Re: Car bomb shakes central Baghdad


"Star" <star@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1123607982.343930.232870@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> hey guys - i have a unique idea:
>
> Why don't you hop planes over to Baghdad and see if you can talk some
> sense into the bad guys? I'm sure they will be happy to consider your
> feelings on the matter.
>
> *
> "are you a princess? i said. and she said i'm much more than a princess
> but you don't have a name for it yet here on earth."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-8_9_05_TS.html

August 9, 2005
Trashing Our History: Troops in Iraq
By Thomas Sowell

Back in June, this column pointed out that it is impossible to fight a war
without heroism -- but that you would never know that from the mainstream
media. Nothing heroic done by American troops in Iraq is likely to make
headlines in the New York Times or be featured on the big three broadcast
network news programs.
That fact has now been belatedly recognized in a New York Times opinion
piece, but with a strange twist.

After briefly mentioning a few acts of bravery in Iraq -- including a Marine
who smothered an enemy grenade with his own body, saving the lives of his
fellow Marines at the cost of his own -- the Times' writer said, "the
military, the White House and the culture at large have not publicized their
actions with the zeal that was lavished on the heroes of World War I and
World War II."

Think about that spin: The reason we don't hear about such things is because
of the Pentagon, Bush and "the culture at large." Neither the Pentagon, the
White House or "the culture at large" can stop the newspapers or the
televisions networks from publicizing whatever they want to publicize. They
all have reporters on the scene but what they choose to feature in their
reports are all the negative things they can find.

The very issue of the New York Times in which this essay appeared -- August
7th -- featured a front-page picture of a funeral for a Marine killed in
Iraq. If you judged by the front page of this and many other newspapers, our
troops in Iraq don't do anything except get killed.

The plain fact is that the mainstream media have been too busy depicting our
troops as victims to have much time left to tell about the heroic things
they have done, the far greater casualties which they have inflicted on
their enemies, or their attempts to restore some basic services and basic
decencies to this country that has been torn apart for years by internal and
external wars -- even before the first American troops arrived on the scene.

The unrelenting quest for stories depicting American troops as victims --
including even front-page stories about the financial problems of some
National Guardsmen called to active duty -- has created a virtual reality in
the media that has no place for heroes.

Senator John Kerry has called the activation of reservists and National
Guardsmen "a backdoor draft," as if joining the reserves or the National
Guard is supposed to mean an exemption from ever having to fight. The theme
of troops as victims has been a steady drumbeat in the media, because of the
way the media have chosen to filter the news, filtering out heroes, among
other things.

This virtual reality can become more important than any facts. Even a young
lady interviewer on Fox News Channel -- of all places -- recently asked a
guest how long the American people will be able to continue supporting the
war in Iraq with all the casualties.

All the American deaths in Iraq since the war began are not even half of the
deaths of U.S. Marines taking the one island of Iwo Jima in a couple of
months of fighting. And Iwo Jima was just one battle in a war that was
raging on other fronts around the world simultaneously and continuing for
nearly four long years.

It is not the casualties which are unprecedented but the media filtering and
the gullibility of those who accept the virtual reality created by the
media.
This is a re-creation of the media's role in the Vietnam war, where American
victories on the battlefield were turned into defeat on the home front by
the filtering and spin of the media.

Even the current Communist rulers of Vietnam have admitted that they lost
militarily in Vietnam but hung on because they expected to win politically
in the United States -- as they did, with the help of the Jane Fondas, the
Walter Cronkhites and a cast of thousands in the streets and on campuses
across the country.
The very people who have been anti-military for years, who filter out
American heroes in battle, are now proclaiming that they are "honoring" our
troops by publicizing every death by name, day in and day out.

Has the dumbed-down education in our schools left us so ill-equipped that we
cannot see through even the most blatant hypocrisy?

Copyright 2005 Creators Syndicate


.

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