Secretary Rumsfeld put it well:
That's an interesting question. I don't sense that it has. One would think that at a certain level it could reduce one's effectiveness because of questions that get raised in people's minds. I think that from my standpoint it doesn't. I don't feel it myself because I've read so much history and am aware that in every conflict we've ever been in there have been heated criticisms of those individuals who were involved. George Washington came close to being fired during the Revolutionary War, and goodness knows the leadership during the Civil War was wrongly criticized. And in World War II you think of the loss after loss after loss of the Pacific and the -- I don't know -- 70,000 Americans killed in North Africa in less than a year -- or casualties, killed or wounded. And there have always been criticisms in every conflict and I expect that, I understand that.
But at least thus far -- you know, on the one hand, you have a free country, and that means people are free to say what they what they want, think what they want and they do. And so that's a great system. People also have the privilege of listening to what people say and judging them for what they say, and that's also a good fact. The thing that bothers me most is not that. The thing that bothers me the most is how clever the enemy is. They are actively manipulating the media in this country. They plan their attacks to get maximum notoriety and publicity. They hide among civilians, and when they're attacked by people and killed, and some civilians may be killed, they then claim that there were innocent civilians being killed by us when we're not doing it.
They can lie with impunity. They seem to be held -- we're held to the laws of war, as we should be, and we are held to a standard of perfection, near perfection, and people who go outside that line are punished. There's no accountability for the enemies we face, and they seem to be able to say what they wish and get away with it -- with lies with impunity. And that's what worries -- that does worry me, particularly in an era of this new media era of the 21st century where you've got 24-hour news and bloggers and Internet and digital cameras and Sony-cams. I mean, just last month we had instances where doctored pictures were being put out and carried on all the legitimate media -- not all of them, but some of those legitimate media in our country. And the world all saw these doctored pictures, and it wasn't until sometime later that people discovered they were doctored, and thank goodness they did. But it is -- that problem, it seems to me, is that the enemy is so much better at communicating and is held to no account for what they say.
You know, in a town where you grow up, some guy tells lies every day, pretty soon everyone looks around the corner and says, "Here comes Joe, the liar." And everyone gets to know he's a liar, so no one believes him.
But these folks, they have media committees. They plan how they're going to lie. They arrange themselves to do it, how they're going to manipulate the media, how they're going to get -- how they're going to weaken our will. And it is that the thing that keeps me up at night and worries me and makes me wish we were better able to counter that, because the constant drum beat of the things they say -- often which are not true -- is harmful over time; it's cumulative, and it does weaken people's will and lessen their determination and raise questions in their minds as to whether the cost is worth it. And that's worrisome.
Yes, it is worrisome. I truly worry more about the loyalty of Journalistic Americans than I do about Moslem Americans. I mean, we can and will win this war without the support of our press corps, but it is amazing to me that we have to do so.
It isn't as if the press couldn't be adversarial while supporting the war effort. Just talking about "us" and "we" when reporting on American battles and actions would help. Focusing on the infinitely more numerous enemy crimes rather than on ours would help. Criticizing war efforts with an eye toward improving our abilities to win would help. Focusing on the good our troops do and their bravery in combat would help. It would help if the press didn't expose our secrets and worked on exposing the enemy's secrets. And the press could still investigate over-charges by Halliburton if they want. There is plenty to report on that isn't cheerleading. I don't want companies to cheat; failed tactics or strategies; or troops that commit crimes. Those help, too.
I just don't feel that most of our press really feels we really deserve to win the war against the Islamist fascists. Or if they do, they assume that we will win without the press so they are free to pursue a Pulitzer at the expense of our security.
Really, even the French once said "we are all Americans, now." Can't our press work up similar sentiments?
