A setback in military/media relations
U.S. military officials in Mosul, Iraq, have banned a reporter for the Stars and Stripes newspaper from embedding with their unit. Their reasoning? He wasn’t positive enough in his reporting and wrote things they didn’t like.
“Officials said Stripes reporter Heath Druzin, who covered operations of the division’s 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team in February and March, would not be permitted to rejoin the unit for another reporting tour because, among other things, he wrote in a March 8 story that many Iraqi residents of Mosul would like the American soldiers to leave and hand over security tasks to Iraqi forces.
“Despite the opportunity to visit areas of the city where Iraqi Army leaders, soldiers, national police and Iraqi police displayed commitment to partnership, Mr. Druzin refused to highlight any of this news,” Major Ramona Bellard, a public affairs officer, wrote in denying Druzin’s embed request.”
I can’t believe that decision will stand, and I suspect those who made the decision have seriously harmed their military careers. The military does not get to decide whether a reporter’s work is sufficiently boosterish. If a reporter refuses to follow the rules, or if he or she in any way endangers operational security, they can and should be removed. But barring or removing them because their work is not deemed sufficiently positive is wrong and counterproductive. In my conversations with generals and other military leaders, they get that, but sometimes folks further down the line need to be reminded. I imagine that reminder will be coming.
This kind of thing reminds me of those years from 2003-2006 in which the Bush administration and its defenders complained that things in Iraq were going just fine and that the U.S. media just wasn’t covering all the good news. As it turned out, the administration was very much wrong in its blue-sky, Pollyannish attitude about trends in Iraq and the media reporting had been correct: Things were going bad in Iraq.
Without a media free to report what was really happening, the necessary change in policy and leadership never would have occurred.
Ron Martz, a former Marine who was the AJC’s military reporter for years and embedded at least twice in Iraq for us, is now president of Military Reporters and Editors. In a letter of protest to the Pentagon, Martz wrote:
“There is absolutely no evidence to indicate that Mr. Druzin in any way compromised the unit’s operational security or put American forces at risk with his reporting.
Barring this reporter from an embed for what appear to be specious reasons violates both the spirit and the letter of the embed guidelines that Military Reporters & Editors and many other journalists have worked so diligently to implement since long before the initial invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
It appears from the June 24, 2009 Stars and Stripes story about this incident that commander of this unit is attempting to exercise editorial control over what stories are written and how they are written. I am sure I do not have to remind you that it is not the job of military officials to exercise editorial control over any journalists, including Stars and Stripes reporters.”
The fact that the controversy involves Stars and Stripes is particularly striking. It is a newspaper funded in part by the Pentagon but guaranteed editorial independence by Congress. Its main readership is service members and their families. Growing up in the military, it was basically our hometown newspaper, particularly when we were stationed overseas. (That was the pre-Internet days, which meant Stars and Stripes was our only English-language source of news and sports from back home.)
Michael Yon, the free-lance war correspondent often lauded by conservatives for his dispatches, put it well in a conversation we had a while back by satellite phone. He told me that in his experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, officers who were doing a good job usually had no problem allowing an embedded a reporter; the bad ones were the ones who didn’t want the exposure.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
130 comments Add your comment
TnGelding
June 24th, 2009
11:02 am
Undoubtedly it will be overturned.
Still don’t get it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8115814.stm
I Report :-) You Whine :-(
June 24th, 2009
11:04 am
How did I know this was coming?
This kind of thing reminds me of those years from 2003-2006 in which the Bush administration
hack.
Your boy is in charge now, suck it up.
jt
June 24th, 2009
11:10 am
Before the intra-net and cell phones, that sunday edition of the Stars and Stripes, with its full color “Calvin and Hodge” strips, was soooo important to homesick Americans throughout the world.
I hope it doesn’t go the way of other prints.
booger
June 24th, 2009
11:12 am
Jay, Maybe some real reporters were reporting that some things were not going that well in Iraq, but by the time those reports found their way through your pen it was total disaster, and we had lost the war.
By the way, if you hadn’t noticed, Obama is going through a bit of a rough patch lately. I can tell by all of your articles on Bush, Chaney, Baptist, Repub. govenors………anything but Obama’s latest spending spree.
Turd Ferguson
June 24th, 2009
11:19 am
With the way in which the media acts in such an irresponsible manner its a this didnt happen sooner. These socialist reporters would rather see US soldiers killed, for no reason, than report the facts.
Turd Ferguson
June 24th, 2009
11:20 am
Many times its these silly reporters that give aid and comfort to the enemy.
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
11:20 am
booger,
“anything but Obama’s latest spending spree”
Do tell.
Doggone/GA
June 24th, 2009
11:30 am
“These socialist reporters would rather see US soldiers killed, for no reason, than report the facts”
I’m still trying to figure out how NOT reporting the “facts” gets “soldiers killed.” And here all this time I thought it was only decisions by commanders that could lead to that result.
