I think a couple people owe Matt and Charles an apology.

So some reporters are unprofessional. Is anyone surprised?

Bring Them War, Not Elections
By Elan Journo

How we brought radical Islamists to power, when we should have been killing them.

The region's widespread support for Islamic totalitarianism is led by the states that are that movement's chief financiers and inspirations: Iran and Saudi Arabia. These regimes are waging a proxy war against the West; they are proselytizing and recruiting untold numbers to join the fight to subjugate mankind to Islamic rule.

Since the Islamist cause has state-sponsorship and widespread moral endorsement, Washington's military response to 9/11 should have been to crush the hostile Islamist regimes and demoralize the movement's many abettors. By unapologetically devastating these regimes, America would have disheartened the Islamists and their supporters. Only demoralized people will reject the ideals and leaders that inspired their belligerence and promised victory; only humiliating defeat will drive them to renounce the fight as hopeless.

But instead of defending America by bringing defeat to our enemies, Bush chose to bring them elections--elections that have strengthened the Islamist cause.

The U.S.-engineered political success of Islamists vindicates one of the movement's central claims: committed jihadists bearing inferior weapons but armed with moral certainty can triumph over the powerful but cowardly America. Even after 9/11, the United States cravenly refused to defeat Islamists, and instead bent over backwards to hand them political power.

When they first came out with the term 'embedded' for some of the war correspondents, I couldn't help but think embedded? Like a parasite?

How many of these scoffing reporters in the press corps venture out of the green zone on a regular basis? More to the point, how many of them venture to other parts of Iraq like Kirkuk or Mosul?

Something too many are not noticing is that the "Raw Story" videos came from Mick Ware's fan club web site.

Take a look at Hotair for the second update which mentions that the MickWare.com web site furnished the tailored videos

#5 Capt America
I saw that mentioned as well. I wish Drudge would ammend his original story, check with his source or something. You'd think with a room full of reporters that someone would be willing to actually report on this story one way or the other.

This guy seems like a first class douchebag.

Yet journalists openly scoffed afterwards at what they considered a public awareness exercise secured on the streets by massive US security.

Good thing these journalists aren't biased

/

Don't forget these "mainstream" media gems:

The Spectator (UK)
May 15, 2004

The other day, while taking a break by the Al-Hamra Hotel pool, fringed with the usual cast of tattooed defence contractors, I was accosted by an American magazine journalist of serious accomplishment and impeccable liberal credentials.

She had been disturbed by my argument that Iraqis were better off than they had been under Saddam and I was now -- there was no choice about this -- going to have to justify my bizarre and dangerous views. I'll spare you most of the details because you know the script -- no WMD, no 'imminent threat' (though the point was to deal with Saddam before such a threat could emerge), a diversion from the hunt for bin Laden, enraging the Arab world. Etcetera.

But then she came to the point. Not only had she 'known' the Iraq war would fail but she considered it essential that it did so because this would ensure that the 'evil' George W. Bush would no longer be running her country. Her editors back on the East Coast were giggling, she said, over what a disaster Iraq had turned out to be. "Lots of us talk about how awful it would be if this worked out." Startled by her candour, I asked whether thousands more dead Iraqis would be a good thing.

She nodded and mumbled something about Bush needing to go. By this logic, I ventured, another September 11 on, say, September 11 would be perfect for pushing up John Kerry's poll numbers. "Well, that's different -- that would be Americans," she said, haltingly. "I guess I'm a bit of an isolationist." That's one way of putting it.

[Link: www.spectator.co.uk...]
[Link no longer active]

And Gary Kamiya, Executive Editor of Salon Magazine, two days after the liberation of Baghdad on April 11, 2003:

I have a confession: I have at times, as the war has unfolded, secretly wished for things to go wrong. Wished for the Iraqis to be more nationalistic, to resist longer. Wished for the Arab world to rise up in rage. Wished for all the things we feared would happen. I'm not alone: A number of serious, intelligent, morally sensitive people who oppose the war have told me they have had identical feelings.

Wishing for things to go wrong is the logical corollary of the postulate that the better things go for Bush, the worse they will go for America and the rest of the world.

[Link: salon.com...]

Bankrupt imbeciles.

