Newsweek aids and abetts Taliban
This weeks Newsweek, courtesy of Michael Isikoff and John Barry, release this story which sparks riots in Afghanistan leaving 15 dead and years of hard work up in smoke and then release this account of how Newsweek got it wrong.
The military are still to blame.
True, one would have to question a group of people who riot and kill each other because of a story about a book being damaged but I think Newsweek rushed the story to press, as trivial and unimportant as it was, to get an anti-Bush/Military article on the newsstands.
Austin Bay posts and mentions that news and pictures travels so fast and far in today’s e-world that Editors need to be aware of the ramifications of what they print because it’ll be read by some savage in the mountains of Afghanistan that very day. They are not writing for their readers in the Western world but for everybody in the world with all their weird thoughts on what is right or wrong
One particular reader leaves a telling comment,
AUSTIN: I’m on my way back to Kabul, as I typically do every summer, but my family is completely opposed to my travel and work this year in Afghanistan even though I’ve safely transited there, in and out of State and UN/NGO service for nearly 20 years. The word I receive from Kabuli friends is that Isikoff has singlehandedly turned US triumph in the country to a total disaster. It was thought an anamoly last summer that some wonderful–and tragically forgotten–American DynCorps workers (mostly ex-military and my good friends) were killed in an environment that was pro-American to the core. That could be seen as a terrible tragedy, an unreasonable sad event impinging on an overall positive atmosphere–a last ditch effort by desperate Al Qa’eda remnants from outside Afghanistan to vent anger at the overwhelming success of the Americans. Now thanks to one Bush-hating reporter (google Isikoff if you doubt his intentions,) the recidivist Taliban-Pathans of southeast Afghanistan once again have an issue to de-legitimize the Karzai-US alliance. This is a disaster perpetrated by a single reckless reporter…will he ever be required to answer for his sins? Fifteen dead so far…how many more? The streets of Afghanistan, just days ago filled with pro-American citizens, are now roiled with hatred. What has Newsweek wrought? Who will call Isikoff to answer in courts or Congress for his destruction of an important alliance? GW…it’s time for you to step up to the plate and talk directly about this issue, this renegade journalist, to both the American public and the Afghan people.MSM treatment of the misdemeanours at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo have done nothing but damage the fight against terrorism, giving the fanatics, both left wing and Moslem, the chance to rant about the evil US. Evil is slitting some innocent’s throat or forcing youths to blow themselves up in the presence of women and kids. It is not taking happy snaps of tied up prisoners. Neither is flushing pages from a book down the toilet. This type of rubbish enflames and emboldens weirdos and subsequently lengthens the war. Soldiers die because of this rubbish and still it comes. Can we expect the Left to mention the futile deaths in Afghanistan and apportion blame to the media.. No. Can we expect a meaningful apology from Newsweek. No UPDATE: Another viewpoint via Silent Running UPDATE II:Quote of the day from Right Wing News
“The media does in fact have an impressive fact-checking system. If a quote or purported fact portrays Republicans, the military, or America generally in a positive light, they check it to death to make sure they’re not spreading propaganda. But… if the quote or purported fact portrays those things in a negative light, it pretty much gets into print with only the most cursory once-over by the editors. If it agrees with their basic world-view — if it feels “right” in their gut — then it runs.Sounds about right to me.
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