Dusty
June 24th, 2009
11:30 am
Awww poor Bookman, “a setback in military/media relations”. I doubt that anyone but a few reporters at Star & Stripes even paid any attention to today’s subject.
The last line from Bookman reported the words of Michael Yon, a free lance war correspondent who more or less said tha good officers did not mind embedded reporters but bad officers did not want the exposure.
Could it also be that most officers might not want BAD slanted reporters giving reviews of their troops?
Just as AJC formerly loaded its staff with liberal editors, two to one in the opinion department, Bookman might understand what the Stars & Stripes did. A POSITIVE CHANGE for the best no doubt!
Go ahead and give the military a few whacks for today, Bookman. You have already covered “Bush did it!” in the last blog. Might as well move to the US military, another one of your pet targets.
Mrs. Godzilla
June 24th, 2009
11:31 am
turd lemonade sings! tehee
RB from Gwinnett
June 24th, 2009
11:32 am
“”If the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will … wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all,” the official Korean Central News Agency said.”
Looks like Obama’s going to need to write another stongly worded letter….
Paul
June 24th, 2009
11:33 am
Wow. I hope ABC pays attention so they’ll get invited back to the White House.
If they don’t, does that mean the White House was displeased?
Seriously, some people never learn. Bonehead decision. Stars and Stripes isn’t a public relations agency. Mr. Yon had it spot on – which was why I was so saddened when Colonel David Hackworth – at that time the nation’s highest decorated living vet who published a column and wrote books taking the military hierarchy and the Perfumed Princes to task – passed away. Not many around to expose the ones who want to operate without exposure.
RB from Gwinnett
June 24th, 2009
11:34 am
“Go ahead and give the military a few whacks for today, Bookman. You have already covered “Bush did it!” in the last blog. Might as well move to the US military, another one of your pet targets”
Dusty, that is except for Memorial Day and Independence Day when he’ll pretend to support the troops with all the other little back stabbing liberals.
pat
June 24th, 2009
11:37 am
Wah…The media does not have the right to be everywhere and do anything they want. Let’s face it, the media is there to get a juicy story in order to make a buck. It is not incumbant on the military to help them with this task. So, big deal.
Let them brave the theater themselves to get the story rather than rely on the brave men and women who are fighting to preserve yet another life, whose presence is a burden to the battle rather than a help.
I think obama killed another fly, so quick! Run and get the scoop! O crap, this time he’s a eating a double cheese burger…eegad!
getalife
June 24th, 2009
11:38 am
Only false news can report the propaganda.
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
11:40 am
Hey Dusty!
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
11:41 am
RB,
“that is except for Memorial Day and Independence Day when he’ll pretend to support the troops with all the other little back stabbing liberals”
Really? Care to back that up with anything – like an article where Jay has trashed the military? Oh yeah, didn’t think so.
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
11:42 am
RB,
OR, a post where us “liberals” whatever that means, has trashed the military? Oh yeah, didn’t think so.
ty webb
June 24th, 2009
11:44 am
Who was the commander in chief when this happened? Don’t all orders come from the top? Is the obama administration trying to manipulate the press? Is Jay consistent?
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
11:45 am
Paul (from downstairs),
A-far. Snort. Good one.
DB, Gwinnettian
June 24th, 2009
11:46 am
Weird. What do we know of this Major Ramona Bellard and Col. Gary Volesky, who are quoted in the story as being on the record as supporting this business?
TnGelding
June 24th, 2009
11:47 am
ty webb
June 24th, 2009
11:44 am
No, all orders don’t come from the top. But the correction will be coming down soon. The commander will probably be replaced too, but not on orders from Obama.
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
11:47 am
ty,
You’re right – Obama needs to tell these dorks they can’t do that.
How was Mexico?
USinUK
June 24th, 2009
11:49 am
Paul -
I second Bosch’s snort.
The way we weren't
June 24th, 2009
11:49 am
Wow! The right wing nut whiners are certainly out in force today. Depression must really be getting to them. Their fears that the worst of all possible things has landed squarely on their shoulders and all. Poor things. Might I suggest a moment of silence for the lost causers, also known as right wingers, GOPers, and Republicans, amongst other names. They’re doomed, doomed they say, doomed!
ty webb
June 24th, 2009
11:55 am
Hey Bosch. Mexico was fantastic! Did nothing but drink, eat, and sleep, and I didn’t catch the swine flu.
TNGelding,
Was it the same way when Bush was in office?
Copyleft
June 24th, 2009
11:55 am
This is an encouraging trend. The notion pf “embedding” reporters with specific units was a disaster for objective, factual reporting.
Reporters need to view soldiers (on both sides) as subject to report ON, not buddies to report FOR.
Is that “trashing the troops”? No, but embedded reporting sure was trashing the TRUTH.