#9 William - and I thought I couldn not dislike journalist any more than I already did.

Oh yeah. I can.
I dislike them even more now.

^ could not

PIYF when you use it.

Uh, as far as I know, an American Senator would have a significant security detail walking the streets of NEW JERSEY, let alone a foreign, jihadi infested country.

Do these idiots REALLY think McCain, or any major public figure, would walk unaccompanied, well, pretty much ANYWHERE?

F'ing ignorant baboons

Yeah, these are examples of journalists acting like morons. But do bear in mind that we're getting these reports from -- well, other journalists. There are some good ones.

#12 TMF, you beat me to it. Myself, nobody cares. The Senator walking down the street, I'll be part of his security detail, gladly. I have no problem with that.

#13 Coggles the Seldom Seen

The problem is, the good ones are not in charge and appear to be vastly outnumbered.

One good apple, many many bad ones.

PRIDE
OF
SIN,
R

Speaking of unsafe neighborhoods:

Woman Killed in Shooting in Atlanta's CNN Building Over Domestic Dispute

The perp was then shot by a CNN security guard. This is right across the street from Olympic Park, where Eric Rudolph's IED killed one person and injured about a hundred during the 1996 Olympics.

15 Render,

True. Sad and true.

HANDS
FOLDED,
C

The simple fact is that ENOUGH of the press corps is stupid/corrupt/evil/take your pick to render the effort, to the casual observer, useless.

In other words, unless you are willing to keep score as to which reporters specifically have a habit of lying/cheating/stealing/etc., you can't possibly trust what comes off the page, or over the airwaves.

This deplorable condition exists because there aren't ENOUGH "good ones" to exercise any kind of control or even influence over the bad ones.

And unless the industry is prepared to start policing itself, and since we (wisely, though to little effect) forbid and/or eschew any kind of strict government policing of the press, the media will remain useless except for those prepared to do extensive research on every report they care about.

I CANNOT trust ANY major news organization to simply give me the facts - if there's something they say that affects me, I then have to go do my own research. So I skip the middle-man as much as possible.

The REAL problem is that a lot of people either don't know that or feel helpless to solve it, and so countless people are doing things like, you know, VOTING based on not just incomplete information, but wrong and harmful information.

This has very serious consequences. This is not a game, this is real, and real people suffer and die because of the actions of dishonest and manipulative "reporters" and "editors."

It may be that the "Internet Information Revolution" will balance this out, but for my tastes it's not happening nearly fast enough, and I don't know how to make it happen faster.

At O.L.G.C. Sister Mary Asunta would have grabbed "Mikey" by the ear, dragged him up to the front of the class, smacked his hand with her yardstick, and made him sit in the front row; for easy reach...

18 Merovign,

As a wise man once said,

Every little thing /
Is gonna be all right.

If CNN had the video clearing Ware they would have run it, or would have been clear they viewed it and spotted nothing unusual. Instead they asked him if he "laughed." Why would they have even asked him unless that's what they saw on the video or heard from other people in the room?

Why would Ware dodge the "did you laugh" question?

Why is the only video of an important news conference that which comes from a "Ware fan site?"

Is there any doubt Drudge was tipped from someone in the room he trusted? Could it have been exaggerated? Sure. But why would he make up? After all, Drudge had no way of knowing if Ware was even at the conference.

If AFP bothered to mention the "laughing" and "scoffing" you can be sure it was purposefully disruptive.

None of this is proof but it sure is suspicious.

#4 Fenway_Nation

How many of these scoffing reporters in the press corps venture out of the green zone on a regular basis?

This question comes up a lot, but reporters do not live in the Green Zone. The people in the Green Zone are, by and large, American and Iraqi officials--both military and civilian. There are many sources that report this fact, and, as you may recall, a number of journalists--American and otherwise--have been injured or killed. Those events did not happen in the Green Zone.

#13 Cognito - but they didn't tell it because they thought it was wrong. They told it because they didn't see anything wrong with it.

The story wasn't that the reporter giggled in the back- that was just an added extra.

It's not all of them- but most of them have lost their flippin minds.

Would it not be an interesting picture to see what would be happening in Iraq today if the reports from Iraq represented, from the outset, the real events and actions?

