http://www.msnbc.com/news/891597.asp?0cv=CA01

Articles like this only reinforce the protestors position. Even though it may have been written by a retired US Army Colonel, the guy is retired and wasn't sitting in the planning room. People like him should shut up!!

 

http://www.msnbc.com/news/891850.asp?0cl=c1


Place the blame squarely on the media for convincing the general public that this war will be over in a week.

I'd like to see their crystal ball.

 

Bill Clinton said it would be a snap, George hasn't made that statement to my knowledge. Maybe the media should tell BC to shut up.

Do you think the people that advise the Presidents were wrong?

 

Rob, I especially like the second link you posted. This genius compares the 101st to Custer's charge and how both were stretched thin with no support. Wonder if he's forgetting that Custer didn't have this little outfit called the USAF covering his back?

 

The media is going to let anyone with an interesting opinion talk. Unfortunately, the war is screwed up right now, and you will be hearing from so-called "experts" that will try to make our Presidents advisors look bad. It may be honest and unbiased reporting, but I am worried about the media and its liberal left-wing slant. We are in deep doo-doo, but I strongly support what the President has done, and my resolve is strong to continue supporting this mission, although Rumsfeld probably has made some serious tactical errors. Example: A famous Author and reporter, Mr. James Galloway has recently appeared on National Public Radio ( Fresh air show 3-26-03) and has condemned everything that Rumsfeld has done and compared Rumsfeld to Former Sec of Defense Robert McNamara and the whole Vietnam fiasco. According to Galloway, we targeted the bunkers on the first night, but did not target Saddam's house that was within a stone's throw from the bunker. Apparently, and according to Galloway, Saddam was asleep in his above-ground house. Rumsfeld has also ignored better advise and depended too much on his Air Force Generals that claimed they could make the necessary kills on the first attack. I just hope our Pentagon think tanks can come up with a better plan to conquer Saddams regime.
I would be very upset if we had to pull out of a war-torn Iraq 5 years from now with no end to the terrorist war in sight.

 

I would too,

But lets hope that the Bush administration has enough ***** to end it before it drags on like that.

Keep in mind were only a little over a week into this thing.

I would bet that if Saddam were to use chemical/bio weapons on our troops and so forth, You'd see alot of B52's loaded with non to limited precission bombs make short work of his defensive positions around Baghdad, and maybe Baghdad it self.

I hope that no matter what the cost, we never, ever, ever, back out of this war.

If we do we will see the likes of terrorism yet seen, for ever....which I feel would bring us to the demise of our own country.

 

You know where the tactical mistake was made? In our commitment to keeping our strikes sanitary, and trying not to kill too many civilians. Is it a good policy grounded in humanitarian goodwill? Of course it is, but it's going to get us into trouble.
"Shock and Awe" just doesn't seem to have happened over there. Plus, we just didn't put enough troops on the ground to start with, and we ran too far into Iraq too quickly, and now we have backfighting. Yeah, were 50 miles from Baghdad, but our soldiers are still getting killed in Basra.
But superranger is right. We cannot pull out, and we won't. That would be tantamount to taking a giant hornet's nest out of a tree, shaking it up, and dropping it on the ground.
There was a big deal made about how Vietnam was fought by politicians, and how it cost us the war. Well, this war is being fought by the media when you get right down to it, because they seem to have an influence on what is happening. The military should boot out the "embeds", get all the reporters off the military bases, and provide us with daily briefings on what's going on. Of course, that would make the media cry foul, but it would allow our military to do what they need to do without being under a microscope.
In the end, what the people of America know about what's going on is really of little import, because as much as we think we know about war, we are all just Armchair Generals, and we are basing public opinion on sensationalist media coverage.
BDV

 

> because they seem to have an influence on what is happening.

What I think. Bush is from Texas. He comes from a family of military members. He drives a Ford. He owns 1,000 acres of Texas. He loves the U.S.

Bush is ex-military and I believe he is going to do whatever it takes to keep U.S. losses to a minimum. He is not going to waste lives, press or no press, and he will change to met the situation as it unfolds.