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
11:56 am
ty,
Excellent!
Dusty
June 24th, 2009
11:56 am
Dear boschie, you ol’cheesy shrimp eating breafast liberal (Democrat),
How’s it going this morning? Your soccer team win yeterday? THE BRAVES WON LAST NIGHT. You must change to baseball, a worthwhile sport. (I keep telling my son-in-law the same thing.)
You know good and well Bookman doesn’t like the military because they fight. He’s a cut’n'run man.
So there! I shall probably be up for moderation again. Will you speak up for me? Because…..I am also a shrimp lover, but not for breakfast with cheese. Erp!!
Copyleft
June 24th, 2009
11:58 am
Meanwhile, RB and Dusty would rather wave flags of blind support and chant slogans than have to hear what’s really going on. Takes all kinds, I guess… liberals who prefer to know the facts, and conservatives who prefer to keep their eyes and ears shut and call it “patriotism.”
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
12:02 pm
Dusty,
It’s YOUR soccer team too, ya’ know. It’s the USA soccer team and they play Spain at 2:30 – USA, USA, USA!!!!
Of course I’ll defend you, but I disagree with you about Jay not supporting the military. It’s okay to disagree.
Shrimp are also excellent with eggs and hot sauce for the breakfast meal. You don’t know what your missing!
TnGelding
June 24th, 2009
12:06 pm
ty webb
June 24th, 2009
11:55 am
Yes, military commanders have great leeway. That’s one reason I got out of the service. I could see getting assigned where they didn’t like me and it would have been pure hell. Bush gave the biggies; sending ground forces into enemy lairs.
Dusty
June 24th, 2009
12:08 pm
Copyleft,
Why don’t you read about Ernie Pyle, one of the greatest “embedded ” reporters of all times. It is said he humanized the war for many readers and was vastly popular. I doubt that he did it by running down the troops by emphasizing setbacks.
There is a professional way to report bad news if you have talent. Troop commanders, like other leaders, do not want someone demoralizing their troops. That seems perfectly understandable to me.
As a sideline, Ernie Pyle lost his life reporting from the front lines of WWII. Journalism schools still study his great reports.
ty webb
June 24th, 2009
12:08 pm
Bosch,
I’ll be watching and pulling for team USA. Although everytime I watch them, they don’t play too well. Saw both recent matches against costa rica and Honduras. I’m more of a football fan than Futbol fan, but I do find these matches exciting.
Dusty
June 24th, 2009
12:10 pm
Dear boschie,
I know what I am missing with shrimp, eggs and hot sauce for breakfast!! INDIGESTION!
TnGelding
June 24th, 2009
12:10 pm
I had a response about killing flies, but it disappeared into cyberspace. A revised version:
http://archive.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/04/14/al_qaida/index.html
USinUK
June 24th, 2009
12:12 pm
Bosch –
“Shrimp are also excellent with eggs and hot sauce for the breakfast meal. You don’t know what your missing”
Breakfast foods can be broken down into 3 categories:
carriers for milk (cereal)
carriers for syrup (pancakes/waffles)
carriers for hot sauce (everything else)
getalife
June 24th, 2009
12:15 pm
North Korea said they will wipe America off the map.
The new warmongering motto.
This has to scare the cons to death but sane Americans are asking, what does he want ?
Well, China just bid 7.2 billion for Iraqi oil so it is not oil.
The way we weren't
June 24th, 2009
12:16 pm
There is only one proper way to report on a war — with blood and guts on the front page. After all, that is what war is all about. Killing. People need to quit sanitizing and glorifying it. Tell it like it is. Show it like it is. Don’t be skeered of the truth.
Question
June 24th, 2009
12:20 pm
Gosh Jay — surely some of the following statements from your posting don’t apply to the WH press corp, who gets to travel on AF-1, and pretty much the entire US main street media (sounds familar doesn’t it??) —
…The military [WH] does not get to decide whether a reporter’s work is sufficiently boosterish… . But barring or removing them because their work is not deemed sufficiently positive is wrong and counterproductive.
…Without a media free to report what was really happening, the necessary change in policy and leadership never would have occurred.
reality
June 24th, 2009
12:24 pm
And Obambi promised to end the war. He has expanded it.
Obama lied, people died.
Normal
June 24th, 2009
12:24 pm
Y’all, I wonder what Enrie Pyle would have thought about this…Just askin’
Normal
June 24th, 2009
12:25 pm
Reality, No, it’s Bush lied, people died…just sayin’
TnGelding
June 24th, 2009
12:25 pm
The way we weren’t
June 24th, 2009
12:16 pm
Amen! And maybe someday there will be no more war.
http://www.bluesforpeace.com/lyrics/war-no-more.htm
Billy Bob
June 24th, 2009
12:27 pm
Ah, only yesterday you were gushing about the merits of the Oba-Messiah’s Fairness Doctrine. You know, report fairly, evenly on the facts of the story.
