Statistics
Jun
22
War on Terror and media bias-Whose side are they on?
June 22, 2008 | Tagged "dinosaur" media, Media Bias, Vietnam, War on Terror | 1 Comment
Usually, the people who want to disarm Americans are the same people who seem to want the U.S. to do badly in the War on Terror. Take this headline from the Denver Post. “Town braces for latest Iraqi offensive, Security forces enter Amarah to confront cleric al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army.” Last line: “Residents said that fliers had been dropped from aircraft warning them of an imminent military campaign and urging them to stay out of the way.”
It is pretty clear from the title and the text of this article that was originally published in the Los Angeles Times,that the sympathies of the writer are with the poor, war-torn residents of the town of Amarah, with little regard for the viewpoint that the legitimate government of Iraq, supported by the United States, was conducting operations to stabilize territory within the country of Iraq for the benefit of those citizens “bracing” for the “offensive.” (Denver Post, Denver Newspaper Agency, Denver, Colorado, 06-15-08, page 7A.)
This type of coverage reminds me of the Anti-American bias displayed during the Vietnam War by what we now know as the “mainstream,” or more optimistically, the “dinosaur” media. The American People were told over and over again that the average South Vietnamese didn’t care who ran the country, as long as he or she was left alone.
We often forget, and many were never told, that the Viet Cong (communist guerrilla) method of operation was to move into a village, kill anyone who appeared guilty of sympathizing with the government of the Republic of Vietnam, and set up their own local government, including tax collection “services.” Disagreement of any kind, at any time, was very bad for your health under Viet Cong rule.
I personally spoke with a refugee from North Vietnam, who came south after he was released from a three-year prison term in that bastion of socialist democracy. His crime? He had a college education. That individual cared who governed South Vietnam.
During the Vietnam War, it was virtually impossible to tell if most news stories were published in North Vietnam, or by the U.S. “dinosaur” media. Most “news” stories portrayed resolute communist fighters moving to battle, exhausted or wounded U.S. troops, or injured or traumatized South Vietnamese civilians. No mention was made of successful civic action programs, and military successes were overlooked or denegrated. Look and sound familiar?
The leftist media is using the same tried and true tactic to erode support for the War on Terror that they used to undermine the U.S. effort to stop communist expansion in Southeast Asia. We should remember that the communists killed around 70,000 South Vietnamese and about 1.5 million Cambodians after the Democrats in Congress cut off funding in 1974-1975.
I knew some of those Vietnamese and Cambodians. I can tell you that they cared who was running their countries. But what the heck? As Stalin, the “Man of Steel,” is reported to have said, “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic.”
If the left-wing “dinosaur” media has its way, and the U.S. cuts and runs in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are going to be more “statistics.” Those statistics are going to be the people in the region who were naive enough to believe that the U.S. actually had the intelligence, the will, the nerve, and the staying power to give them a chance to increase their control over their own lives.
We should stay the course and finish the mission in the Middle East. We should do it, if not for the souls in the region who have had the courage to vote and fight for their freedom, then for the lost souls abandoned to their fates, when U.S. will and national purpose collapsed in Southeast Asia.
This election is about courage, national will, staying power and willingness to face and correct past mistakes. In addition to gutting the Bill of Rights, a sweeping left-wing Democrat victory will morally and psychologically cripple the U.S. Military and damage U.S. foreign policy for decades, as did the liberal sell-out in Southeast Asia.
By the way, our current enemy has already attacked American citizens on U.S. soil. Relieved of the need to fight in Iraq, they will be free to turn their somewhat less-than-friendly attentions to places like St. Louis, Boston, and Denver.
Def Mech
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