THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 239, November 1, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
TREACHEROUS JOURNALISM
By Alan Caruba
THE POLITICAL BIAS OF THE MAINSTREAM U.S. MEDIA & ITS DISTORTED & DESTRUCTIVE COVERAGE OF THE FOURTH WORLD
WAR, THE GLOBAL TERROR WAR BEING WAGED BY THE ISLAMIST JIHADISTS AGAINST THE U.S.A. & THE WEST: WHOSE
SIDE IS AMERICA'S MAINSTREAM MEDIA ON? IS THE MEDIA ON THE SIDE OF AMERICA & WESTERN CIVILIZATION, OR IS
IT ON THE SIDE OF THE PERPETRATORS & STATE SPONSORS OF ISLAMIC TERRORISM? -- WHY LEFTWING LIBERAL, ANTIWAR
JOURNALISTS' COVERAGE OF AMERICAN CASUALTIES IN IRAQ IS TANTAMOUNT TO GIVING AID & COMFORT TO THE ENEMY
FULL STORY:
My first response to the huge article that began under the newspaper’s banner, four columns wide, ten and a half inches deep, was
one of revulsion. It was Saturday, October 22, and, above the main headline was a paragraph in large, boldface typeface that read:
“Insurgent attacks kill four more American troops, pushing the total number
of U.S. military deaths near 2,000 since the start of the Iraq war. Page. 8”
Below that was the headline, read: “Jersey’s share of a somber toll: 53 who won’t see home again.” The message was that, even if it
had been worth it to end the rule of Saddam Hussein, there didn’t seem to be a good reason why troops remain to secure a
constitutional democratic Iraq. The subtler message was that their lives had been wasted. The article was accompanied by a sidebar
of “Somber statistics from Iraq.”
Imagine, now, if the coverage of World War II included headlines such as the following:
“Small Pacific Island Captured. Iwo Jima provides an airfield at the cost of 6,000
American dead.”
Or as follows:
“Allies land on French coast of Normandy. Huge casualties. Nazis have not yet
surrendered.”
The U.S.A fought World War II knowing that its own and the fate of Western civilization was at stake. Congress formally declared
war against both Germany and Japan. No war since then has been declared as required by the United States Constitution. There
have been “police actions” or military actions by other names, none of which unleashed the full powers of the U.S. Presidency to
pursue them to victory. A truce was declared for the Korean “conflict” and, the U.S. military action in Vietnam, for lack of a
competent indigenous U.S. ally, ended in failure.
One got the feeling that the nation’s press was virtually salivating as it waited to report the two thousandth U.S. casualty of the
Iraq war, but consider that, in 2004, there were 16,137 murders in the United States. And on 9-11, more than 3,000 Americans died in
a sneak attack.
On October 26, the newspaper ran a banner headline at the top of the front page, “U.S. hits grim milestone in Iraq War,” with a
sub-headline, “Military’s toll in 2 1/2 –year-old conflict reaches 2,000 with deaths of three more troops.”
Thanks to Tony Blankley’s excellent new book, The West’s Last Chance, we are able to consider the National Association
of Broadcasters’ wartime guide to reporting, issued on December 18, 1941, within weeks of Pearl Harbor:
“Do not broadcast any long list of casualties. This has been specifically forbidden.”
Or we can consider the Press Codes issued by the federal Office of Censorship on February 20, 1942. “Criticism of equipment,
appearance, physical condition, or more of the armed forces of the United States or any of its allies” was forbidden, with a special
warning that “Equal caution should be used in handling socalled atrocity stories.”
Compare that with “War’s toll on U.S. troops nears 2,000,” an accompanying story to the one that jumped from page one to page
eight. Across the top of page eight, ran a banner graphic of “Tragic milestone in Iraq fighting,” which literally showed a line of
bars indicating by month the “number of deaths weekly.” Other daily newspapers insist on printing the photos and names of
casualties.
I suggest this is nothing more than treacherous journalism whose purpose is to undermine support for our Armed Forces and for
the war they are fighting to defeat America’s enemies in the Middle East, to defeat our enemies there before they bring that war —
again — to our shores.
Since the U.S. invasion to liberate Iraq, the Liberal elites who control the content of most of our daily newspapers have inveighed
against almost any effort the U.S. government and military forces took to protect Iraqis as they turned out in large numbers to
vote for their new leaders and a constitution. By any measure, we have brought about change for the better for Iraqis and, in doing
so, will influence change throughout the Middle East.
The media is indifferent to our need to identify and stop the Muslim perpetrators of the “asymmetrical war” being waged
against us and in nations that include Spain, Great Britain, Indonesia, and India. While they applauded the swift action to drive the
Taliban out of Afghanistan and introduce constitutional democracy to that nation, they were and remain skeptics on the subject of
Iraq.
A 600-plus page book, Feet to the Fire: The Media After 9/11, is chocked full of one admission after another by leading
journalists that they regard Iraq as a mistake. In one case, Helen Thomas, the famed White House reporter is compared to the late
I.F. Stone, without the interviewer being aware that Stone had long ago been exposed as a Soviet agent of influence. Thomas has
long opposed the war to overthrow the vicious tyrant, Saddam Hussein, at one point asking then White House spokesman, Ari
Fleischer, why Bush wanted to “bomb and kill thousands of Iraqis, including women and children?”
This is the kind of journalism that, in World War II, would have put its perpetrators behind bars and put newspapers out of
business.
The destructive power of the terrorists we face puts them on a par with any traditional nation-state and the war they are waging is
worldwide, but ultimately aimed at the destruction of America, Israel, and the West. Until an arrogant and often ignorant press
joins our war against the Islamofascists, they will continue to lend aid and comfort to our enemies.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The U.S. News Media & Political Bias
The Middle East & the Problem of Iraq
Page Two
Page One
The Problem of Rogue States:
Iraq as a Case History
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
© Alan Caruba 2005
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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