INFORMATION WARFARE: Massive Misreporting in the Media Ignored

Here's another gem from Strategy Page,

May 25, 2006: A number of stories have been unreported on - or
misreported - in the war of terror. The mainstream media is willing to discuss
the car bombs. But which of these stories have been the most damaging
in terms of not getting out?

@ The memos from Saddam's regime. These memos, often ignored by major
mass media outlets (unless targeted for derision), have generally shown
the terrorist connections that Saddam's regime had, and showed that the
regime was also interested in acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
Far from lying, the Bush Administration had largely been spot on.

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, Saddam did in fact use WMD's against the Kurds and Iran. Many of Saddam's scientists and military men have testified the WMD's were hidden before the Invasion. Which only makes sense, why would he leave them lying around for the coalition forces to find?

@ Guantanamo Bay and the detainees. Instead of focusing on how the
United States was trying to handle prisoners in a new type of war, the
media focused on scandals, most of which (the Koran flushing and torture at
Guantanamo Bay claims) had little, if no, basis in reality. The one
that did, was used to flog the military constantly.

Newsweek lied, people died.

@ The American efforts in the Horn of Africa. This is a theater of the
war on terror where few shots are fired by American forces, but where a
small number of American troops have carried out a major strategic
offensive that has been largely successful.

I must admit this is the first I've heard about it.

@ The intelligence efforts that have meant no large-scale attacks have
hit the United States since September 11, 2001. Efforts like NSA
surveillance have often been attacked, often for political gain, without
regard for the damage done. These efforts also have made it possible to
fight the war without taking extreme measures that could have infringed
upon civil liberties.

If we are to win this war or any war, we need a reasonable news media that isn't out to hang the President.

@ Contributions of various allies to the war on terror. The notion of
unilateralism is not only untrue, but by not highlighting these
contributions, it set the stage for the United Arab Emirates to be given very
short shrift during a fear-mongering campaign in recent months.

I disagree here, the UAE doesn't need to run our ports to be an ally. Homeland security should be solely the resposibility of the US. If the UAE is really as close an ally as Bush says,they should understand that.

@ Al Qaeda's media-based strategy has also been ignored. A better
understanding among the American people of what al Qaeda is trying to do
would help them understand the events. Instead, the mainstream media is
playing along with al Qaeda's strategy.

Amen! Weakening our resolve shouldn't be the role of the media.

@ The true level of progress in Iraq has also been ignored. Rather than
the entirely gloomy picture the mainstream media has portrayed, what
has happened is that al Qaeda has largely been defeated in Iraq. Three
elections have been held, and have resulted in the second real democracy
in the Middle East.

See above.

@ Afghanistan is also a subject of misreporting. In one recent case of
misreporting, the media recently focused on headlines indicating a
hundred dead. The details were hidden - 87 of the 100 killed were Taliban
fighters who were killed in a series of attacks, the other 13 were
Afghan police.

Other than that, Afghanistan is largely ignored.

This misreporting has become a constant pattern, and it is costing the
United States. In a real sense, the mainstream media's failures will
not end the war, but will instead prolong it and make it more costly. -
Harold C. Hutchison

Michael Reagan said on his show that the media is too heavily invested in it's position to ever back off, too far out on the limb of "no WMD's" to ever acknowledge any good of ridding the world of Saddam and dismantling of the Taliban in Afghanistan. This is why the new media is so huge and the newspapers and nertworks are taking a beating.