things they say - all of which are not true - is harmful. It's cumulative. And it does weaken people's will and lessen their determination, and raise questions in their minds as to whether the cost is worth it," he said alluding to Americans and other Westerners.

Rumsfeld flew to Fallon on Monday from Fairbanks, Alaska, where he spent the weekend meeting with families of soldiers deployed in Iraq. He also visited a missile defense site at Ft. Greely and met Sunday with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov to discuss Iraq and other issues.

Vice President Dick Cheney addressed the VFW convention in Reno on Monday morning. He asserted to the veterans that policies initiated by the Bush administration are the reason the United States hasn't been attacked since the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes five years ago.

Cheney defended the Iraq war as necessary in the overall battle against terrorism and reiterated the administration's position that U.S. troops would not withdraw until Iraqi forces were able to maintain order and stability.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
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1 posted on 08/28/2006 6:28:04 PM PDT by Dubya
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To: Dubya

I disagree with Rumsfeld. "Manipulation" implies that the media is being duped, and is an unwilling partner. Yet it's clear that they know exactly what they're doing.


2 posted on 08/28/2006 6:30:48 PM PDT by NittanyLion
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To: Dubya

Our media allows themselves to manipulated. Their hatred of the truth and the desire to bury what is good and decent about this country is their primary source of what they call news.


3 posted on 08/28/2006 6:32:23 PM PDT by Kimmers
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To: Dubya

Rush pointed out how differently the Media acted with Sentani and Wiig than they have ever acted with others today. Especially our precious FNC. It proves beyond doubt that the media knows what responsible journalism is and that they simply choose to operate in a way that inhibits our efforts to win the war.


4 posted on 08/28/2006 6:32:37 PM PDT by kerryusama04 (Isa 8:20, Eze 22:26)
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To: NittanyLion

Exactly

Terrorists aren't clever and the democrats aren't political geniuses

MSM does all their water carrying for them and knows damn well they are covering up for them

That is why the administration and GOP has to CONFRONT the MSM on that fact and NOT BACKDOWN

They need to state it over and over and stay on message PERIOD

That is the only way to handle it

Unfortunately Bush won't do it so his people won't do it

Sad and depressing


5 posted on 08/28/2006 6:37:36 PM PDT by uncbob
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To: NittanyLion
I disagree with Rumsfeld. "Manipulation" implies that the media is being duped, and is an unwilling partner. Yet it's clear that they know exactly what they're doing.

Exactly what I was thinking.

"They are actively manipulating the media in this country" by, for example, falsely blaming U.S. troops for civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

"They can lie with impunity," he said


Wrong, Mr. Rumsfeld!

While the enemy may be manipulating some of our media, our media is also manipulating our enemies to do their bidding. Our media would love nothing better than the encourage and embolden our enemies to have great success on the battlefield and on their terrorist missions in order to get what they want: to destroy Bush and the republicans and to get into power.
6 posted on 08/28/2006 6:38:29 PM PDT by adorno
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To: Dubya

This is a HUGE indictment of the MSM from the Pentagon. Note he did NOT say that the media wasn't part of the manipulation process. He knows as well as you and I that they are. I think Bush needs to come out swinging against the MSM. That will rally conservatives.


7 posted on 08/28/2006 6:39:44 PM PDT by pissant
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To: Dubya

Naw. The media isn't manipulated...Being anti-American just comes naturally.


8 posted on 08/28/2006 6:40:01 PM PDT by My2Cents (A pirate's life for me.)
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To: sauropod

ping to Islamic manipulation of the media. Who would have thunk it?


9 posted on 08/28/2006 6:40:36 PM PDT by ARealMothersSonForever
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To: NittanyLion

Exactly right !!!


10 posted on 08/28/2006 6:41:13 PM PDT by Obie Wan
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To: pissant
Note he did NOT say that the media wasn't part of the manipulation process. He knows as well as you and I that they are.

Exactly. Rumsfeld knew that he had to walk a fine line, and he did just that. It's up to the talking heads and bloggers to fill in between the lines.

