posted on August 17, 2005 09:54:54 AM
Today Show: US Soldier in Iraq Zaps Media - "I'd be Depressed Too if I got my News from the Newspapers"
Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 17, 2005 - 07:37.
When the Today show sprung a surprise this morning -- an unannounced trip to Iraq by Matt Lauer -- one US soldier had a little surprise of his own for Today and the media at large.
Lauer interviewed a group of soldiers at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, and at one point asked about the state of morale. After getting two responses to the effect that morale was good, Lauer had this to say:
"Don't get me wrong, I think you're probably telling the truth, but there might be a lot of people at home wondering how that could be possible with the conditions you're facing and with the insurgent attacks you're facing. " (video }http://newsbusters.org/media/TodaySoldier.wmv
If Lauer was the advocate for the anti-war case, he then made the cardinal mistake that no advocate should make: asking a question to which you don't know the answer.
Asked Lauer: "What would you say to those people who are doubtful that morale could be that high?"
Captain Sherman Powell nailed Lauer, the MSM and the anti-war crowd with this beauty:
"Well sir, I'd tell you, if I got my news from the newspapers also I'd be pretty depressed as well!"
Bada-bing!
Powell went on to add that, while acknowledging the difficulties the media face in getting out into the field in Iraq,
"For those of us who have actually had a chance to get out and meet the Iraqi Army and Iraqi police and go on patrols with them, we are very satisfied with the way things are going here and we are confident that if we are allowed to finish the job we started we'll be very proud of it and our country will be proud of us for doing it!"
"Why, it appears that we appointed all of our worst generals to command the armies and we appointed all of our best generals to edit the newspapers. I mean, I found by reading a newspaper that these editor generals saw all of the defects plainly from the start but didn't tell me until it was too late. I'm willing to yield my place to these best generals and I'll do my best for the cause by editing a newspaper." --Robert E. Lee
posted on August 17, 2005 11:17:03 AM
Sounds to me like trying to control what a guest says....by only asking questions they already know the answer to. How sad....how biased of them.
Let the soldiers speak out and say what they want....whether it meets with their biased agenda or not.
This soldier is in a LONG time of soldiers that have said EXACTLY the same thing.....reporting on what's really going on....is NOT getting out to Americans. Only the deaths and hardships of war. That's what the anti-troops/anti-war/anti-Americans want to hear.....only the negative.
Hopefully after the meeting in NY of editors with the AP....things will start to change.
And American's can be proud of our troops and ALL their accomplishments.
"Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy. This is their essence." --Ann Coulter
And why the American Voters chose to RE-elect President Bush to four more years. YES!!!
