Posted on 10/22/2007 12:10:47 PM PDT by faq
No joke. So despairing is he of the gap between what he’s seeing on the ground versus what he’s seeing in the papers, especially in Basra, that he’s offering his reports and photos to the National Newspaper Association at no charge. But he needs your help, in two ways:
Using the lessons learned from “Bless the Beasts,” it probably won’t be enough just to make the news I am reporting available to NNA-member publications at no cost. There may need to be a little irritating sand in order to get a pearl out of this oyster…
[R]eaders can first check to see if their local paper is a member of the NNA… If their local paper is a member of NNA, readers can contact the editor, urging their participation. [If Bob Owens’ experience is a reliable indicator, this might take several, uh, prompts.] By encouraging their local daily or weekly newspapers to reprint these dispatches in their print editions, more people without internet access can begin to see a more accurate reflection of the progress I have observed and chronicled in dispatches like “Achievements of the Heart,” “7 Rules: 1 Oath,” “The Hands of God,” and “Three Marks on the Horizon.”
He’s also planning to pay for his dispatches to be translated into 17 languages. Why do that?
As I travel around the world, I see that even many of our close allies have a false impression of American soldiers as brutally oppressive towards people. Even our great friends in Singapore and the United Kingdom, and the pro-American people on the island of Bali, Indonesia, think we are savaging people. This loss of moral leadership will be costly to Americans on many fronts for many generations to come…
We represent only about 5% of the world population. What those other nineteen people think about America is truly very important to each one of us. We cannot afford to let the media around the world continue promulgating so many recycled misconceptions about our soldiers and the character of our nation.
Which brings us to his second request: in order to pay for all this, he figures he’ll need $100,000 in donations. WaPo is reporting this morning that Petraeus is planning to shift his focus soon from Al Qaeda in Iraq to the Shiite militias — including, somewhat ominously, an initiative towards “political accommodation” — all of which will bear most heavily on Baghdad and Basra, where Yon’s been spending most of his time lately. If you’re willing and able to help keep him going, there is a PayPal link at end of this article.
George Bush has been a complete disaster, foreign and domestic, on the information front from the time of his first Presidential campaign. The is the man, who said that we are in a battle of ideas with the Jihadists. What has he done on the information front in this battle? What has he done on the information front in the battle with the Democrats and MSM, who have attempted to destroy him from the time he won the nomination to this day?
Oh, right, I almost forgot, he appointed Karen Hughes to head the American efforts at public diplomacy. Yup, that was great. And domestically, he has hung on to his "New Tone" 7 years into the Democrat attempt to destroy him. Yup, that one has worked out great. Bush didn't clean house, the bureaucracy at State, at the CIA, at Justice and even at the EPA have undermined his policies at every turn.
Bush has seemed more angry at his supporters than at his political enemies. He didn't call his supporters bigots in the immigration debate, but he walked right up to that line as far as he could.
Bush has been an almost complete disappointment. Even in his strength, fighting the war, his been only mediocre. He's done nothing about the threat of the open borders He's done almost nothing to hit Syria and Iran, who are subverting Iraq. He's still pushing the nonsense about a Palestinian State, he's funded Fatah (and Hamas) and has done nothing about Iranian support of Hezballah, Hamas, Syria and Sadr in Iraq.
You can't win a war, if you allow the enemy a sanctuary. This is either a world war with the existence of the USA at risk or it's not. Bush tries to straddle the gap. That can't be done.
The Bush Admin counters it all, but if they (MSM) don’t report it, not much can be done. Just as Michael Yon is now offering his reports for free and no takers from the NNA.
The MSM will show you what they want you to see.
Unfortunately, the media does not have a problem with cost. Rather, they have a problem with truth.
I’m sorry, I’m not buying that excuse anymore. Bush could’ve organized within the government an information campaign about the Counter-Jihad. Domestically, he couldn’t raised a billion dollars to push information on his administration, on the economy, on the war, on what the Democrats are doing and saying. He’s done nothing.
Bash Bush!
Bash More Bush!
With apologies to Bull Halsey.
ping
C 4, you know my feelings about whats going on, but I pretty much agree with Jabba. Domestically and in a lot of foreign policy President Bush has, IMO, been called and found lacking.
