Stay the Course and Get the Job Done


I took a graduate course (one of two) in journalism several years ago and the professor, a grizzled vet of TV news, disputed the old saw, "If it bleeds, it leads." He also disputed liberal media bias. Of course, this fine gentleman was a liberal, thus prone to self-delusion.

The latest ghoulishness from the mainstream media (MSM) was the lead all over the tube on Dec. 26 when Iraq losses topped 9/11 losses. And it led, from C-Span to MSNBC to the local yokels.

When losses hit 2,500 a few months ago, the MSM made a similar rattle. At the time, at a White House press briefing, much was made about Tony Snow correctly observing that 2,500 was "just a number." He was pilloried by the D.C. newshounds and their pals in the Democratic Party for his perceived callousness.

In truth, it’s the news media that’s callous and, on top of that, biased in their morbidity on Iraq. Another recent milestone was fodder for the MSM and like-minded Bush-haters when the number of days of Iraq involvement hit the World War II mark. Nary a nattering nabob could resist that one. No inference was needed when this particular blurb was used by left-leaning politicians as they used it to demonstrate the futility of Bush’s policy. Of course, a contemporaneous casualty comparison (2,500 vs. 500,000) was eschewed by all at the time. Now, there’s an apples-to-apples ratio that has some significance.


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But, not surprisingly, morale among the troops in Iraq is still high. Perversely, they want to remain and finish the mission of pacifying and democratizing Iraq. Perhaps they know something we don’t, such as what it’s like on the ground and what, if any, progress is being made. Maybe someone should ask them, rather than count them when they’re dead.

It’s hard for anyone, I suppose, even me, to hear the news on a pretty much daily basis, about our dead in Iraq and Afghanistan. And while the gains seem to be outweighed by the losses, our troops don’t seem to think so. I’ve taken a small survey of vets who think it’s a no-brainer: Finish the job and give the troops the leeway to do so.

One wonders why it’s so hard for so many to support the troops in their mission. Particularly when flagging morale stateside is the goal of the terrorists and emboldens them to keep taking the lives of those we purport to support. That tepid kind of support is all hat and no cattle.

 

Peter Chiesa is a working stiff living in Kent who used to be a red-meat conservative.

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