Media Unbalanced On Military

[Annie]

Sure, "If it bleeds, it leads." But there has been a lot of bleeding, not too mention unbelievable courage. Compelling reading it would make:

http://www1.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/06/have_the_msm_ignored_our_heroe.html

June 19, 2006
Have the Mainstream Media Ignored Our Heroes?
By Cap Weinberger & Wynton Hall

"Why do media refuse to report anything positive about the War on Terrorism?"

"Why haven't we heard more about the heroic actions of our military serving in Afghanistan and Iraq?"

"Why is the liberal media so intensely hostile to the efforts of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines?"

If you've thought or asked similar questions since the War on Terrorism began, you're not alone. Indeed, it sometimes seems some in the mainstream media have followed a single rule when reporting on our military and the War on Terror: all negative, all the time.

After years of watching and reading coverage of the War on Terror, many citizens, including us, have been awestruck by the lack of balance and objectivity exercised by American reporters and news executives. The dearth of hopeful or heroic stories reported has given viewers a lopsided perspective.

Case in point: the New York Times and their love affair with the Abu Ghraib prison abuses. To date, the New York Times has devoted over 50 front page articles to the story! Currently, not a single individual chronicled in this book - some of the most highly decorated members of the United States military - has received a front-page story devoted to his or her valorous actions. Even when Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the best the New York Times could muster was a story buried on page 13. A nation that ignores or worse attacks its heroes erodes and disparages its own ethos.

Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, has catalogued hundreds of audacious quotes from leading reporters and media executives. Consider the following:

"The reason that the World Trade Center got hit is because there are a lot of people living in abject poverty out there who don't have any hope for a better life....I think they [the 19 hijackers] were brave at the very least." - AOL Time Warner Vice Chairman and CNN founder Ted Turner in February 11 remarks at Brown University, as reported by Gerald Carbone in the February 12, 2002, Providence Journal. The next day, Turner issued a statement: "The attacks of Sept. 11 were despicable acts. I in no way meant to convey otherwise."

Headline: "Our Soldiers in Iraq Aren't Heroes."

"We should not bestow the mantle of heroism on all of them [American men and women in uniform] for simply being where we sent them. Most are victims, not heroes." - CBS News 60 Minutes commentator, Andy Rooney, writing for The Buffalo News, April 12, 2004.

"We all know that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter and that Reuters upholds the principle that we do not use the word terrorist....To be frank, it adds little to call the attack on the World Trade Center a terrorist attack." - Steven Jukes, global head of news for Reuters News Service, in an internal memo cited by the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz in a September 24, 2001, article.

"What drives American civilians to risk death in Iraq? In this economy it may be, for some, the only job they can find." - Dan Rather denigrating the men and women of the Armed Forces by suggesting their decision to serve their nation was a last resort during the CBS Evening News on March 31, 2004, the day four American civilians were killed and mutilated in Fallujah, Iraq.

"The other day, while taking a break by the Al-Hamra Hotel pool...I was accosted by an American magazine journalist of serious accomplishment and impeccable liberal credentials....She came to the point. Not only had she 'known' the Iraq war would fail but she considered it essential that it did so because this would ensure that the 'evil' George W. Bush would no longer be running her country. Her editors back on the East Coast were giggling, she said, over what a disaster Iraq had turned out to be. 'Lots of us talk about how awful it would be if this worked out.'" - British journalist Toby Harnden, a reporter for the London Daily Telegraph, in an article published in the May 15, 2004, edition of The Spectator, a British-based weekly, recounting a conversation at a Baghdad hotel.

"Like beauty, freedom is a perception that lies in the eye of the beholder, and we ignore other nations' versions at our peril. The most dangerous perception of all may be that one's own side has an exclusive claim to either the truth or patriotism." - CBS News foreign correspondent, Allen Pizzey, preaching moral relativism on CBS's Sunday Morning, October 14, 2001.

"I don't support our troops." - Joel Stein, Los Angeles Times columnist, January 26, 2006

"I decided to put on my flag pin tonight--first time.... I put it on to remind myself that not every patriot thinks we should do to the people of Baghdad what bin Laden did to us." - Bill Moyers on PBS's Now, February 28, 2003.
​

As reprehensible as these quotes are, it is important to remember that these are not the banal protestations of the usual gaggle of American detractors like Barbara Streisand, Whoopi Goldberg, or Michael Moore--individuals whose rants are easily swatted away. These are some of our nation's leading journalistic lights; people whose words ricochet around the globe and often set the terms of debate for world leaders on issues of global concern.