Now, who’s the blue-sky, Pollyanna? [crowd points at Jay]
USinUK
June 24th, 2009
12:28 pm
question – what exactly is the point of your 12:20???
TnGelding
June 24th, 2009
12:28 pm
reality
June 24th, 2009
12:24 pm
Huh?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/20/obama.afghanistan/
Normal
June 24th, 2009
12:28 pm
Getalife, I just thought of an enterprise that would help our manufacturing base and employ thousands…Make toilet paper with Kim Jong-Il’s face on it…what do you think…
ricochet
June 24th, 2009
12:29 pm
Obambi even kept Gates.
Obama lied, people died.
George American
June 24th, 2009
12:30 pm
No surprise here that the pinko liberal drive-by media rag, Stars and Stripes, has shown its anti-military bias.
Seems the only news I can trust any more is my collection of late 30’s/early 40’s National Socialist flyers, AM talkers and my fellow conservatives on this blog.
TnGelding
June 24th, 2009
12:30 pm
ricochet
June 24th, 2009
12:29 pm
But Bush was the executioner.
Normal
June 24th, 2009
12:30 pm
That’s Ernie Pyle, war correspondant of WWII. Sorry for the mis-spell
Normal
June 24th, 2009
12:32 pm
Turd, I think he was fired FOR reporting the facts…drink the lemonade, dude…
Dusty
June 24th, 2009
12:32 pm
getalife,
Give me a guess.
North Korea said they wanted to wipe the USA off the map.
You asked, “What does he want?” referring to North Korea.
Answer: He wants to wipe the USA off the map.
Just a wild guess ! Yes!!
You asked
Normal
June 24th, 2009
12:33 pm
George American…Bless your heart…
USinUK
June 24th, 2009
12:34 pm
Dusty –
and I want an Aston Martin – I think the chances of both KJI and I getting what we want are somewhere between slim and none – and for the same reason – neither of us have the resources.
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
12:39 pm
ty,
Then don’t watch!!!!! Just kidding. It will be a miracle if they pull this out, but as we saw last weekend, miracles never cease!
Venezuela and some other team that I can’t remember right now is playing at the Dome tomorrow. And of course AC Milan is coming to play July 22.
USinUK,
“Breakfast foods can be broken down into 3 categories:
carriers for milk (cereal)
carriers for syrup (pancakes/waffles)
carriers for hot sauce (everything else)”
Exactly, and the second carrier never passes my lips in the mornings. I really don’t like sweet things for breakfast.
Normal
June 24th, 2009
12:40 pm
If North Korea does fire a missle near Hawaii, I’ll give odds that it hits near New Zealand…
USinUK
June 24th, 2009
12:40 pm
heading home .. have a great evening!!!
mantra
June 24th, 2009
12:40 pm
Bush has been out of office six months. Obama has expanded the war in the mideast, kept Robert Gates as secdef, and has not added transparency to his office at all.
Obama is worse than Bush in every category.
Gays, jews, business, all lose under Obama.
Obama is lying, and people are dying.
The phone has been ringing alot at 3 AM lately. Nobody home.
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
12:42 pm
Normal,
You’re cracking me up with the “Bless Your Heart” stuff.
Normal
June 24th, 2009
12:43 pm
Bosch, just keein’ it light…
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
12:43 pm
AND, if man-eating pythons are moving into GA, I’m moving out.
Normal
June 24th, 2009
12:45 pm
MANTRA, please read my 12:33 and insert your name, please…
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
12:45 pm
Snakes that can eat people. That’s just wrong.
ty webb
June 24th, 2009
12:49 pm
Just imagine if you were stuck on a plane with these snakes.
Night Train
June 24th, 2009
12:50 pm
I the S&S reporter is depending on ‘his’ soldiers to protect his butt, he better be careful what he writers about them.
The few times we had a ‘reporter’ dodging us in Nam, we just let them run point for a few hours, problem solved.
Doggone/GA
June 24th, 2009
12:50 pm
“Obama has expanded the war in the mideast”
Exactly HOW does moving 20,000 troops from one theater to another add upt to “expanding” the mideast war? I’m not very good at math, but even *I* can see that if you subtract from one side, and add to the other…the next increase is ZERO.
WhoCares
June 24th, 2009
12:52 pm
Man eating snakes? OK…raise your hand if all of the sudden an assualt weapon sounds like a pretty handy thing to have around?
Normal
June 24th, 2009
12:54 pm
Dusty You stole my thunder, I thought I was the only one who would remember him. I have his “All the Brave Men” book at home. What a read…makes a grownup cry.
————–
But I think the main question here is freedom of the Press. We, the people have the right to know the truth, and War correspondants must have the freedom to report what they see, the way they see it. Someone above said that it’s not right to demoralize the troops, but it’s also not right to put them in a situation they can’t win. I remember Viet Nam too well, when the only win you could get was surviving your tour.
