The boys over at RedState have come up with what might be the most bone-headed idea since that high school kid from South Florida took the credit cards his parents gave him and stole off to Iraq, hoping to commit some random acts of teeni-bopper journalism. In that case, the kids was criticized across the board for endangering not only his own life, but the lives of U.S. servicemen and women and embassy staffers who were forced to track him down and extract him before the kidnappers, insurgents, militias, and other goon squads running rampant through Baghdad got to him first.
Now, the boys from RedState -- a lovely blog, I'm sure, if you're a mindless Bush worshipper -- want to replicate his stupidity. Why, I wonder, should amateur journos who run a blog be capable of delivering more accurate news than, say, veteran correspondents like Michael Ware or Richard Engel? Oh, that's right, because journalists like Ware and Engel are "biased" against the war -- they see only the bombings and the carnage, and forget to notice the sunshine and sweet, tasty pita bread. Give me a break!
Earth to RedStaters: the reason the war seems to be going badly in the TV and print coverage, is because it IS going badly. That's not just the opinion of journalists. (I don't think Fox has a bureau in Iraq, and I'm not sure they would even if they WERE an actual news outlet, rather than a propaganda factory, and well, the whole Geraldo draws a map in the sand thing didn't work out so well, but even their man on such matters, Ollie North, has made it clear that the troops he talks to believe the war is going badly...) It's also the opinion of the Pentagon itself, if you choose to believe the latest intelligence assessment on the war, not to mention the assessments of the generals themselves.
Sending your inexperienced, chicken-hawk behinds to Baghdad will do only two things: first, it will allow you to brag to the quizzlings at LGF and that harpy Laura Ingraham chick that you, like Bill O'Reilly, have actually "been in combat," and thus you really "know what the troops are feeling..." and second, it will force those troops to waste precious time and resources protecting your sorry behinds and escorting you around the Green Zone (you don't dare leave the Green Zone, and if you don't know why, you might want to read up before your trip...) rather than prosecuting their mission -- however flawed.
In other words, if you want to play war, buy a video game. Leave the reporting to the reporters. Besides, since when do you need to feel the hot sand on your faces in order to propagandize for the president?
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%>
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%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
