The title of this post reflects the moment of true absurdity I felt when I started reading some of the blogs (which I won't link to) attacking CNN's recent airing of an insurgent video showing terrorist sniper attacks on American soldiers
We are in a war. Yes, a real war, with real people, with real lives, using real weapons, with real ammunition, in a real country that's really far away, who face real threats to life and limb, every single real day.
Yet for some, reporting what's happening "over there" is treason, aiding and abetting the enemy, and un-American. And to a point, I understand the outrage associated with seeing a video displaying insurgents taking pot shots at US soldiers. It's upsetting, it's a sleazy way to attack someone, and it's sad to see one of our own get gunned down, not even knowing it was coming, not knowing he was even being watched until it happened.
Yet critics of CNN's decision to air the video seem to have forgotten that this is the face of war. This is what happens. And when a media company shows you some of what happens from a unique, disturbing perspective, it's to let you know that it's happening. But let's be honest about it - this isn't airing terrorist propaganda anymore than FOX News running
this story about bombs going off in an Iraqi market that killed 5 people and includes this picture:
Doesn't this show the effects of the terrorist activities? Isn't this, in effect, propaganda for displaying the successes of the terrorists on a media outlet? Or what about this FOX news
article, which although it included no video, did have this to say on the terrorists:
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military reported Wednesday that 9 soldiers and 1 Marine were killed in roadside bombings and combat in and around Baghdad, as sectarian violence continued to rip through Iraq.
...
The 10 U.S. casualties raised to 69 the number of American troops killed in Iraq in October.
Four U.S. soldiers died when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle at about early Tuesday morning west of Baghdad, the military said in a brief statement.
Three soldiers attached to Task Force Lightning, assigned to the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, were killed and one wounded during combat Tuesday in Diyala province east of Baghdad.
Another soldier was killed Tuesday morning when suspected insurgents attacked his patrol in northern Baghdad, and one more soldier died in another roadside bombing north of the capital early in the afternoon.
A Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 also died from injuries sustained during fighting Tuesday in the western province of Anbar, a hotbed of the insurgency, according to the military.
Is this simply the media portraying the tragic loss of American life? Or is this a round-about method for promoting the terrorist activites by keeping a running public tally of the number of soldiers killed and by what type of attack? From this report, I've gathered that 5 soldiers were killed by two roadside bomb attacks but that 3 combative attacks killed another 5, as well as injured one. Obviously, the roadside bombs were more effective since it only involved two missions, instead of three, even though the three combat attacks had more of an impact on life, which included the injured soldier.
Clearly that's not the case and I'm not going to try and paint FOX News as terrorist supporters who divulge useful information on attack tactics to the terrorists every time they print an article about how US soldiers are being killed in Iraq.
So why is it that when CNN reports on how terrorists are attacking our soldiers and do so by displaying an insurgent made video showing attacks on US soldiers, that's treason and helping the enemy, yet FOX News doing exactly what I described above isn't, even though FOX News has provided valuable statistics on the effectiveness of different attack methods used against our troops and CNN provided a video which at this point, probably isn't helping anyone identify the soldier who "slumped forward," where it occured, how many lives were claimed, or even how effective the sniper was? Does the video tell us out of how many shots fired, fatalities incurred? Does the video compare sniper attacks against roadside bombings, direct combat, small arms fire, RPG's, or other methods of attack?
In one word, no. The sniper video, although difficult to watch, is a rare glimpse inside the other side of this battle. Yet it provides no tactical information to the insurgents other than snipers can and are taking pot shots at American soldiers. This isn't motivating their base, this isn't promoting jihadism. Ultimately, if you ask me, the countless articles that we read on a daily basis that describe all sorts of attacks on our troops and innocent civilians is providing a treasure trove of "terrorist propaganda" as well as useful stats for which any terrorist with an internet connection or even a cell phone with internet activity can read, study, tell others about, and use to judge the effectiveness up their attacks and battles against coalition troops all over the country. Based on that, it would seem that perhaps the best thing to do would be to have a complete media blackout on all things Iraq. However, nobody will let that happen.
Why? Because, of course, how would we hear about all the freedom and democracy we're spreading? Ironic, isn't it? Those who blast the media for what they see as spreading terrorist propaganda also believe the same media has a bias because they're not depicting the situation in Iraq as happy and all warm and fuzzy.
One would think that something like the CNN video would show people that things are bad in Iraq, and that despite allegations by our leaders here in Washington stating the opposite, things are not sailing smoothly and are in fact spiraling out of control very quickly.
It's all about how people want their world view to align with what they read. Yet regardless of what they read, people are dying in this war every day, often meeting horrific ends which include torture, beheadings, shootings, bombings, and various other forms of attacks and terrorism. Yet ultimately those who support this war act surprised when US soldiers get attacked and die and are the first to blame everybody and anybody else for unfortunate events that befall them, when the soldiers themselves were the ones willing to put themselves into the line of fire.
Don't mis-read that; it's not a "blame the soldiers" line of thinking. It's just that it seems there's an awful lot of people who like to cheerlead this war from the sidelines, then retaliate to critics of the war by hiding behind the brave and heroic soldiers who chose to fight them "over there" while simultaneously calling their critics "un-American" and "traitors." And in their offense of blaming everybody else first, they completely forget that this is the sacrifice our soldiers knowingly signed up for. To defend this nation, as a last resort, when all other methods of diverting military action have been completely exhausted.
This is war, folks. People die. That's the sad truth and no report by CNN or FOX News is going to change that fact. If you don't like it, if you have a hard time accepting it, if you want to blame everyone else who had no responsibility in actually making the official decision to go to war that has resulted in the tragic deaths of 2,791 US soldiers and counting, well...what else can I tell you except that hindsight is always 20/20?