Tuesday, May 30, 2006
News To Die For
Two CBS correspondents have died while a third lies in critical condition from the most recent attacks in Iraq. The Fourth Estate’s thongs are wadded into a Gordian knot over the death of their own, but it should come as no surprise that when a journalist is, um, bedded with combat soldiers that they would receive the same treatment as combat soldiers from those who are out to kill those soldiers. It’s war, and in war people die – if you don’t want to get caught up in the ravages of war then you don’t enter the war zone, and if you enter the war zone then don't complain when you are treated like an enemy combatant. After all, those reporters were riding with one side in a conflict, reporting from the perspective of one side for the benefit of one side – it should not surprise anyone that the other side took them out, possibly even targeting them as a valid military objective. Command, control, and communication are integral parts of warfare – as is propaganda and misinformation – and nobody should be surprised when the Iraqi nationals target the American information machine.
Mission Accomplished.
Imagine, if you will, that a generation from now the two superpowers on the planet are China and India. Let us say that in that day the Indians decide that America has fallen into despotic fascism and needs to be liberated of it’s fanatical leader, that America’s weapons of mass destruction need to be neutralized, that America’s military bases around the world need to be uprooted and all American military personnel need to return to America’s shores. Let us say, and why not, that the Chinese and the Russians join them in their crusade to eradicate America’s presence from Asia and Europe, such that they bring the war to America’s soil, capturing the east coast and the left coast, advancing on America’s heartland. Is there one American who would not fight against these foreign invaders? Is there one American who would not do everything that they could to repel those who kill our countrymen? Is there one American who would not see to it that every inch that the invaders captured would come at the cost of their blood, and lots of it?
So why would we expect anything less from the Iraqis?
If we saw a Pravda crew operating with a group of Russian soldiers in Baltimore do you think that we would hesitate to take them out? If we saw a crew for the Hindustan Times operating out of Compton do you think we would hesitate to pull the trigger? If we saw correspondents from the Beijing Evening News operating in Oakland would we hesitate to kill them? We may have our differences – and those difference run deep – but when our common survival is at stake Black people and White people and Brown people will work together in order drive out foreign invaders. So it is with the Sunnis and Shiites and Kurds – they may hate each other but many of them will work together to drive out the foreign invaders. Granted, some will use the invaders to further their own ends, to create a competitive advantage for their tribe over other tribes, but it should not surprise the invaders when the hearts and minds of the invaded are solidly against them, that the invaded will continue to loathe the invaders for generations to come.
Is that why our family members are in Iraq, dying?
Mission Accomplished.
Imagine, if you will, that a generation from now the two superpowers on the planet are China and India. Let us say that in that day the Indians decide that America has fallen into despotic fascism and needs to be liberated of it’s fanatical leader, that America’s weapons of mass destruction need to be neutralized, that America’s military bases around the world need to be uprooted and all American military personnel need to return to America’s shores. Let us say, and why not, that the Chinese and the Russians join them in their crusade to eradicate America’s presence from Asia and Europe, such that they bring the war to America’s soil, capturing the east coast and the left coast, advancing on America’s heartland. Is there one American who would not fight against these foreign invaders? Is there one American who would not do everything that they could to repel those who kill our countrymen? Is there one American who would not see to it that every inch that the invaders captured would come at the cost of their blood, and lots of it?
So why would we expect anything less from the Iraqis?
If we saw a Pravda crew operating with a group of Russian soldiers in Baltimore do you think that we would hesitate to take them out? If we saw a crew for the Hindustan Times operating out of Compton do you think we would hesitate to pull the trigger? If we saw correspondents from the Beijing Evening News operating in Oakland would we hesitate to kill them? We may have our differences – and those difference run deep – but when our common survival is at stake Black people and White people and Brown people will work together in order drive out foreign invaders. So it is with the Sunnis and Shiites and Kurds – they may hate each other but many of them will work together to drive out the foreign invaders. Granted, some will use the invaders to further their own ends, to create a competitive advantage for their tribe over other tribes, but it should not surprise the invaders when the hearts and minds of the invaded are solidly against them, that the invaded will continue to loathe the invaders for generations to come.
Is that why our family members are in Iraq, dying?
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