Want To Successfully Complete The Mission In Iraq?
By Doug Edelman (11/25/05)
The problem is that the mainstream press and the Democrats DON'T! Any appearance of success of any Bush initiative is so repugnant to them, they must snatch defeat from the jaws of victory! It's all about returning power to the left, and rendering the Republican majority impotent in the meantime – even if that means the sacrifice of lives, values… entire nations. There is no priority on earth which supercedes or transcends the left's over-arching directive… regain power at any cost.
Mona Charen's recent article, "One Marine's Words" highlighted how the left's main change-agent, the press, warps and distorts and omits the reality of events in Iraq to suit it's agenda. It is perhaps the best condensation of the issue I have read. The complete article can be found at http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=10240.
If I can borrow from Mona to make my own observations, she highlights Marine Sgt. Todd Bowers experiences with the press. He was misquoted to imply the very opposite of what he was saying in support of the mission. He noted reticence on the part of the press to photograph or report anything which reflected positively on the mission and their accomplishments. Conversely, he saw an eagerness to find and broadcast anything negative. The ideas of aimlessness, quagmire, failure and futility were at the heart of anything being broadcast out of Iraq.
One is left to wonder – why is the oppositional press being given such free reign in our military operations? During the initial combat phases, we EMBEDDED journalists within our battling troops ranks! War is a dirty business. We don't need instant images beamed off a satellite and into living rooms around the world – especially when they come wrapped in anti-mission commentary. Perhaps our wars would be shorter and more successful if they were carried on as "black ops" – shrouded in secrecy until the mission was completed. The rhetoric against such secrecy would be shrill, but certainly no worse than the current partisan wrangling. But the military would be left to perform its mission without the biggest obstacle to their success, which overshadows even the enemy… the mainstream media!
The mainstream press is either willingly or naively cooperating with the strategy of the terrorists and insurgents. They know Americans have no stomach for a protracted and wearying effort. We are instant-gratification oriented. They have learned; kill 3000 in a day, and we'll kick your posterior. Kill 2 or 3 a day for a couple years, and you'll wear us down. And the press willingly leads their Iraq stories with the daily body count.
All commercial journalists in theatre should be ushered OUT of operational areas in short order. All news coming out of an area of operations should be issued by the Armed Forces Press Service. (They ARE qualified journalists who are quite capable of putting together their own newsworthy stories.) There is no reason for our military to continue to play gracious host to such unruly and disruptive houseguests.
Copyright © 2005 by Doug Edelman
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