The View From Iraq

Bill Roggio is in Iraq again and found the soldiers over there to have a much different attitude then the cut and run left has displayed recently:

At the transient tent (where you get to sleep and store your gear while waiting), I spoke to an Explosive Ordinance and Demolitions (EOD) contractor. These are the guys that blow up the leftover explosives and munitions from the Saddam era. He told me about how the media isn’t telling the full story about the nature of the enemy, and specifically complained about the manipulation and distortion of the Kay report. He said he’s run across bunkers and the equipment and chemical precursors to WMD buried in the deserts of western Iraq.

Hmmm, kinda timely since Newsweek just printed this:

The search has not been entirely fruitless. The DIA has discovered another 300 old chemical shells lying around the war-torn country. That’s in addition to the 500 sarin shells mentioned in a declassified Pentagon intelligence report revealed by Hoekstra and Pennsylvania Republican  Sen. Rick Santorum last June. But the recently found shells, like the previous ones, dated back to before the 1991 Persian Gulf War and were decayed and essentially useless.

Of course they have to poo-poo the whole discovery with the same old "but it’s old!" routine.

Bill continues:

While waiting to catch the flight to the Green Zone, I spoke to two Army captains, one who works in Civil Affairs, the other with the Military Transition Teams. Both explained how the situation could look very different based on your job, but that the Iraqi police and Army were making real progress. They said the Iraqis’ skills ranged from poor to excellent, but they always saw improvement.

I also overheard an Army specialist sitting behind me curse the media (and I mean curse), saying they didn’t know what they were talking about when it came to Iraq. I talked to him, and explained I’m considered a reporter, and that I won’t argue with his points. I made him uncomfortable. Had he known I was ‘the press’ I think he would have kept it to himself.

[…]While waiting to manifest on the flight to Fallujah, CNN played a news segment of President Bush announcing there would be no “graceful exit” from Iraq, and that we’d stay until the mission was complete. Two sergeants in the room cheered. Loudly. They then scoffed at the reports from Baghdad, and jeered the balcony reporting.

In nearly every conversation, the soldiers, Marines and contractors expressed they were upset with the coverage of the war in Iraq in general, and the public perception of the daily situation on the ground. The felt the media was there to sensationalize the news, and several stated some reporters were only interested in “blood and guts.” They freely admitted the obstacles in front of them in Iraq. Most recognized that while we are winning the war on the battlefield, albeit with difficulties in some areas, we are losing the information war. They felt the media had abandoned them.

During each conversation, I was left in the awkward situation of having to explain that while, yes, I am wearing a press badge, I’m not ‘one of them.’ I used descriptions like ‘independent journalist’ or ‘blogger’ in an attempt to separate myself from the pack.

What a terrible situation to be in, having to defend yourself because of your profession. I’ve always said that the hardest thing about embedding (besides leaving my family) is wearing the badge that says ‘PRESS.’ That hasn’t changed. I hide the badge whenever I can get away with it.

As each day passes more and more people realize that the nightly news they grew up on is nothing but a advertisement hour.  A hour long advertisement for a view of the world as THEY see it.  Not since the days of Korea has the press actually just reported events.  No, now they spin it, mold it, into something that pushes their agenda.  And we all know what agenda that is.

The liberal agenda

As William T. Sherman said once:

If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world, but I am sure we would be getting reports from Hell before breakfast.

Amen.

Curt

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