Normal
June 24th, 2009
12:55 pm
WhoCares
June 24th, 2009
12:52 pm
—————-
Shot gun’s better….
Doggone/GA
June 24th, 2009
12:55 pm
“I the S&S reporter is depending on ‘his’ soldiers to protect his butt, he better be careful what he writers about them”
I see that you approve of blackmailing reporters to prevent them from reporting the truth. WOW! And here I thought we were “over there” to protect our liberties and freedoms. Just not the freedom to report what is REALLY happening – good OR bad – huh?
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
12:56 pm
ty,
Thanks for that. Now I’m gonna have to go watch Sponge Bob for a while. Yeah, thanks.
WhoCares,
Um, for once I think I agree that guns aren’t so bad.
say what?
June 24th, 2009
1:01 pm
“But barring or removing them because their work is not deemed sufficiently positive is wrong and counterproductive.”
And yet not a word in this regard about the upcoming “Q & A” for Obama’s “health care initiative” tonight on ABC. I guess it’s ok for the liberal media to not allow an antonym voice during discussion, but not anyone else.
williebkind
June 24th, 2009
1:02 pm
I remeber reporters printing the soldiers were baby killers! I remmeber the reporter stating a soldier killed a terrorist lying on the floor helpless. The soldier had to fight for his freedom because of the false reporting. If I were a commander, Jay and his ilk could join the military or stay at home.
Since when has the liberal biased media reported facts? They do not tell the story they shape the story to fit their political agendas.
Journalism is dead!!
WhoCares
June 24th, 2009
1:02 pm
I think there is probably more to this S&S reporter story that we are being told. Any officer that would invite this kind of scrutiny probably had a pretty good reason to risk it.
Normal
June 24th, 2009
1:04 pm
In support of sexual equality, I think these snakes should eat women too…Just sayin’
HDB
June 24th, 2009
1:04 pm
@ Mantra/12.40:
1) The war has NOT expanded; it is finally focused on where it SHOULD have been in the FIRST PLACE
2) The nation does take some time to be corrected once taken down the wrong path. Remember, for every 4 years a Republican is in office, it takes 6 to correct his mistakes. Carter didn’t get enough time to correct the Nixon/Ford issues – including Watergate; after the 12 years of Reagan/Bush41…and the 8 years of Bush43, it will take almmost 30 years to get things in order! Clinton did a lot in 8 years….now Obama has to correct the nation’s course once again! He’s on the right path…if people could get a long-term clarity of thought rather than the persistent short-term thought processes that are pervasive throughout the nation!
3) Obama IS at home; Bush was always in Texas!! Don’t forget the Bush flyover after Katrina, Bush’s zoning out in Florida on 9/11, “atta boy, Brownie” and going to Mississippi…when the preponderance of damage was in New Orleans….and Bush never showed up!!
4) Gays, Jews, and business will not be the losers when everything Obama is attempting falls into place: a) Gay people will finally be afforded the same rights as ALL Americans…including the right to marry whomever they desire (it is already the case via state/constitutional mandates and via international treaties….State law creates the contract; the Constitution recognizes contracts arrived upon in one state are to be recognized in all 50….and the 14th Amendement guarantees equal protection); Jews will gain once peace in the Middle east is attained; businesses will gain by less expenditures on health care for its employees, and the uninsured will have options for better health care…and ALL Americans will gain economically and physically!!
Use your long-term thinking; don’t just desire instant gratification…thagt’s what got us here in the first place!!!
Dusty
June 24th, 2009
1:06 pm
Hey, I object to the propaganda here about pythons. I want the REAL FACTS. The truth is pythons only squeeze people to death! (This from an “embraced” reporter.)
Then pythons only eat humans if they are cheesy shrimp hotsauce breakfast eating liberals.
Just wanted you to know the REAL FACTS so you could be accurate! (I am a member of National Wildlife Association. Remember?)
This week is Adopt a Python Week. Sign up, bosch.
Normal
June 24th, 2009
1:06 pm
HDB: Excellent!
williebkind
June 24th, 2009
1:07 pm
HDB: Here is your koolaid! Take a big gulp.
Normal
June 24th, 2009
1:07 pm
This week is Adopt a Python Week. Sign up, bosch.
—————-
You too, Whiner…
WhoCares
June 24th, 2009
1:08 pm
I’m not so sure about a man eating snake either but I know there are three “misguided youths” out in Loganville that I wouldn’t mind seeing made into snake bait.
Normal
June 24th, 2009
1:08 pm
This week is Adopt a Python Week. Sign up, bosch.
—————
Ane especially you too Williebkind…
The way we weren't
June 24th, 2009
1:09 pm
I can wipe ANY country off the map. Just give me the map…and a paintbrush, or scissors… .
