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This story may be worth a chuckle - but it's just one illustration of the huge disconnect between the US military and the American press. That sort of rigid, misinformed belief in stereotypes is just one symptom of a larger disease - other manifestations include outright hostility and contempt.
Glenn Reynolds on press negativity about Iraq. Follow the various links and you'll encounter Knight Ridder's Baghdad bureau chief, Hannah Allam:
"Mr. Yost could have come with me today as I visited one of my own military buddies, who like most officers doesn't leave the protected Green Zone compound except by helicopter or massive convoy. The Army official picked me up in his air-conditioned Explorer, took me to Burger King for lunch and showed me photos of the family he misses so terribly. The official is a great guy, and like so many other soldiers, it's not politics that blind him from seeing the real Iraq.That's an interesting argument - the military officers in the Green Zone have no idea what's going on in Iraq. One would think that with all the balanced press coverage they wouldn't need to venture out from their protective walls to learn about the crushing defeat of the US military there."The compound's maze of tall blast wall and miles of concertina wire obscure the view, too.
USA Today, for instance, presents an exhaustive, page-one examination of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment - a group that the author indicates is all but defeated by the Iraqi insurgency.
Their "...patriotic fervor now seems spent". They are "angry to be back" in Iraq. "Evidence of victory is scant" "they just want to go home" "Their loved ones suffer with them." Their patrols are "dark and nightmarish" (and are actually compared to a Disneyland ride in the story). As with all such "news reports" from Iraq, there are no direct quotes from any Marine supporting the overall tone of the piece - in fact there are no positive notes whatsoever. We must take the author's word for it: these Marines have been beaten. Badly. They are just barely keeping a tenuous grip on their own humanity. The Marines may have a different perspective - but it doesn't appear here.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post, echoing Allam, takes a look at the stinking, festering hell-hole that is Baghdad, and compares it with the view from the military officers in the Green Zone:
On the city's streets, the daily reality involves death, random violence and routine deprivations for people who are beyond anger. But a different view has been presented in the Green Zone, the concrete-barricaded headquarters for U.S. troops, diplomats and contractors, and the interim Iraqi government. There, the situation is described as progressing toward a gradual handover from U.S. forces to Iraqi control.Here's a quick look back at some other recent Mudville posts on the emerging themes in curernt press coverage of the military.
The mercenary military is increasingly distant from American society.
Closing where we began, here's Michael Fumento:
Yost was right; media coverage on the war is terribly slanted ? such that it may threaten our ability to win.Of course, that's just his opinion.
(Background on the Yost brouhaha here. Must-read if you aren't familiar with the story.)