11 posted on 08/28/2006 6:43:56 PM PDT by randog (What the...?!)
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To: Dubya

But what Rumsfeld leaves out is that even knowing its a lie, Governments, including his Government acts as if the lie is truth.

So when the media lies that Israel bombed civilians at Qana, Rice demands of Israel a 48 hour cease fire.

One is forced to ask: if the Sec and his colleagues know its a lie, what do they continue to play the under enemy's ever changing rules.


12 posted on 08/28/2006 6:45:42 PM PDT by Sabramerican (Bush Doctrine- Old: Fight terrorists. New: Cease fire with terrorists.)
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To: randog; Tony Snow

And we have been filling in those balnks for years now. Hopefully, Tony Snow, now that he has the Prez's ear, is keeping him in touch with the blogosphere.


13 posted on 08/28/2006 6:49:46 PM PDT by pissant
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To: uncbob
Terrorists aren't clever

I dissagree. The whole world has watched the Iranian leader politically outsmart the present White House leadership.

The scary part is that many uninformed people in this world are blindly cheering this. They are blind because they do not yet understand that there is no political solution to end this war. There is only one solution and that's to convert to islam.

www.cafenetamerica.com

14 posted on 08/28/2006 6:52:08 PM PDT by MaineVoter2002 (http://www.cafenetamerica.com)
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To: NittanyLion
This is my first time to ever disagree with Rummy on anything I've ever heard him say about anything.

If he was just being kind to the media I disagree with that also. He should do as he has always done in the past and tell it straight.

The socialist journalist hate this administration with a passion and would rather see our wonderful country destroyed than to help, agree,support our military or tell the truth about the enemy. The democrats in congress are even worse because they are in an even greater position of power to aid the enemy.

Unbelievable,unreal and scary.
15 posted on 08/28/2006 6:53:36 PM PDT by BARLF
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To: NittanyLion; Kimmers; kerryusama04; uncbob; adorno; pissant; randog; Sabramerican; My2Cents; ...

I knew it wouldn't take more than one or two posts for FREEPERS to see the obvious. The media are not manipulated by terrorists. They collaborate with them.


16 posted on 08/28/2006 6:53:55 PM PDT by Enterprise (Let's not enforce laws that are already on the books, let's just write new laws we won't enforce.)
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To: Enterprise

One Palestinian even said on FNC, "We don't have F-16's, we only have the media as our weapon".


17 posted on 08/28/2006 6:57:18 PM PDT by kerryusama04 (Isa 8:20, Eze 22:26)
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To: NittanyLion

The media did this during the latter parts of Viet Nam as well. Walter Cronkite decided it was finished and we had lost, despite a resounding win for US Forces in the Tet 0f 68 offensive launched by the North.

After that, General Vo Ngyuen Giap knew all he had to do was play to our media and wait us out.

They betrayed us all then and they are betraying us now.


18 posted on 08/28/2006 7:01:14 PM PDT by DakotaRed (The legacy of the left, "Screw you, I got mine.")
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To: Dubya
"[The Terrorists] are actively manipulating the media in this country" by, for example, falsely blaming U.S. troops for civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, [Rumsfeld] said.

The Secretary of Defense, one of the leaders in the President's cabinet, has just made a flat statement accusing the media of being manipulated by the enemy during a time of war.

And this isn't major breaking news? Why is this buried in an AP secondary?

Where are the howls of outrage? Why isn't the media publishing this in bold headlines and aggressively responding to the Secretary's allegation.

Could it be because...it's true?

19 posted on 08/28/2006 7:04:24 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)
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To: Dubya

"In his remarks at Fallon he did not offer any new examples of media manipulation"

Keyword,"new" as in meaning today but yesterdays manipulation is no longer "new" and since tomorrow has yet to arrive there can be no determination if it's "new" since the media recycles old manipulations on a frequent bases.


20 posted on 08/28/2006 7:07:07 PM PDT by tobyhill (The War on Terrorism is not for the weak.)
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