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.
Let's quietly quash this wretched Rumsfeld speech. The American people understand the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth--they believe the enemy propaganda that The New York Times publishes with their whole heart, mind, and soul. Bush cannot attack the media; he lacks the political capital even to issue vaguely defensive statements against wretched Democratic attacks. To gain even some minor degree of legitimacy or moral authority, Bush absolutely must placate those who divine the Truth and disseminate it to our enemies (formerly called journalists).
To give just a single example of the importance of the hearts and minds of the media in fighting the war on terror, consider one time that The New York Times attacked the Bush Administration. They published details of our terrorist surveillance program and shrouded it in a cloud of legal doubt, bestowing great legitimacy and the moral standing of innocent civilians upon the enemies of the United States who really seek, plot, plan, and even occasionally succeed in massacring hundreds or even thousands of our beloved compatriots. Because Bush lacked the necessary credibility with the media, the media decreed the Truth upon Bush that he committed a grave offense in violating the sacrosanct Constitutionally protected rights of the American people, including illegal immigrants and terrorists embedded among us, to converse with terrorist enemies of the United States abroad in absolute privacy. Earlier this month, an almighty federal judge--relying solely upon the Truth printed in The New York Times, an enemy newsletter--thoroughly endorsed this seditionist view and halted all technological surveillance of terrorists. She effectively ratified the Terrorist Bill of Rights on behalf of the several States, and her word reigns eternal over this land.
Bush cannot afford to make any more enemies in the press. He probably and perhaps rightfully soon faces impeachment proceedings regarding his dastardly violations of the solemn rights of terrorists to plot to end our very lives in secrecy. No president can enjoy the benefit of the Truth and the legitimacy to command the land and naval forces of the United States unless he first win and maintain friends in the socialistic, surrender-minded pro-terrorist press.
I hate the DBM also. They aren't any better.
You sure have that right!
That quote came to mind as I was reading this article. Funny how the MSM did not pick up that they are the weapon being used against the USA. The MSM thinks that their (willing) participation only hurts the Bush administration; they fail to see that it hurts the entire country. The Bill of Rights is not a suicide pact! IMHO, freedom of the press only works when the press has the interests of the nation ahead of its own interests.
This enemy (Islam) knows that they cannot defeat the United States, so they are using the First Ammendment, both freedom of the press and freedom of religion, against us. They are counting on us to defeat ourselves.
You are sorely mistaken. Bush's press conference after th etimes leak showed he was visibly pissed and he said so in no uncertain terms. He has also launched investigation into that leak and others.
When the judge-shopped ACLU supporting judge ruled in the eavesdropping case, it was immediately set aside pending appeal. There is no way on God's green earth the courts will uphold that dingbats ruling. And even if they did, Congress already has a plan in place to bypass the courts on this issue. Bush's criticisms of the media have been dead nuts on and he has not let up. He does absolutely, positively NOTHING to appease the democrats or the MSM and their crusade to curtail our WOT. Whether it is Iraq, Guantanamo, NSA spying, banking records, he has not changed a thing. He has done nothing in his 6 years that pleses the appeasers, and he ain't about to start now.
Finally someone came right out and said it. And I'll go even further: the MSM is either a mindless dupe or a willing collaborator with our enemies.
If today were WWII - you'd see all the big "stars" rushing to get Hitler's "side" of the story......
While I will, agree to a point, that both could have prosecuted the war better, had either actually allowed us to fight as we should have, can you imagine the public outcry about it?
Consider the outcry of when we went into Cambodia and the bombings that finally convinced North Viet Nam to return to negotiations.
Now, think about who was leading the outcry ....... the MEDIA!
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