Dusty
June 24th, 2009
1:10 pm
HDB, 1:04
I am sending you a python. Enjoy!
DB, Gwinnettian
June 24th, 2009
1:10 pm
I remeber reporters printing the soldiers were baby killers! I remmeber the reporter stating a soldier killed a terrorist lying on the floor helpless.
I rmebmer when troools could spell.
Atlanta Native
June 24th, 2009
1:13 pm
Just remember, Patton hated Bill Mauldin’s stuff and it was in S&S. If any of you ever get a chance read “Up Front” it is a collection of his stuff with commentary.
I would never accuse Jay of being “cut and run”. Just because I often disagree with him, I won’t question his patriotism.
The way we weren't
June 24th, 2009
1:17 pm
Who (in the military) would have ever believed that a reporter with an outfit call “Stars and Stripes” could say anything that did not sound like it was written by Patton himself. Well!
Perez Hilton
June 24th, 2009
1:20 pm
Libs only want media they can control. Like the All Barock Channel.
My face hurts.
The way we weren't
June 24th, 2009
1:21 pm
These right wing nuts have clearly expanded the scope of their trash talk to incorporate pulling stuff out of their arses. I assume their expansion coincides with Limbaugh’s endorsement of Zicam.
The way we weren't
June 24th, 2009
1:26 pm
Listen up, you Republican “menfolk”. Your bosses have spoken but I don’t see your lips moving. A little synchronization would go a long way in helping us believe that you are more than a fill-in in a cheap Japanese sci-fi flick.
GOP Women’s Group In MD: ‘Obama And Hitler Have A Great Deal In Common’
booger
June 24th, 2009
1:28 pm
Normal,
I think everyone would love to have a free press such as we once had in this country. In fact I think that there is well balanced reporting at the field level. The media, however, through their selective use of materials has become nothing more than an advocacy group. And so the lovefest continues.
williebkind
June 24th, 2009
1:29 pm
If I take a python, does it come with a recipe?
DB, Gwinnettian
June 24th, 2009
1:30 pm
Libs only want media they can control. Like the All Barock Channel.
Yep, Libs just love that channel. They especially loved this classic docu-drama, which ABC kindly shepherded onto the air a few weeks before the ‘06 mid-terms.
Doggone/GA
June 24th, 2009
1:31 pm
“Libs only want media they can control.”
You haven’t really been paying close attention to this discussion, have you?
williebkind
June 24th, 2009
1:31 pm
DB: I am a product of public schools…send me morre monye
williebkind
June 24th, 2009
1:34 pm
DB: I am a product of public schools! Sned me morre moyne!
williebkind
June 24th, 2009
1:34 pm
I still cant speel…
Turd Ferguson
June 24th, 2009
1:35 pm
There is nothing that needs reporting. The Generals will lettuce know what we need to know when we need to know it. We dont need some Winword and Bernstein court jesters turning in falsehoods just to earn an extra buck-fifty an hour.
Katy Couric is a miserable little troll.
RealityKing
June 24th, 2009
1:36 pm
“Without a media free to report what was really happening, the necessary change in policy and leadership never would have occurred.”
Jay obviously sees nothing wrong with today’s progressively run state media…, highlighting his own bias.
Turd Ferguson
June 24th, 2009
1:37 pm
The liberal media is happy when US Soldiers die. We should send them to Iran to do some reporting.
The way we weren't
June 24th, 2009
1:38 pm
You should have attended a quality private school, willie.
The way we weren't
June 24th, 2009
1:41 pm
The liberal media is happy when US Soldiers die. We should send them to Iran to do some reporting.
Why? We don’t have any US soldiers there to report on.
Normal
June 24th, 2009
1:42 pm
Oh Turd, Bless your heart the most…
RB from Gwinnett
June 24th, 2009
1:43 pm
Bosch, are you really going to act like you libs are big troop supporters? Nobody’s buying that crap Bosch. Go dig up all of the trashy comments made about our troops bombing villages, raping women, killing children, etc. and see what political party they all belong to. Even the abu graib thing was a good opportunity for libs to trash the military, Bush specifically, instead of only condeming the individuals responsible for it. Same with Gitmo.
You can pretend the truth is somewhere else if you want to, Bosch, but that would just be more evidence of you being naive.
Turd Ferguson
June 24th, 2009
1:47 pm
Really?! Wow…thanks for the info.
The way we weren't
June 24th, 2009
1:49 pm
We SHOULD only blame those responsible for the atrocities of the last eight years. Let’s see. Let’s start with Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. That’s a good start.
AmVet
June 24th, 2009
1:53 pm
Duty called and I missed most of the neo-conical teeth gnashing downstairs.
For argument’s sake lets all just agree that 4,315 Americans KIA’d needlessly, tens of thousands more injured and a trillion dollars, or thereabouts, is a very small price to pay for having the privilege of the Bungler-in-Chief lying to the nation and and cooking the books for his Crusades.
