Bradley HankinsSince the times of the Vietnam War, it seems that the United States just can’t go into a war and just win. It seems like we draw it out, that there is a lot of protest at home, and much of the war seems to be mishandled. There is one connection that I myself has drawn upon. The media.
The Vietnam War was was the first televised war. Americans sat down and tuned into with their televisions to the war. The media has destroyed the whole idea of war.
War should be done in secret - meaning that the media shouldn’t be allowed in to tell the world what we are doing, and what we are planning on doing.
The reason why I bring this up now is this. I was watching the news the other night, only to see a news reporter on the front lines. Just not any front line though, but the first mission the Marines have had in a few years in Afghanistan. This guy was reporting and video taping the actions of our soldiers. Not only that, he was giving away the plans of the mission, the position in which our soldiers and located, and where they are heading. Basically, they gave away our playbook.
We do not want our enemy to know where we are and what we are doing. We want them to be surprised, to be caught off guard, but with this reporting our enemy now knows what we are doing, and has plenty of time to plan a strategic defense.
I do not support full blockade of media in wars, but I do not want the media there with 24-7 telling the world what is happening there. I wish it to be like it was in World War 2, but with a type of twist. Have news reel type news that can air every week, showing how much we are winning in the war, and show what we have already done, and not give out any information on what we are planning to do. Not only that, we need a top official every week to tell us the death tolls on both side. Tell us the casualties we have, and then tell the casualties that we caused to the enemy.
Yes, I believe the government should be all over this, and I don’t care if they tell us a lie every now and then, as long as it is to protect us. With all this 24 hour strategy give-away we have now, of course we end up losing wars. Not only that, we cannot fight “wars”, we can only play patty-cake with the enemy because of political correctness.
How do you believe us to win, if we give away what we are doing, and we cannot actually fight?
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on May 4th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Excellent post Bradley. This same issue came up when Geraldo drew out the plans in the sand when we first went in 5 years ago. While it’s okay to embed the reporters with the troops, it is the duty of the reporters to also keep that mission a secret from the enemy. Our media definitely has a left-wing bias, especially when it comes to war. Personally, I think we need to keep them at home. All they do is lie when the get home anyway..why not let them lie about what they think is happening without actually observing then deliberately reporting falsehoods anyway!
on Jun 14th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
I agree also. The media is the reason for us losing wars. The last war that the media wasn’t involved in WWII, I believe we won.