Instead of being the PR dept. for the TERRORISTS, it would have nice to see these same "journalists" reporting what really transpired.

No longer would we be inundated with the "wish list for the luny left", but the heroic actions of the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

#9 William

And Gary Kamiya, Executive Editor of Salon Magazine, two days after the liberation of Baghdad on April 11, 2003:

I hadn't heard of either that writer or that article before, so I clicked on the link you provided and read the whole thing. I hope others will do so as well because assuming that the author's message was as reflected in that two-paragraph excerpt would be a serious mistake.

#24 LoneSome Journey

Instead of being the PR dept. for the TERRORISTS, it would have nice to see these same "journalists" reporting what really transpired.

I'm curious . . . how do you know what really happened?

20 Cognito

So your response to Merovign is basically don't worry. I think you fail to appreciate the seriousness of the situation. We are at war and the press is lying to us. What about that makes you say "every little thing is going to be alright?"

WAKE UP!

#26 Just My View: we know a LOT about what really happened, much in VERY STARK CONTRAST to news-wire and newspaper and TV reports, by reading MilBlogs (GreyHawk, Michael Yon, etc) DURING the events in question.

***

Although the deployment of 80,000 Iraqi and US forces has seen a decline in sectarian execution-style killings, insurgents terrorists are increasingly taking their battle God-damned vicious, murderous terrorizing propaganda-mill killing to other towns and cities.

The AP often requires such clarifications to find the real meaning.

27 Sharmuta,

So your response to Merovign is basically don't worry. I think you fail to appreciate the seriousness of the situation. We are at war and the press is lying to us.

Excellent. And I think you fail to appreciate a sense of humor.

For future reference, I need no lecture from you on the seriousness of war and the press. I 'appreciate' the circumstance, perhaps, better than you might think. And hyperventilating in a blog's comments section -- no matter how good the blog -- wouldn't do me a bit of good.

#26 JMV

I don't know about others on this forum, but I get most of my factual information from 'Boots on the ground', or former military as in the case of Micheal Yon - My Son being one among others who'll tell me in no uncertain terms what's taking place without the sorry assed comments or 'analysis' from some dipwad journalist who in 99% of the cases are pushing their own 'socialist lite' agenda. I don't believe zip from any journalist except maybe about 50% of what I hear from 'some' Fox corespondents, and even in those cases, it's taken with a large portion of salt.

Having experienced American, British, and French 'journalists', and the crap they spewed back in Vietnam, I formed a personal response toward any media buttmunch wanting to speak to me regarding anything (been asked several times regarding events in, and around LA -earthquakes, riots, etc...), and I've encouraged my Son to take the same tack unless ordered to do so by a superior.

No response to questions without first obtaining the personal name, organization, and 'Home' address of the requester (I ask to see their DL, or in one case, passport).

That way, they spew lies, they will have to answer to some interested parties, and certainly not in any damn court room. Since the legal system cannot, or will not hold 'journalists' responsible for their false/half truth/seditious activities, I know some people more than willing to take up the slack should it become necessary. Based on recent events, that time is fast approaching.

My response to your statement about many journalists being injured, or killed while reporting in Iraq - Other than a couple of good men lost early on, I can only say "Not enough".

And it isn't because they're being targeted by the military as some idiots claim. If they were actually being targeted, the numbers would be far higher. I know back in the day, knowing what I know about many I met, was nearby at that time, I have wished many a time I had acted otherwise. If I had, it certainly would have saved a lot of America, Aussie, Korean, and Canadian lives. If I had, I wouldn't consider it murder, I'd think of it as premptive action to save hundreds, if not thousands of lives of my fellow brothers-in-arms. :)

Okay, I'll quit ranting now. It should be apparent to anyone reading, if you even bothered, I loathe most journalists just slightly less than your average garden variety anti-war Moonbat who, if I were given the choice, would not see the light of day for at least twenty years. There are a few I would prefer to quit wasting oxygen. :)

Sorry about the verbiage Charles, I'll go back to lurking.

30 afdad,

It sounds like you've bumped into some really idiotic journalists, and I'm sorry to hear about that. But this:

My response to your statement about many journalists being injured, or killed while reporting in Iraq - Other than a couple of good men lost early on, I can only say "Not enough".