It isn't that liberal reporters are incapable of singling out the actions of U.S. soldiers and featuring them prominently. They do it all the time. The problem is that their knee-jerk response when covering the U.S. military is to only portray members of our Armed Forces as victims or villains. Thus when we hear the words "Abu Ghraib" and "dog leash," our minds instantly snap to the now infamous picture of Army Private First Class Lynndie England tethered to an enemy prisoner.

But what about the words "Battle of Tarmiya"? Do you experience a similar connection to a Marine Sergeant Marco Martinez? Try another one: "Burning tank" and "An Najaf"? Does the image of Army Sergeant Javier Camacho leaping on a flaming tank before muscling open a jammed tank turret and rescuing Private First Class Adam Small instantly come to mind? Or what about "the Saddam Canal Bridge" and "lifesaving valor"? Does your mind's eye immediately paint a picture of Navy Hospitalman 3rd Class Luis E. Fonseca, Jr.? Of course not.

After all, these men are heroes, and if you believe, as many in the elite media seem to, that concepts like "good" and "evil" are subjective and up for interpretation, then the word "hero" is meaningless. And that's the problem.

Many in the media find the word "hero" too black and white, too judgmental, too certain of our nation's purpose and essential goodness. In a world where there is no distinction between good and evil, by definition, heroes cease to exist. That's why the quote from the head of Reuter's News Service, one of the largest and most powerful news organizations in the world, is so revealing. It illustrates that reporters of such ilk draw no distinction between the terrorists and our own soldiers. "After all," they reason, "One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist."

But as Master Sergeant William "Calvin" Markham, put it, "When I hear that kind of thing, honestly, it makes me glad, because it means those individuals have the freedom to think and say what they wish....The media are sometimes a little like how some people are when watching a NASCAR race; they're waiting for the crash. They're waiting for the bad thing to happen. But basically I think they're armchair quarterbacks. They don't see the bigger picture of what we're trying to do."

We agree.

Does America remain vulnerable? Absolutely. Will the War on Terror demand continued sacrifice? Unquestionably. Yet as the brave men and women of the U.S. military march forward to defend freedom and fulfill their duty, so too must we fulfill ours: to pause and offer thanks to those who protect us for their heroism and bravery.

And above all, we must always remember the great and enduring lesson American history teaches: "Ours would not be the land of the free if it were not also the home of the brave."

Caspar W. Weinberger and Wynton C. Hall are the co-authors of the new book, Home of the Brave: Honoring the Unsung Heroes in the War on Terror.

Luckily there are other ways now to get the 'other side' of the story:

http://www.blackfive.net/main/someone_you_should_know/index.html

http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/smith/

http://www.vetsforfreedom.org/patriots/

 

[Bullypulpit]

From the article you posted:

Does America remain vulnerable? Absolutely. Will the War on Terror demand continued sacrifice? Unquestionably. Yet as the brave men and women of the U.S. military march forward to defend freedom and fulfill their duty, so too must we fulfill ours: to pause and offer thanks to those who protect us for their heroism and bravery.

And above all, we must always remember the great and enduring lesson American history teaches: "Ours would not be the land of the free if it were not also the home of the brave." - <a href=http://www1.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/06/have_the_msm_ignored_our_heroe.html> Cap Weinberger & Wynton Hall</a>

Indeed the "war on terror" does require sacrifice, but when that sacrifice is borne solely by the men and women of our military, the equation seems to be a bit unbalanced. After 9/11 Dubbyuh urged us, not to make sacrifices to defend America from the threat of terrorism, but rather to "...Go Shopping...".

As taxes continue to be cut for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, adding billions of dollars to the national debt, while our troops continue to have a nearly $50 billion dollar backlog on equipment requests, as we continue to shop...our blood and treasure continues to be spilled in Iraq...Our young men and women are sent to die on a fool's errand.

If anyone dishonors the heroism and bravery of our men and women in uniform, it is this administration, which offers up "Stay the Course" as its strategy, which is nothing more than empty rhetoric.

America would indeed suffer were it not for the sacrifices made by those rough men who go willingly into harms way, to defend America from the forces of tyranny and oppression that would threaten her. But Iraq posed no imminent threat to America, or her allies...No WMD's were ever found...No reconstituted nuclear weapons program was uncovered...No mobile bioweapon production facilities were ever discovered. Our blood and treasure is being spent recklessly by this administration...war profiteers go unpunished...Any who question administration policy continue to be branded as unpatriotic, defeatist and extermist...And the Administration refuses to admit it error in pursuing an illegal and unjust war of aggression in Iraq.