And I do not like to say that. The alternative would have been much worse...but his admin should have been much better.
Will check with my local paper — one small, but conservative. The other, the Post Disgrace — well, all I have to say is GOOD STINKIN’LUCK! They are way to the left and getting more and more left (losing their readership) everyday! I’ll look though.
Oh, then he kept his DUI arrest under wraps, so the Democrats could spring this on the country on the Friday before the Tuesday election and did a pathetic attempt to defend himself. On that Friday morning, Bush was up by 4% points and ended up losing the popular vote.
Then we move on to the 2004 campaign, where Bush attacked the Swift Boat Veterans, who were far more effective than he was at defining his opponent. And then we get to the immigration debate, when Bush, while at 25% approval ratings decides to attack his base of supporters and again confirms the liberal smear of conservatives as bigots and haters.
Am I not allowed to bring this history up? What do you call it, when Bush bashes conservatives?
“I’m sorry, I’m not buying that excuse anymore. Bush could’ve organized within the government an information campaign about the Counter-Jihad. Domestically, he couldn’t raised a billion dollars to push information on his administration, on the economy, on the war, on what the Democrats are doing and saying. He’s done nothing.”
Wrong! The mechanism for what you seem to believe should be employed does not actually exist in the real world.
Way to suck up and regurgitate the rantochant of the idiot left.
This is the medias job and no other mechanism exists for this effort. We don NOT have a state controlled public information distribution system. That is the job of the media. The media has chosen to go over to the enemy. We chose to sit on our hands and do squat all about their constant betrayals.
Look in the mirror and you’ll see who’s at fault. Each and every one of us can do the same for the same purpose.
The failure is ours and ours alone. We, as citizens, have failed on every level to hold our news media to any form of accountability or responsibility. We. US. It doesn’t matter what excuses we make for ourselves.
Don't be a victim. Don't blame the media.
Could you possibly be any more clueless? The accomplishments of our military are there, publicly available, for free, for all in the industry to use.
They refuse. They refuse because they front for the enemy. It’s not the government’s responsibility and the mechanisms to produce and broadcast do not exist within the government agencies.
We DO NOT live in a dictatorship where such things are how its done.
YOU are a useful idiot for the liars, traitors and betrayers in our media that knowingly, willfully and maliciously feed the population misinformation to suit their agenda.
There is no one to blame but ourselves for allowing this to go so far as it has.
Cowardice or idiocy. Choose your poison. We are, each and every one of us, one or the other.
His followership should have been much better.
A. Here is Yon's url:
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/resistance-is-futile.htm
B. Here is the FR post:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1914514/posts
C. Bellow is a little of what Yon was referring to: Yon was not referring to Bush. Yon was referring to Patriotic Americans like Cannonoeer No. 4 who is well informed and who is willing to do something about the typically misinformed American like you. Not only do I have to put up with uninformed Chicagoans, I have to read posts from FReepers like you who willfully remain ill informed about Iraq and the toxic influence of MSM/Hollywood/DNC. There is NO excuse for a fellow FReeper to be ill informed about Iraq. Shame on you, Jabba. Yon is asking you, Jabba to stop whining about Bush and start doing what you can do, stay informed, pass the word and help out. Our Troopers are worth YOUR effort. Let's see if you can do a better job than Bush or are you just bitter bluster?
"Using the lessons learned from "Bless the Beasts", it probably will not be enough just to make the news I am reporting available to NNA-member publications at no cost. There may need to be a little irritating sand in order to get a pearl out of this oyster.
This is where my readers come in, at least those among them who share the concern that the distorted picture most Americans have of the situation in Iraq has strategic (and disastrous) implications for this war, our national security, and the stability of one of the most volatile regions on the planet.
Those readers can first check to see if their local paper is a member of the NNA . Because only NNA members will be able to
". . . print excerpts of Michael Yon's dispatches, including up to two of his photographs from each dispatch. Online excerpts may use up to 8 paragraphs, use 1-3 photos, and then link back to the full dispatch on his site saying ‘To continue reading, click here"
If their local paper is a member of NNA, readers can contact the editor, urging their participation. [If Bob Owens' experience is a reliable indicator, this might take several prompts.] By encouraging their local daily or weekly newspapers to reprint these dispatches in their print editions, more people without internet access can begin to see a more accurate reflection of the progress I have observed and chronicled in dispatches like _______________;
There is a cost to this. By making these stories available to NNA members at no cost, I have to forego any license fees they might otherwise generate. Although the newspapers who participate in this venture won’t have any additional costs, that also won’t reduce the expenses I incur to continue producing work that many commenters say needs to reach a wider audience. But it certainly gives those same commenters an easy way to put some walk behind all their talk.
