Hey Media its war deja vu again

Hey Media, it's war, deja vu all over again!

I swear I am getting flashbacks to the 1960's! I am inundated with negative press, slanted press and at times, downright wrong press statements and they are all pertaining to the on-going war. Bob Dylan is on the radio, “How many roads must a man walk down, before they call him a man”. I hear it, plain as day! Man, I hope the Old Lady’s in the kitchen whipping up a batch of brownies from that Alice B. Tokla recipe my bud gave us. (Nope, no link for that one. Find it yourself,) It’s back! The summer of love, 1967. Reality hits! It’s 2005! Dylan is an icon and deserves it. The man is a poet. No drugs, booze, caffeine or cigarettes. We are all healthy now. Not as much fun as it was, but healthy.

The media never changes. It simply changes reporters. It instills, controversy, makes you think, your hearts bleed and tears fall down your cheeks. That is what it is supposed to do. They are supposed to do it by reporting the news in a fair and unbiased manner. They are to report it accurately and without prejudice. But, just as in the 1960’s they have began their little slant towards reporting what they want, not what is happening. A cameraman can capture beautiful images. The problem is these images can be construed many ways. One picture is worth a thousand words, but is that picture accurately telling the truth?

How many times do we see a reporter in Iraq or Afghanistan, standing in the desert, smoke billowing behind him, people running, and solders standing around with M16’s. He is reporting on a bombing that had occurred, an IED, (Improvised Explosive Devices) had gone off. He is in the middle of hell, reporting on something he was able to gather the facts on as quickly as possible. The problem is he may not have all the facts. That I understand. What I don’t understand is how many articles I am reading pontificating the failures in the war in Iraq. Who told them that? Where are they getting their sources? It is nothing but one sided, biased, pure crap the media is spoon-feeding the American public on a daily basis, and the problem is, the media knows it.

Do you want to know what is really happening? Who is really winning? Start reading the MilBlogs, (Military Blogs). These are posted from solders, marines, sailors, men and woman who are there, front line, see it, doing it, and wearing the t-shirt. Granted, they talk about a lot of joking, insanity and pranks. At times their idea of a joke we find offensive. Of course they do. They are in a combat zone. People die. At any moment they have to be able to pull the trigger and kill. Why, they are the United States Military, that’s why. Black humor, insane humor, and just plain boyish humor are part of the norm. I’ve been there, and that type of humor helps keeps the flying monkeys from attacking you, in other words, keeps you from going crazy.

Everyone should read the open letter to the media that LTC Tim Ryan, CO, 2/12 Cav, 1st Cav Div, a Battalion Commander presently serving in Iraq wrote. It is titled, Aiding and Abetting the Enemy: the Media in Iraq.

Colonel Ryan has not only printed the truth, but he is telling it like it is. The United States Military needs the support of the media. It needs the support of every man and woman in the United States. I can tell you from experience, that being in a hot zone and reading how bad we are doing hits you like a ton of bricks. It does more damage to the troops then a terrorist ever could. The media loves to say how many of our men and woman died, but do they tell the whole story? The truth of the matter is, in Fallujah. We faced a well-trained, well-entrenched enemy. Colonel Ryan equates it to the Allies breakout from the hedgerows in France in WW11. He states that in both cases our troops overcame the enemy and began what could be the latter’s last stand. Read this yourself and you will understand.

The inherent problem with slanted media coverage can be described in two manners. First, it dramatically affects the moral of our men and woman in uniform. Second, and I wish a politician would get off their buts and say this, “Media, you are Aiding and Abetting the Enemy when you print crap like that.” A terrorist wants slanted, biased, inaccurate reporting. They want to undermine the people at home. They want to pull support away from on-going military operations. People, this is what the terrorist wants. Don’t you understand that? Lately I often hear the quotes of Sun Tsu. For those of you unaware, he wrote what is referred to as The Oldest Military Treatise in the World. Further, this is not yesterday’s news, nor written last month. It was written over 2400 years ago, and is still in practice in some way or manner today. In this, Sun Tsu is commenting on "Kill one, scare ten thousand". This is the basis and strategy of terrorism today.

Even Senator James Inhofe, Oklahoma, returned from visiting our troops had conveyed their thoughts about how our own media undermine their mission. According to an article The Inhofe survey, compiled from the LexisNexis data retrieval system, shows that the Post and Times have run 90 editorials since March of 2004 about U.S. detainee policies and treatment of prisoners at facilities such as Abu Ghraib. By contrast, since March of 2001, these papers have run only eight editorials about the terrorist tactic of beheading hostages in Iraq and elsewhere. These papers have run only three editorials about the estimated 290,000 to 400,000 bodies found in 300 mass graves in Iraq. These papers have run no editorials about the accusations of rape of women and children committed by U.N. peacekeepers and U.N. personnel in the Congo in Africa.

One more item was the recent coverage of a woman prompting U.S. troops prior to being addressed by the President. The video showed her telling the solders what to say, who to give the microphone to, etc. The media loved it; they ate it up and spit it out to us in volumes. Did anyone every think that this was inaccurate? Did anyone ever wonder what really happened? Think about this. They are going to be interviewed by their Commander in Chief. The President of the United States. Wouldn’t it be nice to have things prepared? Wouldn’t it be nice not to choke up on camera? Want to read what really happened from a solder that was there, bottom right corner of the picture. Read They Call Us, "Doc", subtitled, Speaking with President Bush by Sgt Ron Long. Find out the truth. There is a concept.

This improper use of the media to convey the agenda of another has got to stop. We don’t want biased coverage, no coverage, partial coverage. We the American public deserves and demands fair, timely and factual coverage of the war. We are tired of being portrayed as the schoolyard bully. We are tired of inaccurate media. We deserve better. Why? We are Americans.