 

[CSM]

From the article you posted:



Indeed the "war on terror" does require sacrifice, but when that sacrifice is borne solely by the men and women of our military, the equation seems to be a bit unbalanced. After 9/11 Dubbyuh urged us, not to make sacrifices to defend America from the threat of terrorism, but rather to "...Go Shopping...".

As taxes continue to be cut for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, adding billions of dollars to the national debt, while our troops continue to have a nearly $50 billion dollar backlog on equipment requests, as we continue to shop...our blood and treasure continues to be spilled in Iraq...Our young men and women are sent to die on a fool's errand.

If anyone dishonors the heroism and bravery of our men and women in uniform, it is this administration, which offers up "Stay the Course" as its strategy, which is nothing more than empty rhetoric.

America would indeed suffer were it not for the sacrifices made by those rough men who go willingly into harms way, to defend America from the forces of tyranny and oppression that would threaten her. But Iraq posed no imminent threat to America, or her allies...No WMD's were ever found...No reconstituted nuclear weapons program was uncovered...No mobile bioweapon production facilities were ever discovered. Our blood and treasure is being spent recklessly by this administration...war profiteers go unpunished...Any who question administration policy continue to be branded as unpatriotic, defeatist and extermist...And the Administration refuses to admit it error in pursuing an illegal and unjust war of aggression in Iraq.

Horse puckey. I suspect you know that.

 

[Bullypulpit]

Horse puckey. I suspect you know that.

Yeah...Cap and Wynton are full of it.

 

[Annie]

From the article you posted:



Indeed the "war on terror" does require sacrifice, but when that sacrifice is borne solely by the men and women of our military, the equation seems to be a bit unbalanced. After 9/11 Dubbyuh urged us, not to make sacrifices to defend America from the threat of terrorism, but rather to "...Go Shopping...".

As taxes continue to be cut for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, adding billions of dollars to the national debt, while our troops continue to have a nearly $50 billion dollar backlog on equipment requests, as we continue to shop...our blood and treasure continues to be spilled in Iraq...Our young men and women are sent to die on a fool's errand.

If anyone dishonors the heroism and bravery of our men and women in uniform, it is this administration, which offers up "Stay the Course" as its strategy, which is nothing more than empty rhetoric.

America would indeed suffer were it not for the sacrifices made by those rough men who go willingly into harms way, to defend America from the forces of tyranny and oppression that would threaten her. But Iraq posed no imminent threat to America, or her allies...No WMD's were ever found...No reconstituted nuclear weapons program was uncovered...No mobile bioweapon production facilities were ever discovered. Our blood and treasure is being spent recklessly by this administration...war profiteers go unpunished...Any who question administration policy continue to be branded as unpatriotic, defeatist and extermist...And the Administration refuses to admit it error in pursuing an illegal and unjust war of aggression in Iraq.

Bully, what would you recommend 'the homefront do'? Save tinfoil? Plant victory gardens? The tactics and landscape changed since the first half of the 20th C.

I wonder, have you checked out Soldier's Angels's Valor IT project? http://soldiersangels.org/valour/index.html It's one of many.

Have you written or donated to help with soldier's requests for toys, shoes, glasses, schoolbooks, or funds for surgeries for Iraqi/Afghan children?

Guessing the reply would be '..so the administration has failed again to provide what the troops need...', no. You want 'people' connected, help them connect. Do I think that the government should be promoting the myriad of resources available, yes. Have they? Yes, though perhaps not to the degree they should.

 

[CSM]

Yeah...Cap and Wynton are full of it.

Glad you agree.

 

[CSM]

From the article you posted:



Indeed the "war on terror" does require sacrifice, but when that sacrifice is borne solely by the men and women of our military, the equation seems to be a bit unbalanced. After 9/11 Dubbyuh urged us, not to make sacrifices to defend America from the threat of terrorism, but rather to "...Go Shopping...".

I suppose the good citizens of the US should have rounded up all the Muslims currently in the US and put them in camps, confiscated their material possessions, and interogated every one of them. The population of this country should have immediately gone on a system of fuel, rubber, and other types of rationing. By the way, the "go shopping" comment is very misleading taken out of context as it is but that is part of your modus operandii.

