Sheeeeeessssssssshhhhhhh! What MA-ROONs the Presstitutes are! That's the kindest thing I can sayabout the press.
Carrying on a Times Honored Tradition since Vietnam
Posted on 11/10/2007 6:22:30 AM PST by StarCMC
There is an old saying: "What if a tree fell in the forest and nobody came?" Or, as Samuel Johnson once wrote, words to a like effect.
The news out of Iraq, Wednesday, was that there was no news out of Iraq. At least no news that the New York Times wanted to particularly feature, doing everything it could to be certain that readers would not be around to hear that tree fall.
We have previously discussed the matter of the Times editorializing by placement. As another example, this was the squib in the teaser box on the front page of Thursday's paper: Rebel Force Out of Baghdad: American Troops have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia from every neighborhood of Baghdad, the commander of United States forces in Baghdad says.
Not the front page. Not the second nor third nor fourth page. Page 19. Following a four-page advertisement by the Siemens Corporation.
And the non-news was unambiguous as the opening paragraph by Damien Cave attests:
"American forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood in Baghdad a top American General said today, allowing American troops involved in the 'surge' to depart as planned."
Routed. Every. Planned.
Not "making headway against." Routed.
Not "some neighborhoods." Every.
Not "leave in disgrace." Depart as planned.
Am I misreading the reporting here? If this is true, this isn't just pretty good news, this is extraordinary news. This is GREAT news.
Here's what it is not: It is not Page A19 news.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
For PravdABDNC, the only Good American Soldier is a Dead American Soldier.
Pray for W and Our Victroious Troops
ping
Gen. Giap planned and directed the military operations against the French that culminated in their defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. During the 1960's Giap controlled guerrilla operations against South Vietnam and the United States and planned the Tet Offensive of 1968.In his book, Giap clearly indicated that NVA troops were without sufficient supplies, and had been continually defeated time and again.
By 1968, NVA morale was at it's lowest point ever. The plans for "Tet" '68 was their last desperate attempt to achieve a success, in an effort to boost the NVA morale. When it was over, General Giap and the NVA viewed the Tet '68 offensive as a failure, they were on their knees and had prepared to negotiate a surrender.At that time, there were fewer than 10,000 U.S. casualties, the Vietnam War was about to end, as the NVA was prepared to accept their defeat. Then, they heard Walter Cronkite (former CBS News anchor and correspondent) on TV proclaiming the success of the Tet '68 offensive by the communist NVA. They were completely and totally amazed at hearing that the US Embassy had been overrun. In reality, The NVA had not gained access to the Embassy--there were some VC who had been killed on the grassy lawn, but they hadn't gained access. Further reports indicated the riots and protesting on the streets of America.
According to Giap, these distorted reports were inspirational to the NVA. They changed their plans from a negotiated surrender and decided instead, they only needed to persevere for one more hour, day, week, month, eventually the protesters in American would help them to achieve a victory they knew they could not win on the battlefield. Remember, this decision was made at a time when the U.S. casualties were fewer than 10,000, at the end of 1967, beginning of 1968.
If we do not speak up, the media will hand our brave troops another defeat a la Walter Cronkite.
Pinging a few friends....
Unfortunately, the White House is still smarting over the trouncing it took when the President visited troops who accomplished their carrier mission, and were returning home from defeating Saddam Hussein. Given such a beating, lasting years, the White House is reluctant to declare anything that has even a glimmer of "premature".
Excellent post.
However, I protest what appears to be the misuse of the term “casualties,” which properly refers to the combined toll of killed, wounded and missing.
By Tet of 1967 I believe we had fewer than 10,000 dead, but we had suffered a great many more casualties than that.
The usage is very common, but still incorrect and somewhat misleading.
RE:
We have previously discussed the matter of the Times editorializing by placement.
flash:
"editorializing" is a term associated with journalism. The New York and Times is a MARKETING firm, not a journalistic enterprise. They are part of the parent firm Main Stream and Media who have one major political client - the DNC.
As a marketing firm with access to the most power channels known to man 24/7 they by charter are obligated to put the DNC in the best light possible. What you call "biased reporting", I call ad copy. What you call an "anchorman", I call a pitchman.
Stop wasting everyones time by lending credibility to the fraudulent assertion the NYT and broader MSM network of marketing channels are even remotely associated with the profession of journalism objective or otherwise.
Best regards, Eddie01
Ping. NYT bias ping.
BTTT
Sheeeeeessssssssshhhhhhh! What MA-ROONs the Presstitutes are! That's the kindest thing I can sayabout the press.
Carrying on a Times Honored Tradition since Vietnam
Interesting — do you, by any chance, know a place where the accurate number of KIA for that date can be found?
BTTT
We need to pull out of Iraq before we win, so that Iraq will collapse into anarchy and the democRATs can say how they were right from the start. If we don't pull out soon, then it will be too late.
Bottom line is, as you surmised, that 10,000 figure is low.
Well, here’s something similar. http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1965.html
“December 31, 1967 - By year’s end, U.S. troop levels reach 463,000 with 16,000 combat deaths to date.”
“December 31, 1967 - By year’s end, U.S. troop levels reached 495,000 with 30,000 American deaths to date.”
Given these numbers, I’m not sure your quoted <10,000 American dead at the time of the Tet Offensive is true. I have no idea which set of figures is accurate.
GRRRRRREAT news!
Some of the worst terrorists in this country are the mass media.
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