Posted on 06/07/2006 9:31:15 PM PDT by FreedomNeocon
Edited on 06/07/2006 10:10:12 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Here's an email we received from a U.S. military officer who asks us to withhold his name:
I am currently stationed here in Iraq and have been here for the past 11 months; I am an adviser to the Iraqis and meet them on a daily basis. I have been in many locations in the country and am involved on a daily basis together with the Iraqis fighting the insurgency.
The media manipulation by the insurgents is brilliant and extremely effective. The press has become a puppet for the insurgents; the insurgents know exactly what they are doing with these "massacres" (quoted here because the investigation has not been completed, nor have any charges been filed) and the political nightmare they will cause the current administration. Bodies are produced for film, and there is zero fact-checking by the media--the media eat up this "news" like there is no tomorrow. A couple of hundred bucks paid by the insurgents to a few guys/ladies in the town where this "massacre" occurred to make up some bad news and pine for the BBC's or CBS's or whoever's cameras is a nice month's salary for many and money well spent by the insurgency.
All the Arabs (Sunni and Shia), Kurds and Chaldeans I have come to know well here will tell you that Arabs are emotional people who tend to exaggerate. A lot. Experience has shown that "50 insurgents hiding out in XX location" is five, at most 10. "Three hundred dead" at the morgue is at most 40. "A huge cache with WMD" is 45-50 weapons. It is a cultural norm and is accepted over here as a norm. It is reported in the West as fact. With no fact-checking.
When we convoy, all in the town/village know when and where there is a bomb/IED/VBIED that is targeting coalition forces. This is not so true in Baghdad, but in the outlying towns all know. What is the culpability for those people in the village/town? Would the Marines be guilty in the U.S. under the same circumstances?
I do not know whether or not the Marines are guilty. A Marine's job is to "close with and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver," and I can guarantee its effectiveness. But the insurgents have the ear of the press. Hopefully the politics will be put aside for the investigation and the facts will be told, whatever they may be. [snip]
Plus I'm sick of e'ffin immigration threads.
Guh....
The part that starts "Peter" is not from the letter.
It's been posted but your right, it's worth repeating. It might help make up for the MSM ignoring pieces like this :-)
I love the comment about the lib who couldn't name any conservative who claims we're angels.
The trouble with Liberals is that they WANT Americans to act like angels. That's the same thing as taking a knife to a gunfight. The "intellectuals" love to say that we shouldn't stoop to the same level as our enemy. Well, if we don't, he's going to keep punching us in the gonads.
Bah.. oh well.
I won't lie... I didn't even do a search.
/smacks self around.
Oh well... not a big harm in dbl-posting at almost 1am... it'll be gone by morning ;)
This is definitely worth a repeat.
BTT
The media are willing participants in the game, not puppets. They come to Iraq with certain-------"effective publicity tools". They then work together with the Iraqis to begin spinning reality till it fits nicely around their own political agendas. Both sides hate America, so naturally both sides will "fight" together for a common cause.
Bump.
Thank you bump
I agree 100%. It was the DemocRATS and the liberal MSM who forced the military from Vietnam without allowing them to finish the job. They are trying to do it again. I hope this time we Americans can cause the 'RATS and their "media" to fail. The DemocRATS and their toadies in the MSM are trying to handcuff our soldiers while at the same time singing the praises of their murdering, Islamic "freedom fighters." I wish more Americans would speak out and express their outrage at what the MSM is doing. Let the DemocRATS and their MSM continue to inspire and encourage their Islamic "freedom fighter" pals. We've got the American fighting men and women on our side. We've got the winners.
I am a firm believer in press censorship during wartime, esp a hostile press
Anti Blame America First. Wonder how much play this will get in the MSM...somehow, I don't think they'll be able to squeeze this in...
To paraphrase the great writer Balzac, when you open a newspaper, you wittingly or not enter "a garish intellectual brothel."
This holds doubly true for broadcast sources. What old Honore Balzac would have made of them, we can only speculate.
We've come a hell of a long way since Khe Sanh and Tet. If the Internet had existed in 1968, things would have been a bit different. Uncle Walter would have ended up like Dandy Dan, for one thing. I can think of a few others as well.
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