The Media from Prisoner Abuse to Casualty Reports in Iraq
By Daniel Matarazzo (08/31/05)
I watched a movie called ‘The Great Raid’ this week, and I reflected afterwards about the changes to American culture, since WWII, how we have grown soft and morally weak, led by an out of control, soulless media. America was spiritually strong, if not militarily strong right before the war. Early in the war as Japan’s power was waxing and ours was crippled by Pearl Harbor, we lost the Philippines to the forces of the ‘Empire of the Sun.’ They took 10,000 American soldiers, as well as 50,000 of our native allies’ prisoner at Baatan. The Japanese, who thought of surrender as weakness, followed their centuries old ‘Bushido Code’ when dealing with prisoners. They believed that suicide was preferable to surrender, and treated our prisoners with contempt. Not wanting to deal with caring for so many prisoners, they forced them to march hundreds of miles, through snake infested swamps and jungle to camps. This was known as the “Baatan Death March.” Fifteen Thousand died on the march alone, with countless more dying over the next three years due to malnourishment, torture, and summary executions.
I reflected upon these monstrous events and wondered if the press had reported then, as they do now, could we have fought WWII? Could the people have stood it? Could American mothers have withstood it? In WWII, we lost more than 400,000 dead, and more than a million wounded! What if the media, in print and newsreels, had questioned every decision, brought in ‘experts’ to refute every success, daily reported on the suffering of the Japanese and German civilians and created media darlings out of every grieving and unhinged parent? How would the American peoples perception of the need for sacrifice and solidarity changed?
As I watched the movie, I thought of Abu Ghraib, and where we should rank on the infamous list of insidious, horrible, vicious prison abusers. I thought about how you compare putting underwear on a guys head and making a dog bark at him, with throwing 150 men into underground air raid shelters, and pouring aviation fuel on them and tossing in a match. The Japanese did exactly this at one camp as we advanced upon Luzon, in 1944, as we were retaking the Philippines. They thought so little of prisoners that they could not even allow them to be repatriated; they felt that their dishonor for having been captured meant that they did not deserve liberation.
Then I thought of Gitmo, and all the “terrible” things going on there. We captured these men with rifles, shooting at our soldiers, without uniforms, on the battlefield, and the ACLU wants them to get trials and be put in jail like bank robbers. We put them in an isolated place, gave them Korans, ethnic clothing, and three meals a day. We allow them to pray and exercise. And despite internment, none have died. Just the thought of it makes me wonder if Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler would approve. According to Senator Durbin, they would think that they were right at home, as the Senator stated he felt that we were equal to such monsters in his eyes for our treatment of prisoners.
I hear every day about how high the casualties are in Iraq. It makes me scratch my head. My brother is an active duty soldier, and he is and will be in harms way, so I understand personally and very clearly that every man lost is important. However, as a student of military history, I know what it means to have high casualties, and Iraq does not qualify. When you put the numbers in perspective, something becomes apparent; far from being a failure, this war is remarkable in the extremely low casualty rate! We have lost approx 1900 soldiers killed, in two years. The media screams this total daily making sure that no one loses track, they publish the pictures, they wail about not being able to see the coffins, and they make everyone so sad that we as a people lose heart. I wonder if a repeat of a great event like the rescue of our prisoners, like that depicted in the movie, is even possible anymore. The media would slant coverage so that if it failed they would report on how stupid it was and if it succeeded they would report only how reckless it was.
This is the key to the left wing’s media assault and they are deadly good at it. They constantly over-report the casualty list, and the American people, soft hearted souls that we all really are, weaken and our resolve melts away. This is how the anti-war people defeated the government and vilified our soldiers during the Vietnam era, and it still works today. I think of Ronald Reagan when he said, "We all share the love of peace, but our sons and daughters must learn two lessons men everywhere and in every time have had to learn; that the price of freedom is dear but not nearly so costly as the loss of freedom—and that the advance and continuation of civilization depend on those values for which men have always been willing to die."
Real heavy wartime casualties are easy to see. Pearl Harbor cost us nearly 3,000 men in three hours. During the battle of Okinawa, just one battle of many we fought in WWII, total American battle casualties were 49,151, of which 12,520 were killed or missing and 36,631 wounded, in three (approx) months! D-Day was very bloody. During the overall battle of Normandy (three weeks), the US lost 9,386 men. Just the first day, the breakdown of US casualties was 1,465 dead, 3,184 wounded, 1,928 missing (presumed dead) and 26 captured. On Tarawa, called “Bloody Tarawa” by the Marines, we lost 1000 dead and several thousand wounded, in three days! On the first day, the beach landing was a disaster, with 1500 casualties (dead and wounded) lying on the beach after one afternoon. Of the 4700 Japanese defenders only 17 were found alive on the third day, along with 129 Korean construction workers who surrendered.
Think of the damage to US influence and standing if we were to be forced out of Iraq due to lack of public support. This is the end sought by the liberal press core. We will be so much more vulnerable to terrorism if the terrorists think of us as weak; we will become a paper tiger. There will be no deterrence to savagery if the ones who seek to do us harm have no fear of us and that is what a retreat will give them, a victory that they will use to dire effect against us. If you think of Iraq as a recruiting ground for terror now, just imagine how easy it will be for Bin Laden to recruit more terrorists if he can show the US turning tail and running from Iraq.
The media in this country has become so politicized that they cannot be trusted to present a fair and balanced account of this war. Too many in positions of power have a personal political agenda that they allow to infiltrate every event that they “report.” Too many others have no conscience and they whore themselves out for any chance at an exclusive. They claw and scramble to out do each other in their lurid and sensational descriptions of the daily prosecution of the war. Whoever makes it sound worse wins the prize! This is not journalism. This bastardization is doing irreparable damage to our ability to fight and win this war. The American people must vote with their remotes. Turn off this propaganda. Refuse to continue to be a pawn.
No doubt the press, as an institution, is very important. It keeps government honest. But to do that job effectively, the members themselves must be honest and fair. Then we might get an honest account someday of this war – and make no mistake – this is a war – these people want to destroy us and our way of life.
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