Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Slandering The Military
I have said it once, and I will say it again, and again -- there is only one force on earth that can beat the United States military, and that is the United States public. I have explained how that happens previously.
The erosion of public support and confidence in the military comes, when those opposed to the administration's use of the military use problems the military encounters, and mistakes the military makes to drive a wedge between the military and the public, essentially, they are willing to lose whatever battle our military may be engaged in to move forward their political agenda. Sounds like a bad set of priorities to me.
Many on the left seem to be playing this gambit in two stories that have been raging for the last week -- one capitalizing on a mistake, and one on a problem. The one that capitalizes on the mistake is Dick Durbin and his complete egregious comments on the Senate Floor. Read all about it at Hugh Hewitt. Hugh has been all over this like white on rice for the better part of 10 days now -- there is little I can add to the discussion. The mistake appears to be some mishandling of prisoners at Gitmo sometime ago. Look, the military is not perfect, name me an organization or institution that is. They will make mistakes. But they will fix them. At least they will if the politicos give them the opportunity -- and that puts them head and shoulders above most organizations and institutions which stumble along afraid to admit their mistakes and too incompetent to fix them.
The incident that capitalizes on the problem is the murder of two officers in Iraq recently. There was an arrest in the case reported last Friday. We've already discussed at length (here -- here and here) the incessant use of the term "fragging," with its allusions to Vietnam as the first effort to use this incident to drive the wedge.
Now we find whole new angles at play. Most interestingly, something called "NORTHEASTERN FEDERATION OF ANARCHO-COMMUNISTS" reports it pretty straight, although they go out of their way to bring up Vietnam. But you have to ask yourself why a communist group out of Canada would report the story at all.
The NYTimes cannot play it nearly as straight -- this story is about how all the families involved -- killed and killer are struggling. This is right out of the 1960's era anti-war playbook. Focus on the individual and lose sight of the greater objective. This op-ed from the Westchester Journal News just claims that we citizens can't take anymore of it.
Fortunately, our men in uniform are holding the line. This report tells how some men close to the situation, home on leave, are doing the right thing, and keeping quiet. Justice can only be served if investigators and prosecutors in the area are allowed to do their job without press interference.
Things are not what they seem in this case. Information is already starting to emerge that this was no dissatisfaction with the military thing. The Troy (New York) Record and the Insurance Journal report that the accused murderer has a history of insurance fraud and that he built a bomb in his basement back home. It is starting to sound to me suspiciously like this guy is mobbed up somehow, or at least a pretty sophisticated criminal in his own right.
But the bottom line is this --why am I have to turn to small town papers and industry newsletters to get to the bottom of the story? I probably don't even need to tell you at this point, do I?
Again, as with any institution or organization bad apples get involved. That does not say that anything about the military, it's mission, or the administration -- and those that try to say it does are working in a fashion that is seemingly designed to cost us victory.
And while we are discussing military matters, Brendan Miniter had a great piece in WSJ yesterday arguing against the point that all these wedge drivers are heading towards.
The erosion of public support and confidence in the military comes, when those opposed to the administration's use of the military use problems the military encounters, and mistakes the military makes to drive a wedge between the military and the public, essentially, they are willing to lose whatever battle our military may be engaged in to move forward their political agenda. Sounds like a bad set of priorities to me.
Many on the left seem to be playing this gambit in two stories that have been raging for the last week -- one capitalizing on a mistake, and one on a problem. The one that capitalizes on the mistake is Dick Durbin and his complete egregious comments on the Senate Floor. Read all about it at Hugh Hewitt. Hugh has been all over this like white on rice for the better part of 10 days now -- there is little I can add to the discussion. The mistake appears to be some mishandling of prisoners at Gitmo sometime ago. Look, the military is not perfect, name me an organization or institution that is. They will make mistakes. But they will fix them. At least they will if the politicos give them the opportunity -- and that puts them head and shoulders above most organizations and institutions which stumble along afraid to admit their mistakes and too incompetent to fix them.
The incident that capitalizes on the problem is the murder of two officers in Iraq recently. There was an arrest in the case reported last Friday. We've already discussed at length (here -- here and here) the incessant use of the term "fragging," with its allusions to Vietnam as the first effort to use this incident to drive the wedge.
Now we find whole new angles at play. Most interestingly, something called "NORTHEASTERN FEDERATION OF ANARCHO-COMMUNISTS" reports it pretty straight, although they go out of their way to bring up Vietnam. But you have to ask yourself why a communist group out of Canada would report the story at all.
The NYTimes cannot play it nearly as straight -- this story is about how all the families involved -- killed and killer are struggling. This is right out of the 1960's era anti-war playbook. Focus on the individual and lose sight of the greater objective. This op-ed from the Westchester Journal News just claims that we citizens can't take anymore of it.
Fortunately, our men in uniform are holding the line. This report tells how some men close to the situation, home on leave, are doing the right thing, and keeping quiet. Justice can only be served if investigators and prosecutors in the area are allowed to do their job without press interference.
Things are not what they seem in this case. Information is already starting to emerge that this was no dissatisfaction with the military thing. The Troy (New York) Record and the Insurance Journal report that the accused murderer has a history of insurance fraud and that he built a bomb in his basement back home. It is starting to sound to me suspiciously like this guy is mobbed up somehow, or at least a pretty sophisticated criminal in his own right.
But the bottom line is this --why am I have to turn to small town papers and industry newsletters to get to the bottom of the story? I probably don't even need to tell you at this point, do I?
Again, as with any institution or organization bad apples get involved. That does not say that anything about the military, it's mission, or the administration -- and those that try to say it does are working in a fashion that is seemingly designed to cost us victory.
And while we are discussing military matters, Brendan Miniter had a great piece in WSJ yesterday arguing against the point that all these wedge drivers are heading towards.