The only memorable copy of the Stars & Stripes I recall, and one I still have, is the July 4, 1976 edition…
Normal
June 24th, 2009
1:54 pm
RB- You are out of line, sir, You, in your narrow minded way of seeing your world would call me a Liberal too, even though I am not. But that matters not. What matters is that I am a combat veteran of three political wars starting with “Nam. I support the troops to the utmost. I support them so much that I want to give them a more than fair shot at winning, I want to see them properly armed and with the best protective armour. I want to see them properly led and I want to see them able to fight without one arm tied behind their back…or I want to see them home and I’m sure Bosch feels the same way. You sir or ma’am are no supporter of anything that I can see…Just sayin’
Dusty
June 24th, 2009
2:03 pm
Well, before I disappear for the prosperity of personal wealth, let me give you some GOOD NEWS. THE only wolverine in North American just ate the only python in North America. Besides that, the governor of South Carolina was referee and cook!! So that settles all that!
Anyway, Bookman is getting ready to flash his next topic which is bound to be “Pat Swindall REPUBLICAN did a BAD THING!” Seems Pat was not home for Father’s Day for his SEVEN children!!
Swindall should be thrown under the jail for that, not to mention that lil’ ol’ bribe to an innocent Atl council member. What does Swindall think he is? A liberal?
dave
June 24th, 2009
2:09 pm
somebody tell Bosch what liberal means, he doesn’t know!!!
Jay doesn’t trash the military, I’ll give him that (he’s a military brat, I believe) but he sure does like to blame Bush for everything. How long can it last, seems like our supreme leader is going to have to be responsible soon.
.
RB from Gwinnett
June 24th, 2009
2:14 pm
Normal, “I want to see them able to fight without one arm tied behind their back” So you’re in agreement the “don’t return fire if bein attacked from a civilian area” is a DUMB policy? Are you willing to call Obama out on that? If you don’t see that policy as fighting with one arm tied behind their backs, you’re a partisan fool.
Jake
June 24th, 2009
2:20 pm
Only college students brainwashed by communist professors into thinking business careers are inappropriate for anyone that is not a John Birch society type Republican, wind up as wimpy bleeding heart liberal journalist losers (read Bookman). Naturally they feel obligated to rat out the men and women who do the dirty work with exposes on the horrors of My Lai and Gitmo. All you did today is make america weaker Bookman.
Normal
June 24th, 2009
2:24 pm
Call n=me all the names you want, and to answer your inane question, YES! Absolutely a stupid policy. Like I said, If they can’t fight like they were trained, Bring them home. We can’t control what a spineless
group like the Taliban does, and if they want to hide behind women and children, we have two choices, shoot anyway or withdraw. If we choose withdrawal, it will embolden the Taliban even further, so we may as well bring our troops home. They will be needed here when the Taliban start using our children as shields. THAT is the real world.
Bosch
June 24th, 2009
2:26 pm
Ahhh. Just back from watching the Sponge Bob Channel.
RB,
I think it is more appropriate that YOU dig up all the libs trashing the military and libs hate the military comments since YOU are the one accusing people like me of doing so. In such rich RB style, you like to throw ideological crap into the blog with nothing to back it up. For some reason you think that criticism amounts to no support: apples and oranges are not the same thing. You want to make that accusation, back it up. Otherwise, well, you know…..
dave,
Actually, you’re right. I do not know what a liberal is. I really have no clue.
Normal @ 1:54,
Amen, and thanks for your service. And, I’m an equal opportunity snake eater with you.
Dusty,
I SO don’t like snakes. Snakes are just so wrong on so many levels, mainly being that they are just creepy as hell.
Atlanta Native
June 24th, 2009
2:28 pm
Jake,
Exposing My Lai weakened America? You rooted for Jack Nicholson’s character in A Few Good Men didn’t you?
Atlanta Native
June 24th, 2009
2:33 pm
Enter your comments here
RB from Gwinnett
June 24th, 2009
2:37 pm
Bosch, if you aren’t aware of John Kerry and others comments about our troops, I don’t suspect any amount of me providing proof of their quotes will ever get you out from under the rock you’ve been living under. You just keep you’re head buried in the sand and act like you don’t know what your party leaders have said. You’re the definition of a Koolaid drinking sheep.
BTW, there is a difference between criticism and calling them baby killers on a national stage with the world listening. There is also a difference in being critical with a fair minded assesment vs. the “everything they do is wrong” mentality of the MSM.
You know what your leaders have said, Bosch, and to sit here and act like if I don’t print it for you here it didn’t happen is dishonest.