Reader support is critical and highly appreciated, because I depend on my readers for all the funds required to do this work. I have been trying to thank each and every person who has helped—something of a feat in itself—but I want to say it clearly: Your support is hugely appreciated. In addition to setting up a support link to Paypal, we now also have a page on Blog Patron, and we have added more than 50 new photographs to the gallery.
In a related effort, we are completely reworking the underlying architecture of the website. This is very expensive, but the current configuration makes it difficult for readers to find archived stories, and for us to host a lot of video and audio. This creates an opportunity to also take a giant step forward in reaching a wider audience with these dispatches. In the past two days, readers have come from at least 84 countries: Portugal, China, Japan, Indonesia . . . and on and on. Some days readers come in from over a hundred countries.
As I travel around the world, I see that even many of our close allies have a false impression of American soldiers as brutally oppressive towards people. Even our great friends in Singapore and the United Kingdom, and the pro-American people on the island of Bali, Indonesia, think we are savaging people. This loss of moral leadership will be costly to Americans on many fronts for many generations to come.
The only antidote for this toxic press is a steady dose of detailed stories about the amazing men and women who serve in the United States military. People like Lieutenant Jeffrey Pettee, Iraqi Army Captain Baker, USMC SSG Rakene Lee, and LTC Fred Johnson. Each of these soldiers is a credit to every human being.
It is important that Americans let their best and clearest voices be heard around the world. If the world contained only twenty people, only one would be American. We represent about 5% of the world population. What those other nineteen people think about America is truly very important to each one of us. We cannot afford to let the media around the world continue promulgating so many recycled misconceptions about our soldiers and the character of our nation.
Since this website already has a vast foreign readership coming from over ten dozen countries, IÂ’ve decided to try to truly penetrate into these countries by translating the site content into 16 other languages, for a total of 17, including: English, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.
These languages can reach most of the people in the wired world. As importantly, many journalists visit this website, and frequently reference and quote from it in print, on television and radio around the world, helping the website “radiate” beyond the cyber world. Translation of the site content will also invite commentary from those other nineteen people which can lead to people around the world connecting to exchange information and ideas."
I apologize for making it personal like I did.
It was uncalled for and I was out of line.
I don't know, I think I'm being clear in what I'm saying, but I'm being misunderstood. Yes, the media is refusing to report what is happening in Iraq. I agree. This is nothing new.
Two weeks into the Afghanistan War the media was calling it a quagmire and warning about the brutal Afghan winter.
That was 6 years ago. That is why I'm suggesting that President Bush, as head of the Republican Party, start a program to raise money to buy ads, to buy longer periods of time, to get the message out. Doing the reporting the American media refuses to do. If the media refuses to report, don't throw up our hands and say it's hopeless. That's the way it is and has been for a long, long time. Jesse Helms proposed back in the early 80's to raise money to buy CBS in order to have a news outlet for the conservative side. I thought he was crazy, but he was correct.
My criticism of President Bush and his communication ability and strategy go back to the 2000 campaign. He's in such a weakened political position in part due to that poor communication. This in spite of the fact that he spoke about how this war is a battle of ideas. He recognizes this, but has been incapable of translating that insight into an active program.
Rush just got $2.1 million for one letter in part to stick it to the Democrats for one smear. I can see ordinary Americans, Republicans and Independents, who are completely fed up with the anti-American crud shoved down our throats on a daily basis, would be excited to do something about this.
This money could go to support people like Michael Yon, so they can stay in the field. They could buy ads and drive people to Michael Yon's website so that millions of people see it. They could buy time to run Pat Dollard's documentary. There's a zillion things they could do. My criticism of Bush is that he's not leading and he's not getting this story out.
To me, that's the story of the GOP Presidential campaign: Who will be best to getting the story out and taking on the anti-American Democrats and their lousy media?
ping
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