As taxes continue to be cut for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, adding billions of dollars to the national debt, while our troops continue to have a nearly $50 billion dollar backlog on equipment requests, as we continue to shop...our blood and treasure continues to be spilled in Iraq...Our young men and women are sent to die on a fool's errand.

Horse crap....there are a lot of fools in the US but they aren't the US military. There are a lot of reasons for the $50 billion backlog but that aside, from this comment I presume you are writing your political favorites to encourage them to not only provide more funding but also to urging them to vote more incentives for corporate America to increase production, hire more workers and get that back log down...you are doing that, right?

If anyone dishonors the heroism and bravery of our men and women in uniform, it is this administration, which offers up "Stay the Course" as its strategy, which is nothing more than empty rhetoric.

"Stay the course" sounds a heck of a lot better to military folks than "cut and run" that you and your kind offer. It probably seems like empty rhetoric to you because you don't know the meaning of the words...

America would indeed suffer were it not for the sacrifices made by those rough men who go willingly into harms way, to defend America from the forces of tyranny and oppression that would threaten her. But Iraq posed no imminent threat to America, or her allies...No WMD's were ever found...No reconstituted nuclear weapons program was uncovered...No mobile bioweapon production facilities were ever discovered. Our blood and treasure is being spent recklessly by this administration...war profiteers go unpunished...Any who question administration policy continue to be branded as unpatriotic, defeatist and extermist...And the Administration refuses to admit it error in pursuing an illegal and unjust war of aggression in Iraq.

Same old hackery...I really really am dismayed that you write so much about the bravery, etc. of the men and women of the military and then in the end call them criminals...participants in a criminal act....your hypocracy is showing!

You will have to do better than that to convince me of your talking points, but then you really aren't trying to convince me of anything, are you.

 

[Bullypulpit]

I suppose the good citizens of the US should have rounded up all the Muslims currently in the US and put them in camps, confiscated their material possessions, and interogated every one of them. The population of this country should have immediately gone on a system of fuel, rubber, and other types of rationing. By the way, the "go shopping" comment is very misleading taken out of context as it is but that is part of your modus operandii.

Don't project your interment/interrogate/confiscate fantasy on me. Why not ration fuel? It would reduce consumption and limit the impact of any interrruption of oil supplies from the Middle East, higher gas taxes would accomplish the same goal. Tax investment income at higher levels and rolling back the fiscally irresponsible tax cuts would have been appropriate as well. It would certainly have helped reduce the amount borrowed from foreign powers to fund this disasterous episode of foreign adventurism. But such actions would have lost Dubbyuh the White House and the GOP control of both houses of Congress in '04. Had that happened we might have actually had most of our troops home by now. Golly!

Horse crap....there are a lot of fools in the US but they aren't the US military. There are a lot of reasons for the $50 billion backlog but that aside, from this comment I presume you are writing your political favorites to encourage them to not only provide more funding but also to urging them to vote more incentives for corporate America to increase production, hire more workers and get that back log down...you are doing that, right?

The Bush tax cuts certainly aren't doing the job. And yes, I have written ny representative in the House and Senate about ensuring adequate funding for equipment and supplies for our troops. Unfortunately, they are both Republicans and are intent on rubber-stamping evey misbegotten, ill-concieved policy that comes out of the Oval Office.

"Stay the course" sounds a heck of a lot better to military folks than "cut and run" that you and your kind offer. It probably seems like empty rhetoric to you because you don't know the meaning of the words...

Staying the course with a rational and well though out plan is perfectly acceptable. Unfortunately, the Administration has no plan, either rational or well thought out. As it stands now, all staying the course is doing is getting our men and women in uniform killed. John Murtha's plan, which I support, maintains a US presence in the region, close enough to conduct operations if needed...Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman...already have large US contingents in place, and all are close enough to deploy repid response forces if the Iraqi government requested the assistance.

Same old hackery...I really really am dismayed that you write so much about the bravery, etc. of the men and women of the military and then in the end call them criminals...participants in a criminal act....your hypocracy is showing!

The only crimnals are in the administration for their reckless, feckless spending of our blood and treasure. Our troops are doing their duty, and doing it with honor and courage, neither of which members of the Bush Administration, with certain exceptions, showed when they had the opportunity to serve thei country in Vietnam, and didn't.

 

[Bullypulpit]

Bully, what would you recommend 'the homefront do'? Save tinfoil? Plant victory gardens? The tactics and landscape changed since the first half of the 20th C.

I wonder, have you checked out Soldier's Angels's Valor IT project? http://soldiersangels.org/valour/index.html It's one of many.

