The Anchoress

Okay, header space demands that I paraphrase the words of fed up Blackhawk helicopter pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Jim Funk who has written the following to the press:

“Hello media, do you know you indirectly kill American soldiers every day? You inspire and report the enemy’s objective every day. You are the enemy’s greatest weapon. The enemy cannot beat us on the battlefield so all he does is try to wreak enough havoc and have you report it every day. With you and the enemy using each other, you continually break the will of the American public and American government.

“We go out daily and bust and kill the enemy, uncover and destroy huge weapons caches and continue to establish infrastructure. So daily we put a whoopin on the enemy, but all the enemy has to do is turn on the TV and get re-inspired. He gets to see his daily roadside bomb, truck bomb, suicide bomber or mortar attack. He doesn’t see any accomplishments of the U.S. military (FOX, you’re not exempt, you suck also).

“Let’s give you an example. A couple of days ago we conducted an air assault. We lifted troops into an area for an operation. The operation went well and our ground troops killed (insurgents) and took several prisoners, freed a few hostages and uncovered a weapons cache containing munitions and chemicals that were going to be used in improvised bombs.

“The next morning I woke up and turned on AFN (Armed Forces Network) and watched the nightly news (NBC). Nothing, none of that reported. But the daily car bomb report was reported, and the file footage was not even from the event. There was a car bomb in the Sadr City area and your news report showed old car bomb footage from another part of town from some other time.

“So we really set the enemy back that night but all the enemy had to do was turn on the news and be reassured that the enemy’s agenda (objective) was still going to be fed to the American public.

“We, the soldiers, keep breaking the back of the enemy. You, the media, keep rejuvenating the enemy.

Yes, but don’t you understand, CWO Funk, that it must be done, though. You must be defeated so that George W. Bush may be disgraced. If you hang in until a Democrat gets into the White House, again, though, we’ll start reporting your side and championing your courage, your selflessness, heroism and nobility. Love ya! Mean it!

“How hard would it be to contact the PAO (public affairs officer) of the 1st CAV, 36th CAB, 25th ID or the Marines and ask what did you guys accomplish today - good and bad? How about some insurgent blooper videos? Now that would be something to show on the evening news.

“Media, we know you hate the George Bush administration, but report both sides, not just your one-sided agenda. You have got to realize how you are continually motivating every extremist, jihadist and terrorist to continue their resolve to kill American soldiers.”
[...]

“I am just tired of busting my butt over here and coming home every night and turning on the TV (Armed Forces Network) and hearing how we are failing miserably…”

Writes columnist John Carlson: “You may agree with what Funk has to say. You may not. Many in my business certainly won’t. But Funk is a soldier, fighting a war, who has earned the right to be heard.”

Writes Lorie Byrd:

Whether they realize it, members of the mainstream media are participants in the war on terrorism, and nowhere is that more evident than in Iraq.

Blogger Bill Roggio, who has embedded as a journalist in Iraq and Afghanistan, says the enemy’s documents reveal that much of their strategy revolves around manipulation of the media. An enemy unable to beat us on the battlefield is employing a strategy of attacks planned specifically for maximum media coverage and effect.

Embedded journalists in Iraq are on the troops side.

When we seem to be making real headway and uniting Iraqis against Al Qaeda, then showing weakness to the enemy seems a stupid tactic that speaks of a mindset more engaged in politics than in victory. Or simply a mindset more interested in victory over a president and a party than an enemy that - had it been able to kill 30,000 or 300,000 on 9/11, instead of a mere 3,000 - would gladly have done it, and will gladly do so at first opportunity.

Oops, there I go, thinking in bumperstickers again! Not like those real intellectuals; “Bush lied; people died” - that’s not bumpersticker thinking…that’s just the truthiest truthiness ever!.

Meanwhile, James Taranto finds folks who understand what deadlines mean:

Losers Lose
A telling quote from The Politico, in a report on President Bush’s victory over pro-surrender Democrats in Congress:

Some activists had privately feared that Democratic leaders were losing their resolve to stage a protracted fight with the White House over wartime funding. Pelosi had announced earlier that the House would not leave for the Memorial Day recess without a new funding bill, a signal to some of a looming defeat.

“When they put out that deadline, people realized that we were going to lose,” said an aide to an anti-war lawmaker. “Everything after that seemed like posturing.”

This gives away the game, doesn’t it? The “antiwar” people understand what it means to set a deadline–and they seek to do so because they want America to lose.