Letters to the Editor
Ché Pasa
Published Letters: 865 Editor's Choice: 2
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Re: Ché Rudeboy... Veddy veddy
[Read the article: Our rotted press corps, a division of "Camp Victory"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Holly,
I don't know that anything I said was particularly harsh, let alone rude. Unless you mean that I do not suck up, for in this Post-Modern Era, politesse seems to mean sucking up, and I don't think you mean that.
The simple fact is that Very Very Big Lies are our common lot in life these days, and our military is responsible for plenty of them. I see a lot of effort going into passing off responsiblity to the neo-con civilian interlopers who have (temporarily) gotten ahold of the Pentagon, so all these lies and all the protection of these lies coming out of the many Warzones are not the fault of those who actually tell them, no. They are the fault of Bush and Cheney and Gates and Rummy and Abu G, et cetera, et cetera.
So. The officer that made the report that his helicopter gunships had liquidated 17 al Qaeda fighters trying to sneak into the village, the report that became the basis for the press release, that then became the foundation of uncritical press and media reports of just such an extermination, but we are now hearing from people on the ground that the operation may have actually killed off a bunch of Iraqi friends of America, AND CREATED MORE INSURGENTS/TERRORISTS/RESISTANCE FIGHTERS thereby, that officer who made the report, and all the officers along the chain that led to the story being printed and broadcast around the world, even though there was no evidence that it was true, none of them are responsible?
I don't buy it. It has nothing to do with courtesy.
In fact, we see over and over and over again in this conflict that the military... LIES, constantly. And then, when/if the truth comes out, they keep right on lying.
Robotempire and Retired Military Patriot have a very personal (and professional) perspective on these things. I respect their perspective. And yet, something they personally wouldn't do, and something that is not policy, nevertheless got done.
The officer who reported the kills -- that then became a press release that then went world wide as an example of the success of Operation Arrowhead Ripper -- apparently didn't invent the incident. But did he have any certain knowledge of who was liquidated? Did anyone who was involved in the preparation and dissemination of the story have any certain knowledge? Apparently not. This makes the story -- regardless of what the Natives say on the ground -- a lie. Let's go a step farther. When Iraqis are exterminated, "pink misted" as they say, it has become standard practice to call them "al Qaeda" (Glenn posted on this a while back.) Is there any knowledge whatsoever that the dead are "al Qaeda?" Of course not. Every statement of this sort -- and they flood the airwaves, internets and print media -- is a lie, unless there is some credible backup information. Which there almost never is.
The point of my post was not to be harsh or rude but to point out that there is and has always been a way to make the kinds of claims that are made in these reports without telling constant lies, and it was done in WWII, under restrictions and conditions that post-modern journalists can't even imagine, by always qualifying reports from the military. Post-modern journalism doesn't do that. And the result is that more and more people don't believe anything.
The Law of Unintended Consequences.
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For those who may not have read it, The Press Release in its entirety
[Read the article: Our rotted press corps, a division of "Camp Victory"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Friday, 22 June 2007
Multi-National Corps – Iraq
Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory
APO AE 09342
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release No. 20070622-12
June 22, 2007
Coalition Forces kill 17 al-Qaeda gunmen near Khalis
Multi-National Division – North PAO
BAQOUBA, Iraq – Coalition Forces attack helicopters engaged and killed 17 al-Qaeda gunmen southwest of Khalis, Friday.
Iraqi police were conducting security operations in and around the village when Coalition attack helicopters from the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade and ground forces from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, observed more than 15 armed men attempting to circumvent the IPs and infiltrate the village.
The attack helicopters, armed with missiles, engaged and killed 17 al-Qaeda gunmen and destroyed the vehicle they were using.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT MULTI-NATIONAL DIVISION – NORTH AT: TFLIGHTNING.PAO@US.ARMY.MIL
What is factual in this release? Some of it most likely is, but is the headline or the first or last paragraph true? Where did they come from?