Posted on 03/26/2003 4:16:22 AM PST by SJackson
Right before the Midterm elections, the conventional wisdom, driven by the liberal media which shapes it, was that Americans had moved past terrorism, the area of Bush's strength and were more worried about economic issues, the Democrats' turf.
The media proved to be wrong. The election results showed that Americans were still focused on 9-11and the war on terror and still wanted Bush to lead us through the crisis, this time with a compliant Congress at his back.
Now, negativism hits us again - through the same agency: overwrought and liberal news anchors. Anyone watching television coverage of the war cannot but be astonished at the carping pessimism of many of the anchors and interviewers on all the networks and cable stations. Astounded that we are taking casualties, horrified that we have lost prisoners, amazed that we face ground fire, they radiate what used to be called defeatism.
But it is not a defeatism or even an impatience shared by the American people. Mourning each casualty, they realize that our military will have to lose valiant men and courageous women. Regretting each POW, they understand that Americans will be captured. Praying for our soldiers' lives, they grasp that some will die.
But Americans are also relieved that the horror stories painted by the liberal media in the days before the war have not come to pass. Iraq's oil fields are overwhelmingly not ablaze. Nor are millions of barrels of oil spilling into the Gulf creating a global ecological disaster. Our troops have, thus far, not faced chemical or biological weapons. We have found a massive 100 acre chemical weapons plant. We have shot down the SCUD missiles.
And, above all, we have not been hit with the domestic acts of terrorism of which the more hysterical critics - and, indeed, our own government - warned us.
We are advancing on Baghdad and reducing the circle of land Saddam controls to a tiny portion of his country, a portion without oil, without resources, and with only mouths to feed.
In the remainder of the war, our biggest adversary is likely to be our own humanitarianism and the political atmosphere that surrounds the war. Saddam's troops are obviously planning to withdraw into Baghdad and use the population there as human shields for their dying grasp on power.
We cannot permit our concern with Iraqi civilian casualties to lead to American combat deaths. Unless and until we convince the Iraqi military that they cannot hide behind women and children, we will needlessly expose our own soldiers to risk and casualties.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
I've given away two copies of that book (Conquest of Cool).
Kids are occassionally amazed to learn that the whole counter-revolution was engineered (by Commies and other useful idiots on Madison Ave).
"Yeah, you're such a rebel and so cool to be piercing the same things as all your other firends, wearing the same things as all of your other friends, listening to the same music, and chanting the same chants. Oh yeah, you're a *bigtime* rebel!"
Peter Jennings without question ... Koppel on the other hand, as an embedded reporter with an Army unit on the pointy end of the spear, seems almost circumspect in his reporting. If the Army Command thinks he's giving vital info out in his live broadcasts they would tell him in no uncertain terms. If it continued Koppel would be yanked in a heartbeat ... if he were lucky ... the other remedy, an option ... well, you know what I'm getting at.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.