Well, it's just totally inappropriate. Utterly wrong, in multiple ways.

I can't speak for everybody on Little Green Footballs -- heck, I can't speak for anybody on Little Green Footballs -- but I do know that wishing harm on Americans flies in the face of our country's very spirit.

Cognito, If they don't know Marley, what can you do? Some levels of ignorance cannot be overcome..."singin' sweet, sweet songs/ a melody pure and true"

the good news-
cnn is getting killed in the ratings

the people speak

32 swamprat,

Ha -- yes.

#27 Sharmuta

In other words, "Don't worreee, beee happeee!" And believe everything the nice MSM tells you.

(And heh, heh, heh, sez Fritzie the Talking Kamel!)

#31 Cog

Spirit of America? Just what would you call what these 'Objective' journalists are violating? Sorry, but I will hold to what I said. Most of these bastards helped turn the American pubic against the effort in Vietnam, just as they are in Iraq now. Remember, Gen. Giap admitted they were ready to negotiate an end to hostilities after their failed Tet offensive. Where would we be if they reported the facts of all the war in Iraq, not the cherry picked crap, or half truths, or skewed 'analysis' commentary?

It was with the help of the seditious MSM, and the treasonous bottom feeders like Hanoi Jane, J F'n sKerry, the Chicago Seven amongst a host of others who assured their Marxist/Socialist buddies that given enough time, they could turn the tide of public opinion in favor of the North. Makes one wonder exactly what sKerry's conversational content in Paris was in 1972.

I've read some articles recently that I have to consider to be more than probable. Had Hitler not attacked Russia, the left in America back in the 1940's would not have supported the War effort as they did. In fact, it's highly likely they would have acted not unlike our current crop of scum.

The funny thing is, my parents were somewhat socialist in their political views being enamored with the likes of our first socialist President FDR, with my own beliefs not too far from theirs. However, my experience dealing with socialists while in the military, seeing what it truly was forever turned my heart into a stone for the well being of anyone should they have even a mild odor of socialism emanating from their being.

Cold hatred, pure, and unadulterated for any, and all who hold to such ideologies dear doesn't begin to describe my feelings. I've got a Son in the military who's been all over the middle east as well as Iraq, and Afghanistan. I consider these people to be encouraging our nations enemies to cause harm to him for nothing more than political expediency. For that, should anything happen...

#36 Me

Cold hatred, pure, and unadulterated for any, and all who hold to such ideologies dear doesn't begin ...

PIMF - Anger late at night can muddle the senses.

This update on the Ware controversy starts with "Was Matt Drudge right about Michael Ware after all?" and then offers in the very next sentence support for this position by stating "Bob Owens found an AFP report that mentions a reporter “giggling” ".

Unfortuntately for anyone who was hoping this would somehow demonstrate that Ware was in fact "the Giggler", the same AFP reporter (Jennie Matthew) who mentioned that someone giggled has since provided a further statement to Raw Story that:

Michael Ware was not the culprit.
"As far as I'm aware there was no disruption of the press conference at all," wrote Matthew from Baghdad. "The reporter who giggled at the back was not Michael Ware, whom I don't remember giggling or making any kind of disturbance. I think I remember him wanting to ask a question, but the congressmen ended the news conference."

On Monday, RAW STORY posted unedited videos from CNN of the Sunday press conference. News aggregator Matt Drudge had alleged that Ware, the Baghdad correspondent who has criticized Sen. McCain for exaggerating the Iraqi capital's safety, had "heckled" the senator. The videos appeared to confirm Ware's assertion that the press conference had ended without incident and before he could ask a question."

You know, maybe he giggled, maybe he didn't; given the more pressing issues of the day I'm not even sure why we're supposed to care. Maybe unlike in our great country, giggling in press conferences is illegal in Iraq. Regardless, for the sake of clarity and accuracy, the source cited in this post to support the claim Ware was giggling actually pretty much refutes it instead by saying just the opposite: that "The reporter who giggled at the back was not Michael Ware".

#7 crazytraveler

This guy seems like a first class douchebag.

I assume you mean Mattie Drudge. In which case I couldn't agree more.