Have you written or donated to help with soldier's requests for toys, shoes, glasses, schoolbooks, or funds for surgeries for Iraqi/Afghan children?

Guessing the reply would be '..so the administration has failed again to provide what the troops need...', no. You want 'people' connected, help them connect. Do I think that the government should be promoting the myriad of resources available, yes. Have they? Yes, though perhaps not to the degree they should.

I didn't know about the voice activated laptop program, I'll have to follow up oin that one. My wife and I have made donations to Christian Children's Fund, earmarked for medical needs of Iraqi and Afghan children.

 

[Annie]

I didn't know about the voice activated laptop program, I'll have to follow up oin that one. My wife and I have made donations to Christian Children's Fund, earmarked for medical needs of Iraqi and Afghan children.

and whichever ways people choose to support the troops, great! Those are the ways that we are 'connected,' very differently than in the past, but to a large extent, gives more for the troops to use personally or to help with the indigenous people. I don't see this as bad, certainly better than cigarettes or Hershey bars.

 

[CSM]

Don't project your interment/interrogate/confiscate fantasy on me. Why not ration fuel? It would reduce consumption and limit the impact of any interrruption of oil supplies from the Middle East, higher gas taxes would accomplish the same goal. Tax investment income at higher levels and rolling back the fiscally irresponsible tax cuts would have been appropriate as well. It would certainly have helped reduce the amount borrowed from foreign powers to fund this disasterous episode of foreign adventurism. But such actions would have lost Dubbyuh the White House and the GOP control of both houses of Congress in '04. Had that happened we might have actually had most of our troops home by now. Golly!

Heaven forbid I project anything on you...especially when you are trying to spew your liberal tripe on everyone else. I am all for rationing gas...I get all I need and you libs get none. How's that? As for the tax cuts, do you mean the ones that have been working in keeping the US economy robust? I am all for them (except for libs of course...they should pay MORE). Had the GOP not won, the US would now be part of the EU and under the heel of the UN...no thanks.

The Bush tax cuts certainly aren't doing the job. And yes, I have written ny representative in the House and Senate about ensuring adequate funding for equipment and supplies for our troops. Unfortunately, they are both Republicans and are intent on rubber-stamping evey misbegotten, ill-concieved policy that comes out of the Oval Office.

Again the tax cuts and I say you are wrong in your opinion in this instance. You gave your tax cut back...right? I kept mine because I like money, especially money that I earned in the first place. I guess the majority of the people where you live dont agree with you either since you have Republican representation in Congress...which prompts me to ask: did it ever occur to you that you might be WRONG? or are your fellow citizens just stupid? I bet I know what you will answer!

Staying the course with a rational and well though out plan is perfectly acceptable. Unfortunately, the Administration has no plan, either rational or well thought out. As it stands now, all staying the course is doing is getting our men and women in uniform killed. John Murtha's plan, which I support, maintains a US presence in the region, close enough to conduct operations if needed...Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman...already have large US contingents in place, and all are close enough to deploy repid response forces if the Iraqi government requested the assistance.

Truthfully, what is the lib plan? Staying the course is fine with me. And don't even go there about who served when and who saw the elephant and who didn't. Murtha's plan is bullshit....he knows it, too. Any military person knows that yes, you can bomb any country in the world into the stone age but if you want anything left, you cannot do that...By the way, our troops were "redeployed" before 9/11...that plan didn't work. I am sure you forgot that little piece of tactical error on our part.

The only crimnals are in the administration for their reckless, feckless spending of our blood and treasure. Our troops are doing their duty, and doing it with honor and courage, neither of which members of the Bush Administration, with certain exceptions, showed when they had the opportunity to serve thei country in Vietnam, and didn't.

You are making me laugh...laud the troops...great. Bash the members of the current administration and their service...fine. Then, hold up a lying, traitorous bastard as the paragon of military service (you know, the one who admitted to commiting war crimes, accused his fellow soldiers of war crimes, gave aid and comfort to the enemy, awarded himself his own medals, got a less than honorable discharge from the service, provided false testimony to this country's leaders in the halls of Congress, etc).... that alone tells me a bunch about your concept of honor and integrity. I'll take the guy that served in the Guard HONORABLY over the guy who lies about his service, aids the enemy and tries to undermine his fellow servicemen for political gain.

Bully, if the world looks crappy to you, you might want to consider yanking your head out of your butt. At least keep your eyes closed while it's up there.