They're like a bunch of children. "Up next: Why won't Obama release the photo of the half-exploded head of a leader of thousands of deranged religious fanatics? Is he just too weak? We'll hear both sides of the argument from a Middle Eastern expert as well as a drooling racist imbecile with a degree from Regent University."
Why have they obsessively focused on nitpicking the operational details of the Bin Laden mission? Why do they want the Bin Laden photos to be released?
It is because of their solemn duty to give the truth to the American people?
Is it because the media are "serious" people who want to dryly report the facts?
No. It's because they want ratings. Blood and violent accounts of commando missions draw ratings. If they can't shower the world with gruesome pictures of Bin Laden's half exploded head, then the next best thing is a lively debate over whether we should shower the world with gruesome pictures of Osama's exploded head.
I know I sound like Dick Cheney here, but this whole debate risks inflaming the Muslim world and giving a propaganda victory to Al Qaeda. Actually - no. I don't sound like Dick Cheney, even though my argument is that the media should shut up. I'm thinking realistically about how we can win hearts and minds in the Muslim world.
The media is exhibiting child-like tendencies. They want to know the details of the assault because they think it's cool, like a video game. So they berate the WH Press Secretary like a bunch of angry children whose parents took away their favorite video game. I can relate. It is cool to imagine our military heroes conducting a commando mission against our biggest enemy and coming out completely unscathed. The child in me is fascinated by the whole thing. There will be books and movies written on that raid. But I'm not a White House correspondent. I'm just some dummy up past his bedtime.
The books on this raid will be based on interviews with the folks who went on the raid, not the White House press secretary's 4th hand recollections of the sketchy pre-debriefing details of the raid. There is no need to scream at him when he misses small details (Psss: he wasn't there). And those details will be released when we're not trying to deal with a delicate situation in Pakistan and continue to win the hearts and minds of Muslims.
The media is stupid. Why would you press points like: "Were we trying to kill Osama Bin Laden?" What purpose does that serve? What kind of logical sense would it make for the administration to give a straight answer there? There are very few areas of government where God's honest truth is for the history books (or a few weeks later), not real time, but military strategy is one of them. "What is the military's micro-strategy for succeeding at commando missions against terrorists? Please let me write about it in the papers." That's an obnoxious question.
Would a Republican be second-guessed and nitpicked like this about military strategy after one of the gutsiest and brilliant American operations in more than a generation? I don't think so. If George Bush captured Osama, two days later tax rates for the rich would be 10% and the media would write stories like, "Bush is really on a roll!" while Republicans questioned the patriotism of anyone in their path.
As best as I can tell, intelligence officials didn't think Osama would go alive. They suspected booby traps or a wild gunfight. This mission was DARING. I very much doubt that anyone expected there to be zero US casualties when entering mass religious fanatic murderer's armed compound. The idea of capturing Bin Laden was far fetched.
But let's say that capture was a remote possibility (with a variety of nuances that I won't get into) but they decided to just kill him instead because it was less risky to our troops and would prevent the booby trap thing I mentioned above. Would Obama want to tell this to the world? Would he want to tell this to the media? Is he under any obligation to tell it to the media? Why would the media press him on this point? To inflame the Muslim world? To piss me off?
Don't journalists have even a LITTLE BIT of common sense? Pressing for real time operational strategy and whining like babies when you don't receive is obnoxious. Pressing for the release of a photo of a religious figure's bloody half-exploded head is about as close to yelling fire in a crowded movie theater as you can get. I wouldn't DREAM of suggesting that the media be censored or silenced (in fact, I fully support yelling fire in a movie theater - especially if it's a George Lucas movie). The media can ask as many stupid questions as they want and keep on stirring up the hornet's nest of xenophobia from the "they took our jerbs!" crowd if that's what they want to do. That's their constitutional right. But I CAN dream of a media that has just a bit of common sense. Berating the White House press secretary about nitpicky details of a sensitive military operation - and expecting exact details and clear answers - is pretty dumb.