He will do what God puts into his heart and mind, press or no press, and he will keep it to himself until the time comes. Bush and Blair are leading, not following the press, imo.

I believe Bush does not hate the Iraqi people and he will stay our hand for their sakes. Though I think when we get to Baghdad, anyone left inside that city will be considered an enemy combatant and the whole city will be dealt with accordingly.

Most of the footage of war is taken by the press, almost all the color footage for WWII came from the U.S. press corp. Granted there are very few real reporters such as Ernie Pyle, but, we deserve to have unbias coverage of any war because the soldiers represent us and are us.

I would hope now and in the future, freedom of the press does inform, change public opinion, or keep it abreast. For that is what helps keeps us free and our representatives accountable. I just want as much unbiased coverage as possible.

Do not discount the hand of God in things. We will not allow a moment of silence in our schools for reflection and prayer. Now, we have both the senate and house proposing a national day of prayer.

 

Prayer matters

Especially in interesting times - the crux moments in history when we all need to watch where the pieces fall.

*NOTE: Wishes and crossing fingers are also forms of prayer...

 

I agree that the freedom of the press should be maintained, but there are things that don't need to be reported in real-time, and the media organizations are not interested in unbiased reporting, they are interested in ratings and making money.
Sure, we deserve to know what's going on, that's fine. But the military deserves to be able to operate without being under the constant scrutiny of the world. The Iraqis are using our media coverage against us, in the form of propaganda.
And then you have these reporters interviewing the families of the captured soldiers, showing crying mothers and fathers, giving out personal information about the soldier and the family.
HELLO! The Iraqis are watching all this, and I am sure they are using it to terrorize these POW's. Somebody forgot to tell the media that doing what they are doing is compromising the safety of our POW's, and somebody forgot to tell the military that the media doesn't care.
Get the media OUT of this war. Let them cover it, heck let them take pictures of it. But get those embeds out and quit sensationalising the stories and using the unfortunate deaths of our boys to get ratings.
BDV

 

BDV, I couldnt have said it better. I wholeheartedly agree. Its time to put the nations interest in front of the greenback...

Rich

 

i think saddam is a bitch and i also think we should just kill him off and take over the country and make gas like .40 a gallon

 

I have to disagree with needing to take out the "embedded" reporters. I think because of them there is more support behind our troops than if the only information we recieved was what came out of briefings. Also, they are necessary to contradict what the Iraqi Regime is putting out. It's a lot easier to prove that coalition forces did not set the oil wells on fire because of the press being there and showing the wells burning well before the coalition got there. I'm sure there are still people that don't believe that though and think the military is just using the press how they want to, like Saddam. I don't believe that one bit though. Also, I was just watching and they were doing a live report from an embedded reporter and it helped to show how the troops are just normal people like you and me, for the most part. Listening to others here though, I wonder what news channel you are watching? We only watch FOX news, and I don't think they have been exploiting the deaths to their advantage. They do report them and show pictures of the fallen soldiers, usually their military photo. I don't consider that exploiting though. My thought is, if you don't like what you're watching, change the channel and find a different source of information. Just my opinions.

 

Give this thing time y'all!!

In our age of split second news a day feels like a week - this was never supposed to take a short time - how could it. We screwed them once and they felt the wrath of that black hole of a man Saddam. They need to see some REALLY ruthless stuff done to their tyrants (what an de-densitized phrase now huh?). Only then will true FREEDOM comfort thier souls and the rage of being stepped on ignite there hearts to figthing back.

The fact is we are in a war and we have to win it now. Otherwise, once the muslims get to be 7 of every 10 the rest of us either convert, exile, or die. Period.

Look at Egyt, Kosovo, Afganastan...

I am one that strives for harmony, liberty, and leave me hell aloneness and although I see America backing away from ensuring those ideals above to attempting to secure us I still see a victory in this war a "at all costs" type of thing...


Anyway, nuffs-enuff! Just my humble opion.

Tim

 

Errrrr...nothing like a wild-tangent to screw up a thread!!!

Sooooo, MEDIA was the mainline of this one...well at least ya'll got some variety from my last post above...

LOL