Normal
June 24th, 2009
3:05 pm
RB…Bless your heart, no really…
Mike
June 24th, 2009
3:12 pm
So if the Commander and Chief brings a Huffington Post reporter to the front of the briefing room, skipping over legitimate media and lets him ask a pre-vetted question, is that acceptable? I’m sure the officers in the field would love to be able to select specific questions to answer. I think you missed the point Jay. They want balanced news, not cheerleading (I know—I’ve been there.) There is good and bad to report, but the agenda seems to dictate only the bad should make it to the public for consumption. Maintaining troop morale is a difficult task in theater, and it becomes much more arduous when perception back home is molded by an incomplete picture.
TnGelding
June 24th, 2009
3:20 pm
Rethink Afghanistan (Part 4): Civilian Casualties
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krHV9iT20zw
TnGelding
June 24th, 2009
3:30 pm
The New Strategy in Afghanistan with David Kilcullen, David Barno, and Tom Ricks:
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10405
Hellinahandbasket
June 24th, 2009
3:35 pm
If you think this kind of censorship was only done under the Bush or other Republican administrations then you are a biased moron. Clinton did it and so did many of the other Democrats. It’s not a party thing, its a political thing. On one side you got the supporters of the military who try and make it better than it is then on the other side you got your CNN’s, NBC’s etc. who hate the military and make it worse than it is…somewhere the truth lies in the middle and as active duty Army who has spent 3 tours in Iraq, all outside the Green Zone I can tell you the truth is much more interesting, much more positive and much more heart breaking than any of these news agencies can report. Censorship and the manipulation of facts and the truth are the foundation of every news agency in the world and that includes the U.S. so join the real world people, this is not news.
War Vet
June 24th, 2009
3:36 pm
War is for soldiers, not reporters. You wanna go to a war zone & report? Go on your own.
Voice of Reason
June 24th, 2009
3:38 pm
The military controls every aspect of a soldier’s and the military’s lives including information so why is anyone so suprised they control THIS information? Hell, the liberal news agencies skew the info to fit their thinking just as the conservative news agencies skew it their way. Sometimes you people are so naive.
War Vet
June 24th, 2009
3:41 pm
Media Purpose: Take the ability of free thought & decision making away from the individual. I know it is Greek for “middle”, but it is anything but today.
Besides, with so many cry baby soldiers/bloggers now a days, I find it hard to believe something contrary wouldn’t get out.
ugacpa02
June 24th, 2009
4:07 pm
Perhaps if journalists would stick to covering the news instead of editorializing, then there wouldn’t be such decisions.
Steve
June 24th, 2009
4:36 pm
The media during Vietnam calling U.S. soldiers “Baby killers” and such didn’t necessarily put the soldiers in danger either, but it certainly took a psychological toll on them. How stoked do you get to do a good job, when the people who are suppose to be supporting you are calling you vile and untrue names.
HDB @ 1:04 (where do I start)
If Carter had another 4 years in office would we have been able to look at 25% interest rates rather than the 18% we had we he was voted out of office. Let’s also not forget the hostage situation in Iran which he was UNSUCCESSFUL if bring to an end.
Clinton what exactly is he remembered for? I remember him making big headlines for getting a BJ (he doesn’t believe that is sex) from Monica L. Numerous previous affairs that came to light during his time in office. The economic boom we had in his time was due to Alan Greenspan’s policies. I have seen several blogs now blaming that for current economic downturn). I also remember Bill & Hillary looting the WH on their way out of DC.
Not sure what you mean by Obama IS at home. I thought he was from the Chicago area.
In terms of Katrina, New Orleans got more press coverage, but the gulf coast of Mississippi was decimated. That is where the full force of Katrina hit. Bush did ask the Gov of Lousiana if assistance was needed, and she DECLINED. The Orleans area weathered the hurricane itself with minimal damage. Their nightmare began due to the levee breaks. The levees were built to withstand a Category 3 hurricane, not a Catagory 5. The people of New Orleans were notified well in advance of Katrina to get out of town. Some could not leave. Many others CHOSE not to leave. Many of these same people then set about looting the town. I’m not referring to the people who were taking food/water to survive. I’m referrig to the extensive news video that was shot of people stealing things they could not possible use (flat screen TVs, a baby grand piano) during the catastrophe.
The Gay Rights organization is already mad at Obama. Guess he kind of strayed from one of those campaign promises.
“Jews will gain once peace in the Middle east is attained”…well that hasn’t happened in a few thousand years. There are numerous Arab countries and groups today who indicate they will not be happy until the nation of Isreal has been wiped from the face of the earth…how’s that for love and understanding?
My long term thinking tells me we are in debt up to our eyeballs. We have to be ‘conservative’ in our over all spending to get our economic crisis under control. That means, bring in more money than you spend. I do not see Obama doing that at all.
Copyleft
June 25th, 2009
10:12 am
If people are calling you “baby killers,” you might want to stop killing babies… you know, instead of whining about how much you want to shoot the messenger.
It’s sad how many people put “supporting the troops” ahead of “supporting the TRUTH.”